I flip used laptops on the side and passed 100 sales last Friday, which sounds fine until you realize 40 of those came from the same pawn shop in Spokane. Their testing is terrible, I've found three units with swollen batteries that they swore were 'gently used.' Anyone else tracking their resale numbers like this, or am I just turning into a spreadsheet guy?
Back in 2020 I dropped $900 on a Best Buy special that died in 14 months, but this old T480 I just upgraded the RAM and battery on for $60 feels way faster than anything new I'd waste money on, anyone else find themselves sticking with old hardware way longer than they planned?
About a year ago I grabbed a $5 car charger at a random Shell station because my phone was dying. It worked for like a week then started making this weird buzzing noise... fried my phone's battery port. Now I always look for the UL or CE mark on the package before I buy used gadgets or accessories. Even on secondhand laptops I check what charger they come with. Has anyone else lost a device to a knockoff charger?
Honestly, a guy messaged me last year after I listed a ThinkPad as 'mint condition' with just a tiny scratch. He said 'mint means close to new, not just no cracks.' He sent me a whole paragraph about how scratches and yellowed keys knock off value. I started taking photos under a desk lamp and pointing out every nick and scuff up front. Sales actually went up after that because people trust I'm not hiding stuff. Anyone else ever get a reality check from a picky buyer that actually helped your business?
Used to get burned by dead pixels I couldn't see in photos, but this one seller sent me a video of a dimmed screen at low brightness and it showed a big line of stuck pixels I would've missed, do you guys ask for specific video angles too?
I picked up a ThinkPad off Facebook Marketplace for $150 in Denver last spring. The guy said the battery was fine, but I never ran a battery report before buying. After two weeks, it would only last 45 minutes unplugged. My uncle who fixes old electronics told me to always check the cycle count and health percentage. I ran `powercfg /batteryreport` and saw it had over 800 cycles. Total rookie mistake on my part. Has anyone else gotten burned by a seller lying about battery life?
I was looking for a cheap laptop for my nephew to do schoolwork on. Everyone on here was saying get a new Chromebook for $200 and call it a day. I went the other way and bought a 2019 ThinkPad T480 off eBay for $150 instead. It had a busted trackpad and the battery only holds 2 hours, but I threw in a $30 battery and a $10 replacement trackpad. Thing runs Linux like a champ and he can actually install real software on it. The Chromebook would have been useless in 2 years when it stops getting updates. This ThinkPad will outlast my truck. Has anyone else had better luck with old business laptops over cheap new ones?
The last one said 'minor cosmetic damage' but the keyboard was missing three keys and the trackpad had a mysterious sticky patch, so has anyone else noticed sellers have a very loose definition of 'excellent condition'?
Last Wednesday I grabbed three iPhone 11s at a pawn shop for $120 each, thought I was set. But every single one had an iCloud lock I didn't catch (rookie move, I know). Took me 4 days and $40 in parts to realize one had a bad charging port too. Has anyone else had a streak of bad luck like that where you just wanted to quit for a week?
I was at a pawn shop in Akron last Saturday and saw a beat-up T420 with a cracked screen, but the keyboard still felt perfect. The guy behind the counter said he's dropped that thing off a ladder twice and it still boots. Has anyone else found a specific old laptop model that just refuses to die no matter what you throw at it?
I grabbed this iPhone 8 off eBay last Tuesday for $115 because the listing said it was tested and fully working. Well, it booted up fine and I used it for a couple days, then on Friday the screen just went black and never turned back on. I tried holding the power and home buttons, plugging it into my laptop, even a different charger - nothing. The seller is ghosting me now and eBay's return window is a pain to deal with. Has anyone else had luck getting a refund on a dead phone from eBay, or am I stuck with this paperweight?
Turned out the screen was a cheap replacement that started flickering after 3 hours. What's your go-to method for checking if a used phone has original parts before buying?
It had a cracked screen but powered on fine, so I grabbed it on a whim... I put a $12 replacement digitizer on it from Amazon and now it works perfectly for reading comics in bed. Anyone else ever luck into a cheap fixer-upper that turned out better than expected?
I've been flipping old laptops for extra cash the last few years, but I kept getting returns where the buyer said something wasn't charging or connecting right. Spent hours swapping batteries and ports on a Dell Latitude from 2015 until a guy at the electronics recycler told me to grab a cheap multimeter for $8 at Harbor Freight. Tested every pin on the charging jack and found a bent one I would have never noticed with my eyes. Now I check every port before listing and my return rate dropped from like 30% to zero. Anybody else rely on a cheap tool that saved your whole setup?
I cracked open my old iFixit kit last week to swap a battery and realized the screwdriver bits don't even fit modern phones anymore. Learn from me if you're hoarding tools like I did, have you had to update your gear too?
I had an old GTX 970 that was running hot at 88C under load. Everyone said to just replace the thermal pads but those things cost $20 for a set. Figured I'd try some $8 Arctic MX-4 paste on the memory chips instead since I had it laying around. After 2 hours of careful application and running FurMark for 30 minutes, it dropped to 76C and has been stable for 2 weeks now. Anyone else gamble on using paste where pads should go?
Bought a cheap replacement battery for my old ThinkPad off eBay for $30 and it swelled up like a balloon in two weeks, cracking the case and frying the motherboard. Anyone else had bad luck with third-party laptop batteries from no-name sellers?
I was dropping off a dead Roomba at the e-waste bin last Thursday and this old timer pointed at it and said 'you know, you can't fix those things yourself, that's the point.' I was about to argue but looked at the sealed battery pack and the $35 replacement part quote and realized he was right. Has anyone here successfully cracked open a modern vacuum or smart speaker without bricking it?
I used to grab any $10 charger off Facebook Marketplace without thinking twice. Then last week my cat knocked my bag off the kitchen table and the charger I bought from some guy in Austin sparked when it hit the floor. The plastic near the plug had melted a little bit and I didn't even notice it before. Now I only buy genuine chargers from a reputable seller even if they cost $40. Has anyone else had a cheap charger fail on them like that?
Last month I bought a used ThinkPad from a guy on Facebook Marketplace for $120. The screen had a nasty scratch right in the middle, and he knocked $50 off because of it. I was ready to order a replacement panel for $80, but my wife said to try a microfiber cloth with a little distilled water first. I gently wiped the scratch in circles for about two minutes, and to my surprise it faded by maybe 60 percent. Turns out the scratch was just a smudge or a very light surface mark, not a deep gouge. Now I always mention that trick when I sell old laptops online, because it can save a buyer from thinking the screen is ruined. Has anyone else had luck cleaning up a screen that looked worse than it actually was?
For years I told everyone who would listen that buying a refurbished laptop from some random seller on eBay was just asking for trouble. Figured they'd ship you a brick or something with a dead battery you can't replace. But my budget was tight after I moved to Austin last summer, so I took a chance on a $180 Dell Latitude from a seller with like 4000 ratings. Thing arrived looking almost new, battery held a charge, and it's been running solid for 7 months now. Only issue was a sticky spacebar but I popped it off and cleaned it with a toothpick. Has anyone else had good luck with those business class refurbs off eBay or did I just get lucky?
I picked up a 1TB SSD for $35 from a seller called TechDealsOutlet and it died after only 3 months. Lost about 80GB of project files because I got lazy with backups. Anyone else had bad luck with these cheap drives from random sellers overseas?
Saw a listing for an iPhone X at 20 bucks near downtown Phoenix last Tuesday. Thought it was a steal since the seller said it just had a cracked screen. Got it home, plugged it in, and the thing started smoking after 5 minutes. Took it apart and found the battery was all swollen and the charging port was corroded with rust. Lesson learned: never buy a phone without seeing it turn on first... Has anyone else gotten burned by a listing that looked too good to be true?