Let's talk 2nd hand prices..

Buying a Second Hand PC - Used Computer Prices

Its nothing I didn't 'know already' but it still made me think..

Last week for instance somebody rang me & asked what I might give him for a dozen 19" CRT's - so I jokingly said 'oh nobody wants them anymore, £50 for the lot ?' & he agreed !! Absolute Bargain ! I've only got rid of two so far, but I'm not out of pocket ;)

(& apparently it'd have cost him more than that to get rid of them !)

Anyway I thought this might be interesting for those who 'dabble' as system builders :)

(btw there's a sublink about 2nd hand laptop prices too which is definately worth a read)

Frankly most used stuff unless its pretty dam new is useless. No one wants it.
It wouldnt be so bad if someone wanted a P-3 633 but they dont. They want XP and all the goodies and they wanna play doom3.

Upgrading my 486 100mgz to DX4 133 mgz not possible "Sigh"

I used to work with a guy that thought his 7 year old Gateway was worth over $1,000 :p He knows less about computers than the guy that thought Norton Antivirus made his computer run faster.

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Originally Posted by Ferrit

Frankly most used stuff unless its pretty dam new is useless..

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I bought a 5 year old compaq last week with twin xeons & a bunch of scsi ultra 3 drives in it (£200 ish ) - & that went straight into somewhere else as a backup server & that customer was a very happy bunny indeed as he got a fully licensed copy of server 2000 to go with it !

But you are bang right about most folks being seemingly only interested in playing doom/quake/whatever ! ;)

I always buy stuff that's been out 1 year. Always half the price than when it comes out. Sorted.

(btw there's a sublink about 2nd hand laptop prices too which is definately worth a read)[/QUOTE]

OK ED I am Ready to read on about 2nd hand laptop no game playing here :)

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Originally Posted by xpuser357

..(btw there's a sublink about 2nd hand laptop prices too which is definately worth a read)..

OK ED I am Ready to read on about 2nd hand laptop no game playing here :)

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Now what makes you say that I wonder ?

Anyways I edited the top post to make it even simpler for you ..

Interesting article and thread.....We actually sell about three or four used computers a month, Since were an OEM builder for businesses, many of our clients employees trust us but might not want to shell out the full 600$ for our basic system. We occasionally do take trade in offers or are simply given the old machine we built them when we replace it. I personally go over them, look for problems, format and reload the hard drive, and offer them for sale. usually in the 150-300$ range (P3 and above). I recently noticed a spate of those who have P2 computers who would come in but not have the 150 for a new P3 so i decided to take a bunch of old compaq desktops, load them with 98, a NIC,and Modem and offer them for 50$ NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER (of course i've tested them and am sure they work, dont need any bad PR) It's worked great, noone who comes in looking for a used comp leaves without something. One guy comes back every 3-6 mos and drops off his old 50$ machine, and gets a fresh one (Its cheaper than paying for the spyware and virus software in His eyes....)
there is a market out there albeit a small one for used equipment, and if you can build a reputation of doing it well, it can severto foster your biz in other ways, such as 'word of mouth" (read as FREE!) advertising.... Thanks for the laptop link too, we're pretty much in line there, with ebay being the great arbiter.......

We probably sell two used computers a day - most in the $150-$250 bracket, usually everything from PIIs to P4s around a GHz. We buy by the pallet load, add modem, fresh load of windows, openoffice, AVG, test everything, etc.

Most people want a computer to surf the Internet, do word processesing/spreadsheets, and play solitaire. Used computers do that just fine. Most of the people we see haven't owned a computer before and want a starter system (they don't want to buy a new system and tear it up). Many of the others have a router and a "main" computer and are simply adding workstations to a home network so dad-mom-kids don't have to fight over internet access.

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Originally Posted by slavedriver

Upgrading my 486 100mgz to DX4 133 mgz not possible "Sigh"

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Have you tried starmicro.com? they had them awhile ago.... :grin:

I've been selling used stuff for a long time... usually get a big pile together and just sell it cheap... like $2 a part... first time I did it made just under $1000... you wouldn't believe what people were paying money for... I never thought I'd sell all those old 40 and 72 pin rams... sold a box of like 50 of them for $20... the best part about it is that I didn't test one single piece... they buy it at their own risk... almost everyone I've sold to has said some of it didn't work but most of it does. If they ask me to test it I usually just tell them, if I test it and it works, the price goes up at least %500 percent. Some guy just bought 3 boxes of aold pentium1 and 2 crap from me for $500, it was a lot of stuff, probably enough (minus the cases) to make at least 10 machines... but I knew someof the boards were bad, but I just throw them all in a pile and don't bother seperating them. Some guys have even got some stuff that I thought was dead working... so meh... every purchase is an adventure I tell people.... never had anyone complain after buying stuff.... had plenty people complain about the stuff before hand... kciked a number of people out of my house for being dumb...$10 for 5 cd burners and the guy was upset cause I wouldn't test them... OUT! OUT!!!!

Interesting thread.

My experience is that if I have to put much in the way of time or parts into an older (more than 2 years old) system to get it working for resale, I will lose money, even if I get the system for free. The market here will not support prices high enough to make it worthwhile.

Older systems I generally break up for parts to be used in repair jobs or to be sold separately. There is far less consumer price sensitivity for parts, and an older system can be 2 to 3 time more valuable as parts than as a whole. Ironic.

People looking for a used computer want to buy a working computer, loaded with an OS and software, and they don't want to pay anything for it.

And then there is the competition... A lot of recyling shops here load their refurb systems with Windows 98SE or W2k Pro (no stickers on the case, no paper license, no media) and Office 2000 pre-SP1-activation-requirements (again no media). Most dubious. Not something I want part of.