Any luck with eBay or craigslist?

[Gotaro]

I'm curious about people's success/frustration stories regarding eBay or craigslist purchases of CPUs. What did you do right to verify the condition of the CPU? What should you have done better? What are some warning signs that I might be getting ripped off?

Thanks!

 

[trekky]

i have gotten 2 Q6600 on ebay both worked fine

 

[Automata]

I purchased a QX9650 when it was first released on eBay, many years ago. I also bought four quad core 771 processors for my servers recently.

If the price is really low, there is probably a reason. Look at sold items to get an idea of what they've been selling for. Always check feedback on sellers to see why they got negatives/neutrals.

 

[Gotaro]

What if the products say "Our processors are not tested, but they have been pulled from a working unit..." Is that suspicious? Or common?

 

[Automata]

Not really as long as there is a guarantee that it works. Some places have hundreds to thousands of processors, of all different socket types. The time it would take to verify it works would cost them more than the processor itself. The ones I buy from guarantee that it will not be DOA, but don't test beforehand.

 

[Gotaro]

Okay, that's reassuring. Thanks!

 

[rescuetoaster]

Just for more reassurance from the other side, I've sold some old RAM, and 2 video cards that worked fantastically. Just make sure your seller has positive reviews.

 

[SilverJeep]

What if the products say "Our processors are not tested, but they have been pulled from a working unit..." Is that suspicious? Or common?

It depends on if they guarantee it not being DOA or not. I almost bought a Q6600 that was pulled from a working system, but not tested. The fine print on the bottom said that they could not guarantee, and would not refund if the chip was DOA. I passed on that one. I wasn't comfortable with it, who knows if the seller will just toss it in a regular envelope, have it arrive in 3 pieces, and hide behind their non-guarantee.

 

[Janus67]

I've had plenty of success with Craigslist for random parts. Sometimes hard to get people to ship things if they aren't local though.

 

[Raffobaghdo]

I have never used Ebay but I'm an avid Craigslist user lol. I've bought a few parts off there for my computers. For processors, I buy it after I get my motherboard. I scored an E8400 for $10 bucks yesterday for a friend and right before the guy arrived I told my friend to quickly drive to my house and bring his PC. We checked it out and it worked great.

Moral is just test out what you buy. If you suspect something is wrong, tell he/she sorry not interested and leave. Also meet somewhere locally or have a friend or family member with you. Good luck

 

[manu2b]

I've bought plenty of stuff from ebay (2x2600K, 1xFX8120, 2xHD5830, 1xGTX580, for the most important parts...).

I also made a bunch of good deals: I bought 2 dead 2600K's under warranty for €150 for both (RMA'ed, got 2 new ones!), and a bricked GTX580 for €150 (it only needed a vBios flash) 6 months ago.

Roll of a dice, sure, but worth it...

And no issue with everything else.

 

[Mr.DLucey]

I dun ok on EBay, but only brought from a seller with good reviews and guarantee it not being DOA.

 

[Badbonji]

I bought a Core i7 965 on ebay when it was released for cheap (from US to UK). Still working fine to this day, although unused atm. I only trust people with lots of good feedback.