Hi all,
Looking to buy second hand monitors on Gumtree. What are the things to take into account when buying from/meeting the buyer on Gumtree?
Any tips is appreciated.
Thanks.
What to Consider When Buying USED Monitor?
agito1993 on 06/06/2015 - 18:39
Comments
It's BenQ RL2455HM, TN panel, 24 inch, 1920 x 1080, was owned less than a year and selling as they bought a new and better monitor.
Ask for original receipt.
Seller is only a student I think, cash on pick up. I guess there's nothing I can do here.
Without a receipt it's hard to claim warranty from the shop. No proof of purchase means no warranty even if the product is less than a year old.
Sorry, misread your comment. May I ask what's the benefit of asking for the original receipt? (No offence here, just curious)
@scrimshaw: What if they can't provide it for some reasons (Lost)? Would that be considered as dodgy then?
Would that be considered as dodgy then?
No, not dodgy, but there is a benefit in having the receipt.
Do you know how Australian Consumer law works?
When you buy something from a shop, you are given a receipt. Said receipt is proof that item was sold to you from that store. ACL states that the store that provided said item must provide refunds or exchanges on a faulty product (usually it's within the first 12 months).
Since you are buying the LCD mon and it's stated to be less than a year old, it's still under the store's warranty so it is advantageous to have the receipt in case you need it fixed or exchanged.
QUOTE from ACL website
To use your rights to a repair, replacement or refund you will need to keep the receipt or other type of proof of purchase. Sometimes you may need to provide more than one of these things to support your claim – for example, when a credit card statement does not clearly itemise the product.
If the product was bought online, the buyer (your seller) would have a record of the receipt electronically (email or otherwise). Ask for a copy of that to be sent to you.
@scrimshaw: Thanks for the info, have never claimed warranty before so not quite wary of that. He bought in-store and lost the receipt. Hope things work out well.
this isnt something i would buy without plugging it in and seeing it run..
Sorry, can you also tell us the price they are asking?
According to Google, $229 + delivery ~$11 is the cheapest I see.
Here is a decent video run down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLczWm6RRY
It seems like a decent gaming monitor, if the price is right it should be fine. Just make sure it works first.
180, not sure if it's worth the risk though. Have asked for photos of working monitor yet no reply since.
Yeah, I'm going to go with no. You can't get a receipt for warranty purposes, it's almost a year old and they are asking over 3/4 of the price of a new one? I'd pass.
Risk too high for that $!
I would buy a new one. Otherwise, haggle it down to $150. Actually I can see one going for $150 on Gumtree.
You can get one for $229 at MSY pickup.
Or $222 pickup from skycomp if youre in sydney.
Or go your shipping option if OP is in NT, or some remote part of Australia
Sorry guys calling troll here no price no model no link to gumtree ad, why are we getting all these time wasters on ozbargain? Please lets see some more information.
why would they tell u the exact details of the add so someone can snipe the product from them.
lol who the hell wants a 2nd hand 2nd rate TN monitor that is 2/3rd the price of a new one with no warranty, besides the OP of course
So what price range should I look for when buying second hand monitor then?
1/2 or less?Can you tell us what you want the monitor for? If a gamer asked me for my opinion that opinion would be different than the opinion I would give a photographer or video editor.
For example, I recently bought a 144hz monitor because I am an avid gamer. 144hz is arguably unnecessary to anyone else.
I'm inclined to to warn you off of second hand monitors. I generally don't like dealing in second hand stuff. Especially when dealing with scumtree. I'd be inclined to argue that paying a little bit extra and getting your warranty and statutory rights in order from a new purchase is a better option.
If you are willing to type out what you are looking for in a monitor and what you intend to use it for I would be happy to help you pick out something suitable. :)
@Juddy: Really appreciate your help Juddy.
It will be used as an external monitor for laptop/monitor for ps3. Not an extreme gamer (play RPG mostly).
Preferably matta screen as glossy screen is quite tiring to stare at for > 4 hours. I don't know why TN panel is rated as second rate panel (from reviews it seems pretty sharp), though very limited viewing angles (as compared to IPS).
Sorry if I am being a timewaster here.
Though I am thankful for any help/advice.Get an IPS. I like Dells. Should be under $250 for a 24" screen.
Look out for the outlet models. To be honest I'm quite happy with 23" screens, I dont notice the slightly smaller size. I have 2 x 23s, one Dell and HP and both were under $200 and both are absolutely fine. I also have 2 x 24 Dells and both are better but not that much better.
I would also want 3yr warranty. Thing is if the monitor fails at 15 months you pretty much have to chuck it.
EDIT 2: SOMEONE IS SELLING ONE RIGHT NOW IN NSW FOR $130. Exact same monitor, just put up the ad 20mins ago.
I've got several monitors off gumtree. Been a great experience for me. Never buy monitors new imho.
Earlier this year bought a 2 month old Dell P2414h 24" IPS monitor for $120. New is around $300.
And 3 days ago i bought 11 (yes, eleven), Samsung S24B300 and S24C300 24" 1080p monitors for $450. Split them up with mates for $41 a pop.
I didnt bother with a receipt either time. I've just never had a monitor fail on me. Other components for sure always get a receipt (i found out the hard way with a gfx card).
I didnt even bother testing if they worked either time (First one i met at a uni carpark, and second was at their office, but didnt have time to test 11 monitors).
So wait it out for a good deal. Good, basic 24" 1080p monitors always pop up between $50-$100. Just make sure to check online reviews to make sure its a good one.
And remember you can always bargain down (got $100 off the 11 monitors for example just by asking. All my friends said it was a good deal already, but I stuck by my ozbargainer thinking and asked anyway)
Edit: Looked at your particular case. A not-too-old RL2455HM, good monitor. But $180 is too much. For $229 you can walk into an MSY and grab one brand new with 3 years of warranty. Around 50% of the new price is where you should aim. Monitors dont hold value too well, market is too saturated (this is a bit of a unique monitor, so a bit more is alright). I wouldnt pay more than $140 max.
Thanks Cheesecactus!
I will either buy a new benQ from Skycomp or wait for Dell to restock their refurbed monitors. Couldn't find the Gumtree ad, guess it was sold.Thanks! Now waiting for the seller's reply.
@Cheesecactus: How's Dell P2414H? Dell outlet is currently having the As-New 21.5 inch model (P2214h) for $153. Might as well get this one, seems reliable and uni only has Dell monitors.
Great monitor, highly recommend it!
Hey OP, not sure if you want to consider other monitors but I just bought this one last week on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/121648139783
Still retails for $350-400 so I think it's a decent price.
It's a refurb one so came with all original packaging and looking well kept. It's got an electrical testing sticker on the back so I assume it came from some corp that upgraded their gear.
Only thing wrong was some scuff marks on the back ( can provide pic if you wanna see.)
Won't be any manufacturer warranty but apparently the ebay shop provide their own 3mth warranty if that means anything to you.
@jzdhgkd: How's your monitor overall? And thank you for sharing the link.
Problem solved as I hit the committed to buy button on Ebay T-T. On the positive side, got roughly $20 off from this deal
Though can't go wrong with Dell ultrasharp.Damn if only I'd waited a week!
As for the monitor itself I'm loving it!
1) 16:10 gives more a bit more screen real estate compared to the standard 16:9 (although lots of movies/shows now have top and bottom black borders… hope you don't mind that)
2) IPS has way better colours compared to my past TN monitors
3) I haven't noticed any ghosting or input lag in day-to-day use, movies or casual gaming
4) The stand is great - rotates, pivots back and forth, can be raised/lower AND it even rotates to portrait although I doubt I'd ever use that capability.
5) no dead or stuck pixels that I've noticedEnjoy :D
Get a 2nd hand one from the Dell factory outlet.
As the new monitor getting so cheap right now, my opinion is not worth to buy a 2nd hand one :)
I would consider getting a new job if you can't afford a new monitor.
Lolwut
Maybe you should get a new job if you can't afford to pay your sparky for new ethernet cables.
☐ Not REKT
☑ REKT
☑ REKTangle
☑ SHREKT
☑ REKT-it Ralph
☑ Total REKTall
☑ The Lord of the REKT
☑ The Usual SusREKTs
☑ North by NorthREKT
☑ The Good, the Bad, and the REKT
☑ Tyrannosaurus REKTSome people have no sense of humour
I would look at "on-time" above all.
Monitors are cheap anyway, why secondhand? I bought a new Shimian Achivia 27" 2560x1400 last month for $280 from ebay. Took 3 days to arrive from South Korea and it is a beautiful IPS display! Downside is I can only get it to 90htz ("stock" is 60htz), a bit of a drop from the 120htz other people have achieved with similar/same model but ah well for the price I can't complain! A lot better than paying $500 + for a 144htz 1080p panel…
+1 monitor are cheap. I normally pickup LCD monitors from hard rubbish, I've got electronics experience so can fix them.
I did pickup a 27" viewsonic monitor with video input from hard rubbish. Nothing wrong with it, now I use it for my PS2 / Xbox 360 monitor which I also pickup the consoles for free and fixed them up myself :)
I envy your ability to fix monitors. I just had a 24 inch LG monitor fail on me. Opened it all up and had a look, couldn't see any bloated capacitors so I threw it in the bin. Currently using a 17" monitor with a dvi to vga adapter and I must say I feel ashamed and disgusted with myself.
I use a ESR meter to check for bad caps, as sometimes they can look okay still.
ESR meter in action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72sJ5Infuu0
Wished I had your broken 24" :) Repairing is the fun part.
would you recommend going this route?
I've been looking at it myself. would love 120hz but would be happy with 90hz tooIt worked well for me, I'm glad I did. Very happy with the results for the price! If you are looking for good quality/features/guarentees look for another way and get a brand name monitor. The monitors themselves are great and work well, look fantastic (image quality), but the build quality is not fantastic, good enough to hold the monitor together and upright but nothing to write home about. Bezel is quite large, probably 25mm. Requires DVI-D (Dual link DVI) to connect, no HDMI or Display Port, so make sure your device supports it! Apart from that, I took the $300 gamble and it paid off well, worse case is you have an large amazing looking screen that displays at 60Hz.
why not buy brand new one ? its cheap on these days.
I'd consider "why buy a used monitor, at all!"
Do you have more specific details about the monitor?
Age
Size
Panel type
Resolution
I/O
Why the seller is selling it
etc.