New Purchases 2020

[rayzer]

anything i dont use nowadays i just dump, dont see the point in hoarding stuff. you think youll use it someday but never do

[VinDSL]

anything i dont use nowadays i just dump, dont see the point in hoarding stuff. you think youll use it someday but never do

"One man's rubbish may be another's treasure." ~ Hector Urquhart, 1860's

'Dumping' is a turning point of sorts, in one's journey through life - wares, wives, whatever.

People spend half their existence collecting stuff - and, the other half getting rid of it. Something spurs it.

Finding sellers willing to dump their stuff, for pennies on the dollar, is key to making a good deal on eBay.

Have you considered selling vs dumping? I've been a verified seller on eBay since Jan 07, 2001 (just checked).

While I was checking my account date, I captured this promo screen:




I used to buy/sell items on eBay; but, I don't have time for selling, right now -  just 'hoarding.'

I judge, it's probably better to trade items I don't use, than sending them off to the landfill.

The point in hoarding    Once, again, I'm saving mankind from itself...

[spence]

Right after relocating to Arizona, I spent a few years with an Amazon store selling off all the valuable books, cds, records and assorted odds, ends & paraphanalia we dragged from DC to AZ. In his early days at V.O.A. https://voanews.com/ my other half produced country music radio shows for his Russian & Slavic nations audiences. They love American Country Music...

Simultaneously, he began competing with the DJs in the DC area C&W dance halls we frequented, to be the first to purchase the newest CD releases. C&W was all the rage at the time and we spent 7 nights a week dancing. 

Turns out we had a treasure trove of highly valuable CDs which found new homes all over the world in '08 and '09. His French, Russian & Spanish university text books also turned out to be lucrative, most all found homes back in DC with new students at his Alma Mater, who were following in his language classes footsteps at Georgetown University. I seem to recollect a high dollar sale of a French language text book to Japan. It was a 30 year old text book when he'd first purchased it in '76. Same thing with his huge collection of Soviet era novels, most got shipped back to DC.

Somewhere along the way our US States got into a hissy fit about Amazon's bypassing collection of local and state sales taxes. Amazon responded by dumping the responsibility for collection of all sales taxes world wide upon it's sellers. I closed my account the very next day, as millions of similar small sellers followed suit.

 

Now when I need to clear stuff, I offer it up on www.freecycle.org... which was coincidentally, founded right here in hippy, dippy, recycling loving Tucson AZ and now reaches world wide. Tucson is sorta ground zero for all things bartered, recycled, reshared, resold or traded.... It's part of the R.I.S.E. Computer Recycling Center

http://riseequipmentrecycling.org

All three of my prior laptops found happy new owners and I left them dual booting their version of winblows & that year's version of peppermintOS.

 

I've never had patience with ebay... and the one time I've ever had a stolen identity issue, it sprang from their platform. Have never been back.

 

[rayzer]

selling stuff cheap is more hassle than its worth, people trying to bargain on stuff for twenty quid & then dont bother turning up to collect after all that

id rather just give things away than sell them cheap because at least theyre guaranteed to go then.

got rid of 3 tvs a monitor and a couch the other day, straight to the dump because it was just taking up space and nobody i knew wanted it

[VinDSL]

Heh!  I always chuckle when somebody talks about colonizing Mars, or the Moon.

Think about it - mankind will turn them into garbage dumps too - just like here on Earth .

And, I'm not acting innocent. I'm as guilt of creating pollution as anyone - especially my farts.

I eat a lot of homemade yogurt and refried beans. Space travelling with me would be deadly... 

[VinDSL]

Score!   



Gotta love eBay auctions. I just won a dozen (12) Intel Gigabit CT Network Adapters for $1.00 + shipping.

I've been busy upgrading my local area network (LAN) desktop machines (PCs) with dedicated Intel network cards (PCI-e NICs) to match the performance of the CenturyLink Actiontec C3000A modem/router. I don't trust pseudo onboard chipsets -  Broadcom, Realtek, et cetera. It's another link in the chain.

Currently, I only need five (5) NICs, but it doesn't hurt to have a few spares in the closet, right?

[josephd]

Wow, they're practically stolen from the vendor.

[VinDSL]

All of the NICs worked fine. Some of them have never been installed, judging by appearance(s).

Recently, I took a chance on an auction from a seller with (0) Buys, (0) Sells, and (0) Feedback.

I never expected the item would be shipped, but it was, according to the FedEx tracking number.



We'll see what's in the box, when it arrives. Hopefully, something like this... 

[josephd]

Wow. I wouldn't even bother listing something that low. The effort in shipping it is more than the purchase price.

[VinDSL]

Wow. I wouldn't even bother listing something that low. The effort in shipping it is more than the purchase price.

That's why I thought he might not ship it. Then again, the buyer (me) had to pay for the bid ($8.50), the shipping ($17.39) and the tax ($0.66) for a grand total of $26.55. Assuming he isn't a scammer, he'll get a little experience under his belt, a happy customer, a 5-Star review on eBay, and some beer money in his pocket, for his trouble 

Here's the deal...

I watched the auction for a week, and there weren't any bidders. When I checked closer, the seller had never bought anything (red flag #1), had never sold anything (red flag #2), and didn't have any history (red flag # 3). 99.999% of the ppl on eBay wouldn't take a chance bidding on something like that.

But, you never know on eBay. So, I threw caution to the wind, waited until 20 seconds before the auction expired, and put in the minimum bid.

eBay offers a 100% money-back guarantee (for free) if I get fleeced. Plus I paid for it using PayPal, and they offer a similar guarantee. So, if worse comes worst, I've got my bases covered. All it's going to 'cost' me is a little time n' trouble, contacting the seller, eBay and PayPal.

Sure, it's a gamble, but it's more likely to pay-off than (say) a handful of lottery tickets...

[VinDSL]

Lucked out again. All 24 ports work. No scratches. Perfect transaction   

[151tom]

Now that I have a lifetime supply of Dell i7 Optiplex's, I can unsubscribe the search on eBay

Hell I ain't used up my stash of 2010 Dell Optiplex 380 desktops yet they are tanks and almost last forever. 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/desktops-all-in-one-pcs/optiplex-380-desktop/spd/optiplex-380

[josephd]

As long as they're not running Windows... Dell makes fantastic hardware. I think a lot of that has to do with using Intel processors.

[151tom]

All of my Dell Optiplex 380 desktops are E7500 core 2 duo processors and Intel integrated graphics adapters with 4.0 GB DDR3 memory and mechanical hard drives.

They are great Linux computers and I only paid $5.00 for each desktop so zero complaints.

I don't need the latest or newest computers for my use.