Strategies for Buying Test Equipment off Ebay

Yep, thats how I do it.

Ive never had to go to that extreem.

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

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.

Primarily because the price a half hour before the end of the auction is totally meaningless.

No intelligent eBay bidder would bid so early.

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

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

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 :P That way... the out of work employees are more docile due to thoughts of summertime fun.

D from BC

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!"

D from BC

D from BC snipped-for-privacy@comic.com 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 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

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!