J
John Devereux
Spehro Pefhany said:
Yes, of course you are right this works too!
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Strategies for Buying Test Equipment off Ebay
Yes, of course you are right this works too!
Yep, thats how I do it.
Ive never had to go to that extreem.
N
Nico Coesel
D from BC said:
That happens. Finding a bargain takes some time. Sometimes I'm really
puzzled about what is going on. I recently bought a piece of equipment
for EUR 190. It is still in transit from Far Far Away, but it is
supposed to work according to the pictures! Anyway... I also followed
an auction for a broken unit sold in Germany which I could use for
spare parts. But this auction went totally grazy. It was sold for EUR
415!! Perfectly good ones with some waranty against DOA can be bought
for that price...
I usually put my bid in at the last second with my highest offer. This
is a bit of a gamble though. Usually there are others with the same
idea. This may not seem fair to the seller, but it is a good
protection against yourself. Auctions may tempt you to pay more than
the item is worth if the auction would be extended with every bid.
Yup, I'm on the other side of the big pond so shipping is expensive.
Sometimes I buy items from the UK or Germany, but the equipment market
is very small over here. Here in the Netherlands Ebay is next to
non-existent. A few years ago I bought a DAS9200 digital analysis
system with loads of extras like system software through Ebay (second
time it was offered because the reserve wasn't met). The seller got US
$66. Bax Global got EUR 350, customs took another EUR 80.
I don't agree here. Most equipment sellers have no idea about what
they are selling. Sometimes you'll see stupid prices for old
equipment. Just check what some ask for a DAS9200, TLA500 or TLA510
system and you'll see what I'm talking about.
The best prices come from auctions that somehow escaped the attention
from others.
D
Don Lancaster
Primarily because the price a half hour before the end of the auction isJean-Yves said:
totally meaningless.
No intelligent eBay bidder would bid so early.
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/ebaysell.pdf
--
Many thanks,
Don Lancaster voice phone: (928)428-4073
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
rss: http://www.tinaja.com/whtnu.xml email: [email protected]
Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
D
D from BC
Oh bummer ...so no whining to Ebay when the sh*t hits the fan...
So..someday I might see this on Ebay
HOT! HOT! HOT! INFINIUM DIGITIAL OSCILLOSCOPE
Some coke razer marks on top.
What a steal!
Buy it now! $200.00!
It seems like this....
Ebay acts like a connector between buyer and seller..What happens
after that connection is between buyer and seller. Ebay doesn't want
to get involved in that mess unless it causes severe negative media.
D from BC
D
D from BC
About item 4...
It's specifically the guys that specialize in reselling used test
equipment that have 'like new' prices. They have price lists and
catalogs and do their homework when appraising test equipment.
They make pretty web pages, do calibration, rebuild, test and recycle
DOA test equipment. They also stock too.
Their motto should be:
'We have what you're looking for because nobody wanted to pay our
price'
On the other hand, those guys may get overloaded with sh*t that's not
selling and will give up fishing for fools and let go of some
equipment at an irresistible price. Also works as bait to gain
attention to other items on the sellers site.
Then there's the 'I have a pile of junk' reseller..
The resellers that deal in general junk may not know what they have,
can't do the homework, don't care about the profit too much (scopes
seem specialized), just want to get rid of it (they got it included
with a pile of other equipment that profits better), can't claim it
works and don't want any complaints .....so it goes for cheap.
D from BC
D
D from BC
Has anybody noticed if the best test equipment deals on Ebay depend on
the season?
Spring?
Fall?
Winter?
Summer?
For example:
Doesn't it seem a little weird to buy a used oscilloscope around
Christmas time?
Perhaps more test equipment is available in summer.. The summer heat
kills'm.
The beginning of summer is a good time to close a company and sell
everything
That way... the out of work employees are more docile due to thoughts
of summertime fun.
D from BC
the season?
Spring?
Fall?
Winter?
Summer?
For example:
Doesn't it seem a little weird to buy a used oscilloscope around
Christmas time?
Perhaps more test equipment is available in summer.. The summer heat
kills'm.
The beginning of summer is a good time to close a company and sell
everything
That way... the out of work employees are more docile due to thoughts
of summertime fun.
D from BC
R
Rich Grise
I'd think the best time would be right after Xmas, when everybody
gets next year's version and retires last year's model. ;-)
Although, scopes probably don't work that way.
Cheers!
Rich
M
Marra
I would never buy second hand equipment after being screwed a couple
of times.
People just seem to want to sell worn out junk at nearly new prices !
This not only goes for ebay but other online sellers.
I never buy second hand off ebay anyway.
of times.
People just seem to want to sell worn out junk at nearly new prices !
This not only goes for ebay but other online sellers.
I never buy second hand off ebay anyway.
D
D from BC
You have to see the little bush through the trees in the forest.
Sometimes it's not poison ivy.
D from BC
D
Don Lancaster
D said:You have to see the little bush through the trees in the forest.
Sometimes it's not poison ivy.
D from BC
In general, used test gear is either trivial to repair or impossible to
do so. Playing the odds can often yield profitable results.
Knowing exactly what you are getting into can help a bunch.
As can experience on specific items.
A recent $10,000 vacuum pump was not working because of a dirty $3 third
party output filter.
Some "horribly cracked" power supplies needed their $2.75 front bezels
replaced.
A plant maint type replaced a bridge rectifier upside down. Making all
of the power supplies the wrong polarity. The fuse blowing unit was
scrapped. While I am still working on the details, around $10 worth of
parts should refurb a $50,000 new, $1800 street wire cutter.
On the other hand, a compact industrial X ray machine seems unsellable
because of its outrageous weight. Seems it is full of lead.
And older photometers that once were instant multi kilobuck sales in any
condition at all now go begging, having been blown out of the saddle by
newer tech.
Much more on my website.
--
Many thanks,
Don Lancaster voice phone: (928)428-4073
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
rss: http://www.tinaja.com/whtnu.xml email: [email protected]
Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
J
John Devereux
Marra said:
I disagree, I have bought quite a lot of test equipment off ebay and
not regretted any of it.
You can buy kit that was gold-plated top of the range 10 or 20 years
ago for, relatively, peanuts.
This is a golden age for electronic engineering on a budget in my
opinion. Affordable test equipment, easy internet access to millions
of parts and their datasheets, application notes and *free samples*!
Microcontrollers keep on getting faster and more integrated,
exponentially. Their development systems are so cheap they are given
away with a 99$ evaluation board. Compilers are free, as are operating
systems and protocol stacks. Etc.
J
John Larkin
I've bought lots of good stuff, especially sampling scopes, heads, and
electro-optical gear. I must have a half million dollars - catalog
price - of sampling scopes, almost all from ebay, for few per cent of
original value.
ebay is also great for RF cables, SMA, SMB, MCX, BMC, hardline. Ditto
older mobos and laptop PCs to use around the lab.
John
R
RST Engineering \(jw\)
I've read most of this thread and I must be some sort of ebaytard. I've
learned about sniping, I've learned about most of the bidding tricks, and
there must be a whole bunch of ebayheads that know a lot more than I do.
I've been trying to buy a HP 8444 for about a year now, on and off. No, I
don't have the time to make a full time job of it; that piffs off customers
who like their products delivered on time. However, I've probably made half
a dozen attempts with zero results.
Sure, I could go into one of the "surplus" test equipment shops and pay up
the gazoo for what he bought on ebay for peanuts. I may wind up doing that.
However, if anybody has a good used 8444 and wants to swap it for pictures
of old dead Presidents, I'd be happy to talk to you.
Jim
learned about sniping, I've learned about most of the bidding tricks, and
there must be a whole bunch of ebayheads that know a lot more than I do.
I've been trying to buy a HP 8444 for about a year now, on and off. No, I
don't have the time to make a full time job of it; that piffs off customers
who like their products delivered on time. However, I've probably made half
a dozen attempts with zero results.
Sure, I could go into one of the "surplus" test equipment shops and pay up
the gazoo for what he bought on ebay for peanuts. I may wind up doing that.
However, if anybody has a good used 8444 and wants to swap it for pictures
of old dead Presidents, I'd be happy to talk to you.
Jim
D
D from BC
Damn right!
I don't know why I went to school.
It's so good now...one can probably skip a 4 year university program,
learn off the net, set up a lab with cheap equipment off Ebay and set
up a online design company for global clients.
It's all there!
Need a book..Amazon.
Need a scope..Ebay.
Need software.... anything in minutes
Need a part..Digikey & many others
Need a datasheet..easy
Need help... ask the part manufactures, usenet, web
Need a project...online advertising
Need payment...paypal
It's so freakn wonderful I could cry
....D from BC
D
D from BC
It's only a matter of time until I see somebody post
"Ok...which one of you out bid me! You bastard!"
that or
"Ha ha!*...you outbid my ridiculous max bid!"
*with the voice of Nelson Muntz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Muntz
D from BC
J
JosephKK
D from BC [email protected] posted to sci.electronics.design:
Ebay, Google, Yahoo, and most professionally run sites are coordinated
to UTC. It is really rather easy, my home computers are coordinated
as well. But there is still an issue with network latency, and there
is no realistic way to verify coordination.
I might check Ebay to see if I can synchronize to 'Ebay time'
That or, I'll find out whatever Ebay synchronizes to.
Thanks for the tip.. I haven't thought about the time accuracy yet..
D from BC
Ebay, Google, Yahoo, and most professionally run sites are coordinated
to UTC. It is really rather easy, my home computers are coordinated
as well. But there is still an issue with network latency, and there
is no realistic way to verify coordination.
J
John Larkin
I have a nice old art deco clock with a sweep-second hand. I refresh
the ebay page until it's 1 minute from closing, and note the clock.
Then leisurely enter a bid, watch the clock, and click "place bid" 30
or even 15 seconds before closing. You could do the same thing with a
stopwatch.
But Spehro's dual-window thing sounds even better. I'll try that next
time.
John
J
John Devereux
D from BC said:I might check Ebay to see if I can synchronize to 'Ebay time'
That or, I'll find out whatever Ebay synchronizes to.
It is always accurately set to UTC, i.e. the actual correct time. On
linux you can use ntp to automatically synchronize your clock to the
correct time - I am sure there is some utility to to this on windows
too. In fact I noticed my last bid appeared a couple of seconds off -
I had lost my ntp!
