Home > IT Answers > Networking > Would you or do you buy hardware off eBay?
Michael Morisy
6,893 pts.
 Would you or do you buy hardware off eBay?
Networking Equipment, Networking hardware, Networking in 2010, SDN
I've seen mailing lists where people will hock used or "pre-owned" or even new networking equipment, for example, on eBay, and I'm curious if members here have any personal experience? Is it playing a dangerous game or if a user has a good reputation, is it a way to save a few bucks?

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ASKED: April 21, 2010  5:57 PM
UPDATED: February 26, 2013  6:49 PM
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Done it in college. Not sure if ebay has changed much over the years, but you just have to watch the wording and look for good sellers. Contacting the seller is another good idea. ------ I've bought some smaller stuff off of ebay, GBICs and stuff like that. You can get decent prices on older Cisco gear on eBay then just buy a SmartNet subscription for the device from Cisco (as an example).
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  February 26, 2013  6:49 pm  by  Michael Tidmarsh   11,410 pts.
All Answer Wiki Contributors:  Michael Tidmarsh   11,410 pts. , mshen   27,310 pts.
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I’ve never done something similar, and I wouldn’t, unless I was looking for really cheap equipment for a testing lab for educational purposes.

Someone I know bought a (cheap) SS7 protocol analyzer a couple of years ago, and it didn’t work as expected. As one of these would usually be much more expensive, he decided to take the risk, and he ended up losing some bucks.

carlosdl
 63,535 pts.
 

I use ebay before to buy networking “pre-owned” networking equipment.
but now I prefer to buy new from ASI or PowerNode – less problems and saves time
We are not so rich to buy cheap …

batye
 3,070 pts.
 

I have bought and sold stuff on craigslist. I like it because it is local and you can test the stuff out before you hand over your cash.

Dchat
 330 pts.
 

I have had some mixed results, although the only bit that absolutely failed was a $2.00 PS2 to USB converter….so not a big loss. My former company posted a batch of brand new back-up media which was fairly pricey when originally bought – so that would have offered a good savings to someone else. There was no time for the company to build up a good reputation – and I personally wouldn’t buy anything over $5-10 without seeing that.

AndreaF
 6,150 pts.