Recycle centers. Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, once in a while.

That's about it.

Amibay

Well, it depends on what exactly are you looking for.

I myself have been looking for the very old memory chips - and guess what, there are sellers in China that still carried them. Like $5 a piece, still in factory packaging. If this Aliexpress thing is your cup of tea.

Also I was surprised once, that the Ebay has a smaller local Ebay branch in Germany (ebay.de) and UK (ebay.co.uk), and the items there are not always displayed in the main Ebay search results.

In Latin America there is this Mercadolibre thing, but I only shopped Latin records there. The Russians have two extensive online flea markets, the meshok.net and avito.ru in case you're reckless enough to delve into that.

Depends on where you are. Different countries, indeed in some cases different cities have different options.

Careful about Chinese sellers. They often sell remarked chips that are either inferior versions of the chip you wanted, or the wrong chip altogether.

I was still finding retro hardware at thrift stores as of last year. It tends to be hit or miss, but there was the occasional gem.

Garage sales, flea markets, church bazaars and various other fundraising sales events are options where I live.

Pawn shops have the strangest oddities at times too. One I occasionally visit has a Roland MPU-IPC-T breakout box for sale. My SC-55 MK1 is from a pawnshop as are various other MIDI accessoiries. My Voodoo 3 3000 came from one too.

Independent computer repair shops in bigger urban centers have some cool stuff too at times. A lot of those are gone now, but those still left sometimes have some goodies, like floppy cases, IBM model M keyboards or even AGP and PCI video cards, but you may need to ask if they have any stashed in an old crate.

VCFED.org festivals, swap meets, etc. are held all over the U.S. You can find some great stuff at these events and make some good contacts/new friends to boot.

https://vcfed.org/events/

If you go to "Other Events" you will find other countries as well.

liqmat wrote on 2025-06-17, 01:46:

VCFED.org festivals, swap meets, etc. are held all over the U.S. You can find some great stuff at these events and make some good contacts/new friends to boot.

https://vcfed.org/events/

If you go to "Other Events" you will find other countries as well.

I really wish there was something like that in the greater Montreal area in Québec, Canada.

Maybe someday.

If you're willing to pay, many people are willing to sell.
Your best hope is that a collector falls on hard times and sells cheaply.

darry wrote on 2025-06-17, 04:14:

I really wish there was something like that in the greater Montreal area in Québec, Canada.

Maybe someday.

Ah, Montreal, my favorite Canadian city. Fond memories of excellent dim sum in Montreal's Chinatown.

liqmat wrote on 2025-06-18, 01:41:

darry wrote on 2025-06-17, 04:14:

I really wish there was something like that in the greater Montreal area in Québec, Canada.

Maybe someday.

Ah, Montreal, my favorite Canadian city. Fond memories of excellent dim sum in Montreal's Chinatown.

You're making me hungry.

When I want some dumplings, Étoile Rouge (on St Zotique) is the place I go to (I used to work nearby). If you ever come to visit again, I can suggest some pawn shops and one or two quaint places that might hold some retro goodies.

I get a lot from ebay.. otherwise I mostly just trade with friends in the Adelaide Retro Computer Group.

The facebook groups are also good such as Retro Machines etc

In Estonia.

www.osta.ee
www.okidoki.ee

I was wondering the same question, but for parts needed for computer parts repairs like old standard memory slots (30-pin, 72-pin, 168-pin, etc.), old CPU sockets (s.3, s.4, s.5/7, s.370, etc.), ISA slots, PCI slots and similar obsolete parts.

Currently I have no donor boards to get some 30-pin and 72-pin memory slots and I can't find any source online with reasonable prices (including shipping) for such an "ancient" memory slots.

liqmat wrote on 2025-06-17, 01:46:

VCFED.org festivals, swap meets, etc. are held all over the U.S. You can find some great stuff at these events and make some good contacts/new friends to boot.

https://vcfed.org/events/

If you go to "Other Events" you will find other countries as well.

I wish there was something like that for slightly newer hardware. I'm more into late 90s and early 00s stuff.

old school gamer man wrote on 2025-06-24, 13:33:

I wish there was something like that for slightly newer hardware. I'm more into late 90s and early 00s stuff.

From what I understand, the swap meets have many different era systems so you'll probably run into a few things that fit your search criteria. I grew up in the 1980s when anyone involved in computers went to a monthly local user group. I truly miss those types of events. Made a lot of good contacts and friends with similar interests that way. You looked forward to it every month. What VCFED is doing with their events fills that hole to some degree and I hope it continues for years to come.

darry wrote on 2025-06-17, 04:14:

I really wish there was something like that in the greater Montreal area in Québec, Canada.

Maybe someday.

Hey dude! You must have wished upon a circuit board. >>> https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

liqmat wrote on 2025-06-24, 16:04:

darry wrote on 2025-06-17, 04:14:

I really wish there was something like that in the greater Montreal area in Québec, Canada.

Maybe someday.

Hey dude! You must have wished upon a circuit board. >>> https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/

Wow! 🤣!

That's awesome!

TY, I needed some good news today.