Would you buy 2nd hand hardware without testing it first?

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InternetSwag

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Hey guys, found this to be a bit odd today.

Been searching around to buy a 2nd hand GPU.

Ask guy if I can stop by and take a look at his GPU he's selling on Gumtree. Has 3 active ads, been selling for 6 years.
Cool, guy stays pretty damn far but whatevs. Let's go.

Get to his place. Dude is waiting outside his house with the box. Ok? Greet dude, he takes GPU out of manufacturer box and shows me.
I'm like... Okay? Shouldn't it be in your PC so you can show me it's working? Then take it out and give it to me? He says sorry his wife doesn't allow people in because of Covid.
I'm like, ok, but I won't buy something without testing it first?
He says you know where I live and laughs.

I said no its ok im gonna pass then. He says ok and walks back into his house.


Would you have taken it? I get that you can show me a GPU. And it can look fine, but without testing it... Nah fam. Even if I know where you live, tomorrow you call ADT and tell them im insane and they taze me and I pee myself... probably.

But im kind of annoyed. I went there with 6k ready to buy and he wont let me test it... He wasn't rude or anything. Sounded friendly and normal. Even on whatsapp. So idk. Whatever. There will always be other GPU's available.
 
Congrats on not parting that easily with your hard earned cash. Don't overthink your decision, it was perfectly understandable and the guy was probably hoping that you would just pay without having a proper look at the GPU. Sounds like he was not really trying to accommodate you with his attitude of not wanting to show you that it still works.
 
InternetSwag said:
Hey guys, found this to be a bit odd today.

Been searching around to buy a 2nd hand GPU.

Ask guy if I can stop by and take a look at his GPU he's selling on Gumtree. Has 3 active ads, been selling for 6 years.
Cool, guy stays pretty damn far but whatevs. Let's go.

Get to his place. Dude is waiting outside his house with the box. Ok? Greet dude, he takes GPU out of manufacturer box and shows me.
I'm like... Okay? Shouldn't it be in your PC so you can show me it's working? Then take it out and give it to me? He says sorry his wife doesn't allow people in because of Covid.
I'm like, ok, but I won't buy something without testing it first?
He says you know where I live and laughs.

I said no its ok im gonna pass then. He says ok and walks back into his house.


Would you have taken it? I get that you can show me a GPU. And it can look fine, but without testing it... Nah fam. Even if I know where you live, tomorrow you call ADT and tell them im insane and they taze me and I pee myself... probably.

But im kind of annoyed. I went there with 6k ready to buy and he wont let me test it... He wasn't rude or anything. Sounded friendly and normal. Even on whatsapp. So idk. Whatever. There will always be other GPU's available.
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I guess it would be a different story if it were like a R2k card and he had proof of warranty, but for R6k, there's no way he could have expected you to take his word for it.

The mere fact that he didn't inform you that testing wasn't an option beforehand is a huge red flag.

This is why I always ask the seller whether I should bring my own PC to test, or whether they'd be willing to demonstrate the card on their own PC.
 
Loads of people buy things on bidorbuy, carbonite, MyBB and gumtree all the time without testing. Rule of thumb - if you want to test something then inform the buyer in advance to avoid such situations.
 
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Since he had your car details and therefore can find you he could have given you the GPU to take home and test before you transfer the money. I always find it funny how someone expects you to implicitly trust them but if you swop it around they have issue with it.
 
I have sold a GPU before that was working when I took it out, and then chilled in a cupboard for a month or something - I couldn't be arsed to test it myself. Priced it low and let the buyer take it home, test it themselves, and then pay if they were happy. Trust goes both ways I suppose.

He could've taken the card in, taken a video of him putting that card in starting it up..
 
Absolutely not, unless there was some covering agreement in place such as via eBay, Amazon, etc or I knew the individual personally.
 
I sold a card last year without it being tested, even had it shipped from my house to the new owner. Only think I could provide was photos of it working with timestamps if he wanted them
 
I will always test it before buying,

Also before selling , test! that way they cant come back tomorrow after they damaged the goods
 
Once sold a CRT monitor which worked perfectly fine, and then the buyer dropped it as he was loading it into his car...

In another incident, two interested parties showed up at the same time, and almost got into a fist fight over the item.
 
I've bought and sold plenty without testing. It's bit me in the ass a few times. Once I sold monitors as I got them under the impression they're working. Buyer took my word for it. I didn't test them. He called me later stating they don't work. I refunded him on the spot.

Once I sold a PC I didn't have my own eyes on. Guy told me it's in excellent condition. Sold it as such. Arrived at the buyer not in excellent condition, with a couple of obvious issues. I was red-faced for a week trying to remedy the situation, and negotiated a partial refund between the source and the buyer. I scored nothing on the deal (never wanted to).

It happens.
 
He could of locked the wife in the backyard when you arrived to show you the GPU works in his computer
Thats what i would of done
 
Yeah i do quite a bit, even without know the person :(

Bought a 1060 other day meant the guy at the BP, luckily it worked lol
 
Pretty simple really. Agree that you can test it at home and if there is an issue get a refund from the guy within a certain number of days. I have bought plenty hardware without testing it with that understanding. Haven't been bitten yet.

If the seller has solid rep on a reputable forum the risk is even lower.

It's all about risk mitigation.
 
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