I'm thinking of selling some electronics. Ebay is out. The fees are too high now. I've been thinking of craigslist, but I'm a little leery.

I'd have to pop the case to get too specific, but I know its got a GTX 295 (which are a little hard to find) a few gigs or ram (maybe 12). a dual core 3.33 intel processor, blu-ray burner with lightscribe, a few HD drives, etc. Very nice full tower case as well (which makes me not want to mess with shipping... HEAVY). I think this one is Lian Li with all the bells and whistles if I'm remembering correctly.

I consider this a really nice gaming rig.

My problem is its used. And we all know how things can go. So I want to sell CHEAP and let it be as is. I'm thinking 500-700 dollars (but with no OS, meaning LINUX to some users). (( My wife threw out the windows disc AND the code... ARRRRG, long story)).

Issues are... I don't exactly want to deal out of my house. I don't want a fan to go out in 3 years and have some stranger showing up at my doorstep (it happens, even advertised as-is). Going remote to make a trade has its own problems, buyers want to see it work, which it does, but not out of a car trunk.

So, my general question is, what do you folks do when you want to sell electronics (if I find a solution I like, I may do this for other things as well). But I wanted to be a little wordy so you could see why I'm a little conflicted on simply posting up a craigslist add.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Although you hate ebay, I think it's your best best. I tried to sell a gaming laptop for a while -- even a pawn shop wouldn't buy it. I ended up selling it on ebay. The fees weren't too terrible and there are free listing days (that'll save you a good 50 cents :D).

Yeah, its not the posting fee, nearly as much as the fee at the end of the auction as well. Plus, I'd really like to not have to ship it anywhere. I'd really hate it if something were damaged in shipping before the buyer ever saw the system work.

Logging back in, I remember why I stopped selling on Ebay to begin with. You have to have a CC on file. They won't just take money from my paypal account. I guess I could get a debit card, just for this.. but I'm looking at other options. Thanks for the reminder though.

I usually sell elctronics stuff on ebay. I think ebay is a marketplace that is (in general) much more friendly to sellers than it is to buyers. I start with 1 Euro (to keep fees small), and as long as at least two people are interested in the item, they'll one-up each other until it reaches a good (for me) price level. The benefit from ebay being an auction house (i. e. selling to the highest bidder) usually outweighs the fees when compared to other marketplaces, where the fees might be smaller, but the you'd also get less money for the item.

With regard to the pitfalls of remote selling: You could film your PC in operation. If you do, make sure that all cables are clearly visible, so that it's clear that the image on the monitor can't be fed from a different machine. Many people also make a photo of the intact product inside the packaging, to prove that any potential transport damage was indeed not present before, and to prove that the packaging itself was adequate.

I think that $500-700 for that rig is a bit too much? I'd say it's even too expensive for EU and here we pay ~30% more than you yanks do for components.
Personally, I'd recommend to lower the price considerably and sell it to an acquaintance.
Remember that PC components - especially used - depreciate by the day. The sooner you get rid of it, the better. Don't bother looking for the maximum bidder because you're unlikely to find one and will simply end up wasting your own time.

The CPU alone is still being sold today for about $700 - $800.00. The price, as is, is a steal for the buyer.

I do like the idea of the video, I may do that. originally i was just thinking photos.

If you're not certain of the installed components, go pick up some free software to get all the details. There might be better stuff out there but I've always used the stuff from CPU ID: www.cpuid.com

Wouldn't hurt to get some benchmark numbers in case anyone asks; might allow you to compare your machine favorably to new rigs.

What socket is it?

umm... you said a "dual core" processor assuming it's as old as your GPU were looking at a core duo selling new for about $70... your 295 is 4 generations old and if people were still selling them for their value would be about $120ish 12GB is about $40 new... your looking at a system of about $3-400 value if your lucky sorry

It's still WAY outta date mate it's a DX10 part who cares if it's dual chip card its 2 old chips that weren't worth the cash at the time, might aswell buy a single 570 and save on the wattage. and is about as fast as a 2400 (currently retailing at $180ish) Then sell it seperately with whats in it you wont make much more. No we're not going off the info you gave your system isn't worth that much while it's all one piece... in parts... you'll probably scratch that together

We disagree, very much in some places ;)

the issue is... it is used. used $200 when new case is worth 120 dollars when it actually looks like brand new. every scratch, every sign of use going to drop that price. and like you said cases don't really depreciate and you still end up with something which is worth half of what you paid for it.

as a guy who spent 2 weeks trying to get a new computer (either buying brand new one or used one) it is not worth more 600 bucks. i assume it is without a monitor?

as for suggesting how to get rid of it.

A notice in local colleges, universities? i bought once a computer just like that.

It's actually hard to find a "fair" price for that machine, imho. It's like an 10-year old sports car that has the power of today's middle-class cars, but still looks like a special sports car, yet isn't "vintage" or "special" enough to make its age a selling point. You can't even use the current market prices of its parts as a guide, because most of those are very few items sold to people who are using them as replacements in similar machines, so the market price is going to be inflated. I don't think I'd be able to estimate a "fair" price for it. I know that pricing wasn't the point of this thread, but since the discussion cropped up and I kind of understand both sides, I though I'd throw that in for good measure.

To the OP: In any case, _if_ you want to sell it for a decent price, you should do that now. The machine is a decent gaming rig for the games that are on the market today, but will rapidly use value once DirectX 11 becomes more adopted, and especially once the next generation of consoles gets released (which will make game developers consider actually using the untapped power of today's PC hardware).

yeah, I think the disconnect might be on the actual "power" of the machine.

Here are a couple of vids I took during the Rift Beta. Note the settings are ULTRA and the number of characters/mobs on the screen. (Rift is a pretty current, beastly game that can quickly fill your screen with lots of pretty things ;) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2hmMJBPHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEavI0Tec7E



I'm not convinced a $500.00 NEW machine bought today could perform close.

However, it is used. This is a 3500.00 PC (bought parts from Newegg, which means the same thing from Dell or HP at the time would have been a 4k+ machine. 500-700 not only accounts for the depreciation... the actual current capability should account for something.

The one flag is that it is DX10 only. I fully agree that price is very subjective... its what makes me timid to use ebay and ship it. I want the buyer to be happy with the purchase. And if I hand it to him working... I would feel much better. It could break tomorrow, or it could last 5 more years. (but as mentioned, there are details untold, ANTEC trupower 1000watt power supply with detachable cables... I'm a bit of a power user).

So my expectation is that if someone wanted a PC to do word processing... they should not WANT this. If someone wants a high powered gaming rig, but can't afford a Falcon-NW... this is a great, GREAT deal for them, albeit with the same gamble of buying ANYTHING used.

And I very much appreciate the feedback on price. Just because I'm not budging doesn't mean I'm not taking it into account. I just don't think there is a game on market that this can't handle well (unless DX11 is required ;) ) And $500.00 may buy a PC, but it won't buy an effective gaming rig.

Oh, and I like the college idea ;) Thanks.