Buying on Ebay.co.uk

Hi,

I was just wondering about your experiences if any of you have bought over ebay (UK)....

Would you reccommend buying computers (older ~700Mhz types) over ebay? Have you had bad experiences?

What should I look for in a seller?

Just wondering

I can tell you that transactions are usualy very succesful from US to US. If you bought a computer from America and had to have it shipped all the way to the UK..don't. So much can happen between here and there. Look for someone in the UK selling a computer if you still follow through with your idea.

I was thinking of doing the same thing about 6 months ago, the prices low-end computers were going for seemed decent enough. That's when I took a look at the postal/insurance fees - usually about £30+. When the entire computer itself comes to £150, paying an extra 20-30% turns a good deal into a pretty poor one. Of course that was including CRT monitors, without a monitor it's probably about half that.

In the end I found it was cheaper to check the local ads paper for a decent deal where I could just pick it up myself.

well i was going to use ebay.co.UK so it would only be uk people.

and I have a KVM so any pc would just be a base.

Let me just ask, when you see something like this, what does it look too good to be true, but people are actually bidding on it? it doesn't seem to have a reserve :|

It looks like quite a deal. The feedback looks good too. I would email the seller though and ask for more details (how can he afford to go so cheap?).

i mean, look at this

The second one looks better than the first.
On the first one, you only have 2 pci slots and the hard drive is 5400 rpms (slow laptop speed)
The second one has 5 pci slots and a 7200 rpm hard drive.

They both have near same processor so that isn't a factor. I would personnaly do some research into the vendors. Also, you must supply your own OS for this.

i would stick on linux or an old copy of 98

but what do you think the chances of getting that second one for less than £50?

I agree w/ Onslaught. 2nd is better, though not quite as tested a seller. Check them out and email the vendor w/ questions. If it seems good, I'd go for it.
Do you need the new computer? If its not a necessity, just bid on it till it reaches your limit, if you don't get it try for something else. Have you been watching similar auctions? That would be the best way to gauge what the price might be

this is his reply to my email:

i don't understand what you guys are getting so exicted about..those auctions have days to go on them and no one ever bids until the last day or two (mainly the last 12 hours). As of now, very few people are bidding for the basic strategy of "don't go high fast, it will only go higher"

Thats why I recommended watching other auctions. There's nothing to lose in hoping the price stays low though