stoof wrote on 2020-06-07, 09:46:
dionb wrote on 2020-06-07, 09:28:
*a bunch of sensible words*
Thanks for saying what I'm thinking.
As for "sold-as-is/untested is always a scam", my personal experience tells me that is just not true. Most people just don't have the equipment/knowledge/time to test the wierd items we're into. The alternative would be to just throw it in the bin.
^this, the older the hardware gets the higher the chance it is sold-as-is/untested because people simply have no way to test it, and so far most of the things I have bought like that turned out to be working just fine.
doesn't even have to be that old... AGP graphics card? no way to test for most people, and even then, a lot of people simply don't want to go through the effort to test a card that sells for a few euros and I'm totally fine with that, I'd rather only have to pay €5 for a card with the chance that it won't work than have to pay a lot more because they had to go through all the effort of setting up a test environment and actually test an old card.
most of the stuff I use came from scrap lots anyways, and even those work most of the time apart from when they're physically damaged.
and yes, I do come across auctions that say "tested" when they obviously haven't been, sometimes it's just the seller taking their luck, sometimes it's obviously damaged and might be a scam or the seller simply doesn't know better, but I just tend to avoid these.
I've also bought PCs with ovious battery corrosion that were still working, and some people simply don't know what that is and just turned it on... it works, so they sell it as working.