Second hand PC sales

[43066]

I’m not a regular visitor to this section at all (so thanks in advance!) but would anyone be able to suggest a good website to sell a second hand gaming PC, still reasonably current, and likely worth circa £1k?

I’m slightly concerned with who eBay etc. might attract, so wondering if there’s anywhere more specialist as an alternative to the usual suspects.

 

[D365]

In this day and age, I'd suggest that £1k for a used, "reasonably current" machine is very ambitious.

 

[4COR]

For gaming, it's likely that the games you want to play are going to have fairly specific requirements, depending on what exactly it is you want to play. (Most of those are likely to be around the capability/chipset of the graphics card). Unfortunately, that's going to play a big part in the pricing of the PC you need... For simple internet and Office work, a suitable 2nd hand box can be found very cheaply indeed.

 

[E27007]

I do not know of £1000 PCs, but for low-cost of ownership computing, search Ebay with "Refurbished Dell PC"
Curent prices are £100 will buy a decent specification desktop or tower CPU box I'm on my second refurbished Dell, the first lasted about 5 years before the motherboard failed, the second one (current main machine) I've had for 4 years.
Very satisfied with my refurbished purchases, cost of ownership is a fraction of buying new from a retail shop

 

[bangor-toad]

Hi there,
That's quite a lot to spend on a 2nd hand PC. I've built the PCs I've used for quite a bit less.

As mentioned by E27007 refurbished machines are a good option. I've bought equipment from this company Refreshed By Us I'm fairly sure some of the last batch of stuff I got was actually brand new but unsold as it was slightly out of date compared to the current ranges.
If you want a gaming PC I'd look for the biggest case, the best processors available and the largest possible RAM upgrade - then buy a graphics card separately. I've found that CEX Online has a good range of options and decent prices.

Cheers,
Mr Toad

 

[A0]

I’m not a regular visitor to this section at all (so thanks in advance!) but would anyone be able to suggest a good website to sell a second hand gaming PC, still reasonably current, and likely worth circa £1k?

I’m slightly concerned with who eBay etc. might attract, so wondering if there’s anywhere more specialist as an alternative to the usual suspects.

What kind of spec are you looking for ?

My son built his own last year and put a graphics card later when the prices had fallen a bit - but that easily had change from £ 1000.

The problem you'll have is most of the usual 'refurbishers' handle corporate machines which aren't gaming machines. Gaming machines tend to be sold to retail customers.

And I'd probably not look at Dell if I were considering a gaming PC - they don't get the best reviews for those. Their real market is the corporate desktop / laptop user.

This article gives you some ideas of what £ 1k will buy you new https://www.whatsthebest.co.uk/tech/gaming/best-gaming-pc-under-1000/

 

[43066]

In this day and age, I'd suggest that £1k for a used, "reasonably current" machine is very ambitious.

For gaming, it's likely that the games you want to play are going to have fairly specific requirements, depending on what exactly it is you want to play. (Most of those are likely to be around the capability/chipset of the graphics card). Unfortunately, that's going to play a big part in the pricing of the PC you need... For simple internet and Office work, a suitable 2nd hand box can be found very cheaply indeed.

Hi there,
That's quite a lot to spend on a 2nd hand PC. I've built the PCs I've used for quite a bit less.

As mentioned by E27007 refurbished machines are a good option. I've bought equipment from this company Refreshed By Us I'm fairly sure some of the last batch of stuff I got was actually brand new but unsold as it was slightly out of date compared to the current ranges.
If you want a gaming PC I'd look for the biggest case, the best processors available and the largest possible RAM upgrade - then buy a graphics card separately. I've found that CEX Online has a good range of options and decent prices.

Cheers,
Mr Toad

Thanks. Basically it’s a Scan 3XS gaming system, RTX 3070, Ryzen 5 5600x, just over two years old. Similar spec machines seem to be circa. £1500 new.

I might be kidding myself a little imagining I’d get £1k, but I’d hope for a few hundred at least.

What kind of spec are you looking for ?

My son built his own last year and put a graphics card later when the prices had fallen a bit - but that easily had change from £ 1000.

The problem you'll have is most of the usual 'refurbishers' handle corporate machines which aren't gaming machines. Gaming machines tend to be sold to retail customers.

And I'd probably not look at Dell if I were considering a gaming PC - they don't get the best reviews for those. Their real market is the corporate desktop / laptop user.

This article gives you some ideas of what £ 1k will buy you new https://www.whatsthebest.co.uk/tech/gaming/best-gaming-pc-under-1000/

Cheers. The new one is actually already on order and should arrive in a couple of weeks, also from Scan. It’s an Intel Core i9 13900K with a 4090 graphics card so should be quite a step up. Flogging the old one is partly how I’ve justified the cost to myself

 

[Taunton]

In this day and age, I'd suggest that £1k for a used, "reasonably current" machine is very ambitious.

Some think this sort of thing is worth a try. A (former) colleague offered me a secondhand child's bicycle for about twice what they had paid for it the previous year, and likewise beyond a current new one.

My experience of personal computers is they are essentially worthless secondhand, and absolutely if out of warranty. You never have any idea what the originator did to configuration settings etc.

 

[4COR]

Some think this sort of thing is worth a try. A (former) colleague offered me a secondhand child's bicycle for about twice what they had paid for it the previous year, and likewise beyond a current new one.

My experience of personal computers is they are essentially worthless secondhand, and absolutely if out of warranty. You never have any idea what the originator did to configuration settings etc.

I would absolutely hard reset everything (including BIOS/UEFI) if getting a 2nd hand box - but then I'm reasonably capable (given it's my profession) - I realise others may not be so.

But yes - a valid point re: price and warranty. But it does mean that 2nd hand boxes are cheap to pickup, and to replace. Just make sure you have tested backups....

 

[JohnMcL7]

Thanks. Basically it’s a Scan 3XS gaming system, RTX 3070, Ryzen 5 5600x, just over two years old. Similar spec machines seem to be circa. £1500 new.

I might be kidding myself a little imagining I’d get £1k, but I’d hope for a few hundred at least.

I don't think you're that far off the mark as the 3070 on its own is going for around £400 second hand, I had a quick look at some forum classifieds and noticed a 5600G/32GB ram/RTX 3060/2.5TB SSD sold for just under £900. While AMD have released their new line of processors and Nvidia the new graphics cards, the high prices haven't caused the older parts prices to plummet the same as they've done in previous generations.

In terms of specialist sites to sell a PC like that, are you a member of AVForums? They're quite a large site a decent sized classified sections and there may be other similar forums for selling a PC like that. It may also be worth giving Facebook marketplace a go as it doesn't cost anything and by selling local you avoid the hassle of shipping the PC and the buyer doesn't have the shipping cost to pay.

 

[43066]

I don't think you're that far off the mark as the 3070 on its own is going for around £400 second hand, I had a quick look at some forum classifieds and noticed a 5600G/32GB ram/RTX 3060/2.5TB SSD sold for just under £900. While AMD have released their new line of processors and Nvidia the new graphics cards, the high prices haven't caused the older parts prices to plummet the same as they've done in previous generations.

In terms of specialist sites to sell a PC like that, are you a member of AVForums? They're quite a large site a decent sized classified sections and there may be other similar forums for selling a PC like that. It may also be worth giving Facebook marketplace a go as it doesn't cost anything and by selling local you avoid the hassle of shipping the PC and the buyer doesn't have the shipping cost to pay.

Thanks that’s good to hear. They do still seem to be worth something, albeit the crazy chip shortage of two years ago clearly hasn’t continued. I wasn’t aware of AV Forums so I’ll have a look - much appreciated.

I’m slightly put off Facebook market after some horror stories. For the same reasons I’d be quite happy to send it to the buyer and split the cost. In fact I’d prefer that to having a buyer collecting it and knowing where I live and that I’ve just upgraded my PC.

 

[43066]

To square the circle on this, so to speak. I “virtually” shook hands on £700 via eBay the other day. The guy collected, seems happy and has fed back appropriately.

I’d recommend selling via that route for anyone sitting on unused hardware, it might just be worth more than than you think.

My experience of personal computers is they are essentially worthless secondhand

Clearly not my experience.

 

[D365]

Well done. £700 seems like a very reasonable outcome.

 

[JohnMcL7]

To square the circle on this, so to speak. I “virtually” shook hands on £700 via eBay the other day. The guy collected, seems happy and has fed back appropriately.

I’d recommend selling via that route for anyone sitting on unused hardware, it might just be worth more than than you think.



Clearly not my experience.

Good to hear you managed to sell it on for a reasonable price and it's a good deal for the buyer as well, 3070s are still not particularly cheap on their own and the 5600 is one of the best bang for the buck CPUs there is at the moment.

I definitely agree with you on PCs not being worthless second hand particularly desktops which use standard parts and can be easily repaired or upgraded.

 

[Jack Hay]

I'm not a gamer, just a web browser and office and video user, so my PC requirements differ, but I second the idea of buying repairable machines secondhand, which means choosing the brand carefully. I have bought only Lenovo ThinkPads for the last ten years, usually three year old ex-corporate machines. They've never yet let me down and when they're too old for me they are usually still saleable to ThinkPad enthusiasts. I didn't set out to practise cheap computing but that's how it has turned out.