Buying a new PC / base unit on eBay

[mdm708]

My old 1997 400mhz Pentium 2 is struggling, even though I have upgraded it in every way I can afford, and am considering buying a whole new base unit, but am unhappy about retail prices. One day I noticed that eBay were selling them at under half PC World's prices. Can anybody with nay experince about buying expensve items on eBay tell me about the highs, lows, and/or pitfalls? Is it safe? Are there any risks? What if I need to return the unit?

mdm708

[Iffy computing. Stupid username.]

 

[norty303]

If you did the upgrades yourself then you are perfectly capable of building your own system and getting EXACTLY what you want without the worry of getting ripped off. Alternatively look around locally for an independant store who should be able to sell you a base unit to fit your specs for a whole lot less than PC World.

 

[jkt911]

There are always risks involved with purchases on E-bay. After you find the product your are looking for, review the sellers feedback, anything less than 99% satisfactory.. look elsewhere.. Also look at the sellers history, if they have been around a while and are reputable, they will have tons of sales and satisfied customers. Last and most important is to pay by credit card.. If all else fails, your credit card company will credit the amount in dispute until it has been resolved.. Hope this helped..

JKT

 

[paparazi]

I am afraid to say that there are so many things that can go wrong with a PC that I would never buy online.
If you have to return it, you will end up paying the cost of postage and there is always a high risk of the tower being damaged in transit, this is over and above the possible problems you may get with the dealer themselves.
There was a time that you could save lots of money when buying online but honestly my local PC builder can either price match or get pretty damn close and if something goes wrong I have a face that I trust to return it to.
With PC's being the fickle things that they are, you can be safe in the knowledge that if i have a genuine hardware fault you can just pick up the case and return it to the shop.
Admittadly most expect you to carry out a certain amount of diagnosis before returning a product, indeed the part will often be tested but if something turns out to be faulty the replacement is instant.
You just can't beat face to face trading.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[mdm708]

Does anyone have a possible reason why computers are so much cheaper on eBay than in retailers, both online and on the high street? Surely the profit margins aren't over 100% !

Thanks
mdm708

P.S. Thanks to everybody for your input so far, especially jkt911 for the tip about the credit card.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

caveat emptor!

There's usually a good reason why stuff is cheaper on eBay - you really need to read between the lines and know your stuff right down to the model numbers of all components.

Personally I would go to a reputable company like

http://www.scan.co.uk

- or there are many others that can be recommended that will sell you a really good machine far cheaper than PC World, and far more reliable than eBay.

DELL are good if you don't want a custom machine, or don't want to "roll your own" (the best way!) - and have good aftersales. Not only that, but you can generally get a good (legal) software bundle from them.

That's more than can be said for some of the traders on eBay (but not all...)

Good Luck!

 

[paparazi]

mdm708
Well it depends on which retailers you are comparing prices too, almost all prices on ebay for base units are more expensive than in our custom build shop, you are just looking in the wrong places.
I don't want to be accused of nepertism so I will go with citrixengineer on this one and say scan in the UK would be a good choice.
I can tell you, our particular business only makes 10% on a low end entry box's and we still gaurantee them for 5 years.
But I still go with my original statement and say buy local, sure shop around, take the spec sheet fron ebay into your local dealer, with the price and see what they can do. Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.