Buying second hand - Things I should look for?

Sheephead

Sheephead

Sheephead

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7 Jun 2011
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Hi all,

I am going to pick up a 27" 144hz G-sync monitor later today that I have found for a very good price online. The seller says that he has used it a few times and it works great. I am going to be taking my PC to test the Monitor and was just wondering if there was anything that I should be looking out for, apart from the obvious visual damage. The monitor in question is an Acer XB270HU which I believe can have some issues with its panel in terms of failure rate. Is there a way that the guys knows that it is on the way out and he is just trying to get rid of it? Or are there no such signs?

What should I test? and how should I test it?

Thanks guys.
 
Personally I'd be suspicious that it has bad backlight bleed - which the manufacturer won't count as a fault and thus neither does the seller have to. Make sure you see it without any light falling on the screen, displaying something dark.

Maybe it'll be a perfect unit, but if it is, what's the motivation for selling?

Can you go via an auction site, thus getting some buyer protection? I wouldn't want to hand over cash for second hand PC equipment these days. Too much stuff that's tat when new and worse second hand :/
 
I would be a little wary when buying from someone/somewhere I dont know , although I did pick up a B Grade ROG Swift ( from OcUK ) for £360 ( I think ) and it's lovely ..I actually thought when it turned it was brand new
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I thought the same. He was selling it yesterday for 170 and today the price is 150 as he is saying it is urgent. I asked to pay via paypal and he said cash only. I asked if I could try it out and he told me to bring my PC to test it. I will be taking my PC and told him that if it doesn't work when I get home that I would be coming straight back for a refund and he was ok with that.

I've been told to try a colour calibration and as Eddiew said, I'll make sure I take a video of something dark and that I turn out all the lights. Going to make sure I am happy before I hand over the cash. I'll report back later one.

Thanks again guys.
 
Ok, that monitor should be at least £500 at retail. So something doesn't add up.

If it's almost new, then why is he selling it for one third of the retail price? Also, cash only? Urgent?

Sorry to say this, but there are so many alarm bells there, that you might indeed be looking at a stolen merchandise. Not saying it's for certain a stolen unit, but I'd be a little wary, if I were you.

Maybe you should ask for a receipt. Explain that you would like the receipt for yourself so you can "have some manufacturer warranty if it goes bust". If he bought it online, he should at least have an email of the order confirmation. And because he's SELLING it online, then he should have been savvy enough to purchase it online, as well. If he just happened to purchase it from brick-and-mortar, AND threw away the receipt, then I would count that as yet another "convenient" circumstance.

Actually, also check that it indeed is recognized as Acer XB270HU, or at least that it supports 144Hz and G-Sync, and that its viewing angles are good enough for it to be an IPS panel. Because there's also the chance that it's not really a XB270HU. Which might be intentional (scam), or unintentional (he got the model number wrong (*)).

(*): XB270HA, XF270HU, XG270HU, XB270H, XF270H, XG270HUA, CB270HU -- those are cheaper models, and almost the same model number
 
Hey Aatu,

Yeh I thought the same as you. I asked for the receipt for that exact reason, and he said that I was getting a 500 quid monitor for 150 and that he didn't want to spend anymore time on it. I told him it would take him 2 seconds to printscreen the receipt as I know he bought it from an online store (as the box is in the background of the picture). Either way he was being super awkward about everything. We finally made a deal where I could go and try the monitor by taking my PC with me however, with less than 2 hours to go, he just emailed me saying that his flat is a mess and that he doesn't have room for me to try it out lol...

I pulled out of the deal as there is just too much fishy stuff going on. He said he had another buying lined up, but who in the world would hand over 150 cash without even seeing a picture of the monitor working. Ah well, some deals are too good to be true. Looks like I'll be sticking with my 24" 60hz TN Samsung for a while ;)

Thanks for the wisdom guys.
 
Sounds like you might have been better staying out of this one, tbh. Shame you didn't get a bargain, but it doesn't feel like this was legit...
 
Sheephead said:
lol indeed. I'm happy to leave it alone, would have been nice, but way too many red flags :p
Click to expand...

The biggest red flag for me was the fact he wouldn't let you test it out, I wouldn't mind someone coming and testing a monitor I was going to sell, it doesn't take 5 minutes to plug in and unplug. If you want a 1440p/144hz monitor you can get them pretty cheap now, keep an eye out and you'll find one new somewhere for £300 or if you want to try B Grade go OCUK they'll have some in soon enough I would think.
 
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