[NTLUG:Discuss] Selling your hardware and other things...

[Chris Cox]

I had a couple of requests concerning how to sell (and buy) hardware.

For buying, most consider ebay because it can still be a great place
to find expensive datacenter items at a discount price...  but where
else?

For both buying and selling I recommend the following:

http://www.hardforum.com (look for their For Sale/Trade group)
http://forums.2cpu.com (again, look for their For Sale group)

Also, you might consider
http://forums.anandtech.com (ditto about the group)

In all cases, you'll want to read the Forum rules (usually a
stick message in the forum). Most of the time you must provide
the price with the item and you have to have some kind of
references.  Often times, http://www.beerology.com/ars/
and http://heatware.com/ references are accepted.  Ebay
has lost value and usually isn't accepted as a valid
reference anymore.

To start a reputation, you'll need to buy/sell outside
of the forums first.  Use your existing social networks
to set that stuff up (sell to your friends and family, etc).
But.. when you do sell... make sure they give you props
with heatware or whichever reference site you choose to
use.

People that have larger good reputations tend to sell items
faster (they are "trusted" sellers).  Anytime somebody
posts good things about you in the forums helps as well.
If you're a jerk in the forums, people won't necessarily
trust your reputation at external reference sites (you
have been warned).

Anyhow, instead of reinventing the wheel, I thought I'd
post some existing forums instead... use them.

And lastly... and some will hate this... use paypal.
Why?  For one thing, love them or hate them, paypal
does offer SOME level of protection (if you transact
via check/money order/etc, you don't usually have
any protection... or it's hard to get the protection).
Also, >90% of buyers will be expecting to pay you
via paypaly. Also, paypal that isn't VERIFIED and
tied to a real bank account is NOT PREFERRED.  For
one thing, the credit card fees are passed down to
the paypal user.... something to consider.

With that said, I setup a SEPARATE bank account
for paypal use (just in case... paypal isn't a bank,
they just transact money LIKE a bank... if one day
they get hacked... don't allow somebody to drain
your real bank account dry).

HTH,
Chris