General > General Technical Chat
Buying 'damaged' equip deliberately??
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SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: Berni on January 26, 2020, 03:48:16 pm ---Oh and also be careful of buying broken consumer electronics sold by random sellers for the cheapest price from all the broken ones.

People who get into the repair of consumer stuff like tablets or game consoles or whatever will do all the easy repairs first. Sometimes they will get a specimen that after the usual repair tricks still won't work, those they will often give up on and sell it on as a "for parts" unit to recoup the cost of it. You won't have any idea that you are buying one of those and its not something you want to attempt a repair on. Not only did the first guy already try all the easy fixes leaving you with the tough ones, but he may have also damaged something else in the process, giving you an additional fault to find.

I have even seen people sell a Xbox console "as is for parts" with the entire mainboard missing, yet having put in the effort to hotglue in all the connectors on the back so that it still looks perfectly fine from the outside (the connectors are probably ripped off the dead mainboard that he replaced with this one ripped out of there).

This sort of thing happens a lot less with test equipment, but you do occasionally stumble across other peoples repairs inside equipment.

--- End quote ---

I have had that happen on eBay, and won my complaint case against seller on the basis of the item having major parts missing that was not described in the ad.

After all, if something is sold "for parts" and doesn't actually have any parts in it,  it isn't really living up to its description, is it?  :-)   eBay agreed and forced a refund.
SiliconWizard:
Of course as said above: take the risk of complete loss. The thing may be damaged beyond economically-sensible repair.

Before buying, first step is to look up the most info you can gather on said equipment (service manuals, repair blogs/videos, cost of common spare parts, etc.)

One thing to note is that for gear that has high value (/high demand), the cost of "for parts" can still be pretty high on eBay. Look that up too. Evaluate the average price of a similar broken device. If you stumble upon one that sells for significantly less, chances are it's really really damaged.

nctnico:

--- Quote from: GlennSprigg on January 26, 2020, 12:54:40 pm ---Often I see something like a latest 'Tablet' on eBay, that is listed as 'Parts Only'.
They have to say that, as it is not 'working', but may be just a cracked screen!!
(Their further description may state that it is only the screen etc.)
Ok, I pay $99 instead of say $699, and can source a new Screen for $130 to fit 'myself' !
Can it be worth it, or should I/we steer clear?? Am sure there are past experiences!  :)

--- End quote ---
It can be worth it but make sure it is worth your time. I have been buying & fixing broken equipment since the 90's. Nowadays mostly test equipment but in the past also computer equipment. You have to do your homework to learn about common problems and haggle a bit. Set a price for yourself upfront and walk away if you don't get it for that price. I've started walking for a few euros difference (and still got the item in the end because the seller called me back). I've also been fooled a couple of times by sellers claiming the piece of equipment has not worked on/opened. But I still managed to succeed fixing the equipment where someone else failed.
H.O:
A while ago I made an offer on a "For parts" Agilent 34970A with multimeter option and the seller accepted. Had no idea what to expect really but was hoping for something stupidly simple like a blown fuse or busted supply rail. Worth a shot I thought.

When I picked it out of the box it felt light, opened it up only to find it was missing the transformer AND the multimeter board that the ad specifically said it had. Needless to say, not happy.

Not expecting much I contacted the seller and they said like "Oh, dear, we had no idea, we never opened it, terribly sorry" and refunded me the full purchace price PLUS part of the shipping and let me keep the unit. I still have some cash in in since I had to pay import tax and stuff but it could've been a lot worse.

So yeah, you take your chances. 
james_s:
I mostly seek out test equipment that is sold as-is/faulty, I like the challenge of repairing it and I have succeeded far more often than I have failed. Occasionally I lose and get something that I give up on repairing but overall I have come out way, way ahead. I could never justify owning most of this stuff if I had to pay retail for new gear or even fully tested guaranteed used stuff since most of it is essentially toys, I don't make a living off my personal gear.
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