buying Xeon E5-2699v3 in "as-is" condition off Ebay?

[BLinux]

I've been keeping my eye out for a used working condition Xeon E5-2699v3. I've noticed a LOT of sellers on Ebay selling this or the 2696v3 for really cheap, but in "as-is" condition. Some of those sellers claim they are recyclers or some such and have no means to test the CPU so selling as-is. Some sellers don't respond to such questions at all. Almost all these sellers have new accounts, with little feedback. It all just makes me very suspicious, but the crazy thing is that I see people bidding these types of auctions up to $1000 or more. Is there some strange underground trade of "as-is" used Xeon processors? Or, are a lot of buyers getting working processors from these types of deals?

 

[TType85]

personally I wouldn't trust those auctions. I buy mine from US sellers only and it has to be guaranteed to not be DOA.

 

[patchate]

"as-is" is a specific contractual legal term that transfers a risk of a purchase entirely on the buyer. In the case where something goes wrong with the purchased item, the buyer has zero legal recourse if the terms of the sale included the words "as-is".

That means no refunds, no returns, Nada.

I would personally never purchase electronic items as-is. Maybe something guaranteed to work - a computer case, maybe. Even then, I'd want it returnable if the description were misleading or something of the sort.

 

[BLinux]

I tend to agree with you guys about the "as-is" part.. and that's why I've hesitated to buy CPUs from such auctions/listings. But, I just find it strange that there seems to be a lot of buyers (or at least, more than I would think) as the auctions get a lot of bids.

 

[patchate]

I think it's because people don't understand the possible implications of the word "as-is". I used to think it meant that as-is items must be in a working condition. It doesnt. However, being that the item is on eBay, it likely is; but do I really want to bet my money that the seller is trustworthy enough to list a working item on eBay for sale "as-is"?

Apparently, hundreds of buyers do. Thankfully, I'm not one of them.

 

[BLinux]

Here's an example, listed as "not working for parts", and with a message indicating that there's some overheat issue and the CPU won't boot. Yet, 11 bids so far, though only up to $265... why are these "broken" CPUs worth $265?

Two Intel Xeon E5-2699 V3 SR1XD CPU

 

[patchate]

Intel RMA? I have no idea.

 

[Terry Kennedy]

"as-is" is a specific contractual legal term that transfers a risk of a purchase entirely on the buyer. In the case where something goes wrong with the purchased item, the buyer has zero legal recourse if the terms of the sale included the words "as-is".

That means no refunds, no returns, Nada.

I would personally never purchase electronic items as-is. Maybe something guaranteed to work - a computer case, maybe. Even then, I'd want it returnable if the description were misleading or something of the sort.

I've had good luck with some as-is listings. I got a brand new IBM LTO 6 library drive last week for $750 because it had a bent mounting plate. Drive tested fine (after bending the plate back), had 5 hours 22 minutes total power-on time and was manufactured less than 6 months ago. A few months ago I got a new-open-box Cisco Aironet 702i for $10 because the seller didn't realize it had the captive firmware on it, making it non-responsive until it finds a compatible Cisco controller.

For the Aironet I didn't care about "no returns" because it was only $10. The LTO 6 drive was actually listed as "30 days money back, buyer pays return shipping", so I was willing to take a risk on it.

For me, the important part is to see what other stuff the seller has listed, and how recently. A listing of a new 1.92TB enterprise SSD for $250 from a seller whose only feedback was as a buyer 2+ years ago is a definite red flag (to mention just one recent listing I was watching). On the other hand, a piece of computer equipment from a seller that normally sells "garage sale" type stuff can be legit - I've scored some bargains that way.

In 18 years on eBay, I've only invoked buyer protection once, and the was when the item was really "not as described" and the seller stopped responding. I've had a few cases where I didn't get what I was expecting, and a quick "I have a question for the seller" message generated either a refund or some other satisfactory resolution. I always start with that rather than the "I didn't get my item or not as described" as the second type of message auto-opens a dispute and you have a lot more leverage with the seller when they know it is still possible to receive positive feedback and good detailed seller ratings (or at least not receive negative feedback).

 

[pricklypunter]

Yea, in the case of problems, I will always strike up a dialog with the seller first, the last thing anyone really wants is bad feedback. Depending on the cost of the item, I will actually begin talking with the seller before any purchase is made and gauge the sale from there on their response, most often it proves genuine, but a couple of times I have saved myself from being out of pocket I reckon

 

[raileon]

I just did my first and last "as-is" auction from one of those recyclers. Picked up a 32GB stick of DDR4 that just came in for about 120 total.

The stick is missing multiple capacitors on the back and two parts that I'm not even familiar with are half shattered off. Of course, this is all on the back of the stick and the front which is the picture they had on the listing is pristine. Gotcha!

Even if I manage to fix all those parts I'm not sure I feel safe throwing this thing in a much more expensive server. I need a cheapy motherboard to test (sacrifice) this stuff on.

 

[pricklypunter]

Take photos of both sides, and contact the seller, tell them "as-is" does not mean damaged, unless that is clearly conveyed in their description. If you get no joy from the seller, open a dispute with ebay for item significantly not as described

 

[raileon]

Take photos of both sides, and contact the seller, tell them "as-is" does not mean damaged, unless that is clearly conveyed in their description. If you get no joy from the seller, open a dispute with ebay for item significantly not as described

I wish I could since I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing with the listing picture but I don't think I have any case here. They never use the word "damaged" but they might as well have:

Condition:   
For parts or not working: An item that does not function as intended and is not fully operational. 
This includes items that are defective in ways that render them difficult to use, items that require 
service or repair, or items missing essential components. See the seller’s listing for full details

This listing is for one stick of Samsung 32GB PC4-17000 4DRx4 DDR4-2133MHz ECC Reg Memory

part #:  M386A4G40DM0-CPB2Q
Pictures are of the actual memory for sale.

This listing is for what is described and shown only.

We are a recycling company and use eBay to liquidate inventory at a fast pace.
With that said, we do NOT offer returns on any of our eBay sales. 
All Items Are being sold in AS IS condition.

Basically I gambled that the people bidding these things up so much knew something I didn't and lost the bet. =)

 

[BLinux]

I just did my first and last "as-is" auction from one of those recyclers. Picked up a 32GB stick of DDR4 that just came in for about 120 total.

The stick is missing multiple capacitors on the back and two parts that I'm not even familiar with are half shattered off. Of course, this is all on the back of the stick and the front which is the picture they had on the listing is pristine. Gotcha!

Even if I manage to fix all those parts I'm not sure I feel safe throwing this thing in a much more expensive server. I need a cheapy motherboard to test (sacrifice) this stuff on.

you know, that happened to me before too. although, in my case, the seller said the product was in fully working order, but he/she wasn't willing to take the return. it was a 3ware RAID card with 8 ports, and 1 of the ports did not work because an SMD inductor had been knocked off. I called 3ware and told them which one and they gave me the spec on the inductor and I ordered the part for $0.10+$2 shipping. Soldered it back on and the card worked perfectly. You'll need something with a needle point that can apply pressure to hold the new SMD component in place while you solder it down with a very small soldering tip. You can buy better equipment to do surface mount electronic repairs, but this was a one time thing and I wasn't going to spend that much money on tooling. Anyway, for less than $3 and some time tinkering I got a great deal on a 3ware RAID card in fully working order.

 

[pricklypunter]

As they only showed the good side of the dimm in their photo, they have effectively mislead the buyer, by accident or otherwise, also by not stating clearly in their description that the item is physically damaged. I would still have a go at them for it, as well as ebay if all else fails, but you are correct, ebay will be reluctant to get involved if the item was sold under the description of "parts or not working".

 

[raileon]

you know, that happened to me before too. although, in my case, the seller said the product was in fully working order, but he/she wasn't willing to take the return. it was a 3ware RAID card with 8 ports, and 1 of the ports did not work because an SMD inductor had been knocked off. I called 3ware and told them which one and they gave me the spec on the inductor and I ordered the part for $0.10+$2 shipping. Soldered it back on and the card worked perfectly. You'll need something with a needle point that can apply pressure to hold the new SMD component in place while you solder it down with a very small soldering tip. You can buy better equipment to do surface mount electronic repairs, but this was a one time thing and I wasn't going to spend that much money on tooling. Anyway, for less than $3 and some time tinkering I got a great deal on a 3ware RAID card in fully working order.

I actually have the equipment to do the SMD work but I just ran into a bigger problem a little while ago. I pulled off a cap to measure its value and it doesn't match the value of the same cap from another dimm that's the same model. So the one I got today must be a different revision of the design. I have no way of knowing the value for all the caps that are completely missing now unless Samsung happens to put out schematics for these things, which I doubt. Figuring out the values for the missing pieces is above my level of EE knowledge.

As they only showed the good side of the dimm in their photo, they have effectively mislead the buyer, by accident or otherwise, also by not stating clearly in their description that the item is physically damaged. I would still have a go at them for it, as well as ebay if all else fails, but you are correct, ebay will be reluctant to get involved if the item was sold under the description of "parts or not working".

I might try this and tell them that if they had posted a picture of the back in the same way they did for the front then it would have been easy to see that the stick was damaged. Don't expect anything to come of it but worth a shot.

 

[BLinux]

I actually have the equipment to do the SMD work but I just ran into a bigger problem a little while ago. I pulled off a cap to measure its value and it doesn't match the value of the same cap from another dimm that's the same model. So the one I got today must be a different revision of the design. I have no way of knowing the value for all the caps that are completely missing now unless Samsung happens to put out schematics for these things, which I doubt. Figuring out the values for the missing pieces is above my level of EE knowledge.

When you say it doesn't match, how far off are we talking here? There's always variances in manufacturing and the capacitor just has to be within a certain spec. Also, capacitors can degrade over time (though I'm not that familiar with SMD caps) I don't know for sure, but in some situations using a capacitor with a higher Farad is ok. My "hacker" mindset tells me just use the one with the higher capacitance LOL. it'll be a fun adventure... or, call up manufacturer and maybe they will tell you given the capacitor number on the board.

 

[raileon]

When you say it doesn't match, how far off are we talking here? There's always variances in manufacturing and the capacitor just has to be within a certain spec. Also, capacitors can degrade over time (though I'm not that familiar with SMD caps) I don't know for sure, but in some situations using a capacitor with a higher Farad is ok. My "hacker" mindset tells me just use the one with the higher capacitance LOL. it'll be a fun adventure... or, call up manufacturer and maybe they will tell you given the capacitor number on the board.

This one is 2.0 μF the other one is 1.5 μF. It seems like a difference bigger than just a tolerance issue.

I'd be more up for the adventure and testing your higher Farad theory if an expensive motherboard wasn't in the line of fire haha

I might do some googling for the dimm specs. Not even sure how I would approach Samsung about getting those details, the pcbs don't have labels so I would have to send pics and draw circles around the ones I need lol

 

[BLinux]

This one is 2.0 μF the other one is 1.5 μF. It seems like a difference bigger than just a tolerance issue.

I'd be more up for the adventure and testing your higher Farad theory if an expensive motherboard wasn't in the line of fire haha

I might do some googling for the dimm specs. Not even sure how I would approach Samsung about getting those details, the pcbs don't have labels so I would have to send pics and draw circles around the ones I need lol

LOL... ok, so before you take anything i say seriously, know that i have lot of friends who will not take my advice. But then again, I have more fun than they do...

To me the difference between 2.0 and 1.5 microF (how did you enter the mu symbol here?) is not much... if it were at least an order of magnitude difference then maybe i would be more concerned. I don't know what that capacitor is used for... but these are not likely high voltage situations on a DIMM. Who knows, maybe the higher capacitors will allow higher RAM overclocking! LOL

When I contacted 3ware, I just called their tech support and they emailed me the specs and a list of manufacturers they use and their part numbers. That might be unique to 3ware as I think they were a smaller outfit back then. Not sure how Samsung tech support guys will respond when you ask them for the specification of a capacitor on their DIMMs...

Again, I'm not an EE, I have degrees in physics and applied math and I like to tinker so I understand some of the theory but I don't always know what I'm talking about. My gut tells me to do things I can't always explain and more than half the time things work! I've fixed a RAID controller, some gigabit switches, car audio electronics, and some other stuff with my gut and i got lucky. but this is getting off topic....

So, I guess all these sellers on ebay selling "as-is, not working or for parts" stuff are just betting on people who like to gamble and see if they can score expensive computer parts for cheap?

 

[raileon]

LOL... ok, so before you take anything i say seriously, know that i have lot of friends who will not take my advice. But then again, I have more fun than they do...

To me the difference between 2.0 and 1.5 microF (how did you enter the mu symbol here?) is not much... if it were at least an order of magnitude difference then maybe i would be more concerned. I don't know what that capacitor is used for... but these are not likely high voltage situations on a DIMM. Who knows, maybe the higher capacitors will allow higher RAM overclocking! LOL

When I contacted 3ware, I just called their tech support and they emailed me the specs and a list of manufacturers they use and their part numbers. That might be unique to 3ware as I think they were a smaller outfit back then. Not sure how Samsung tech support guys will respond when you ask them for the specification of a capacitor on their DIMMs...

Again, I'm not an EE, I have degrees in physics and applied math and I like to tinker so I understand some of the theory but I don't always know what I'm talking about. My gut tells me to do things I can't always explain and more than half the time things work! I've fixed a RAID controller, some gigabit switches, car audio electronics, and some other stuff with my gut and i got lucky. but this is getting off topic....

So, I guess all these sellers on ebay selling "as-is, not working or for parts" stuff are just betting on people who like to gamble and see if they can score expensive computer parts for cheap?

mu = google copy/paste, no clue how to do it directly without char map, I really should by now though...

I ordered some of the 1.5 μF from mouser and the voltage they had for the size and capacitance I needed was 10 vdc. Definitely low voltage. I'm actually pretty surprised at how open 3ware was with you about the details of their product. My experience asking for much less technical details from large manufacturers in this area has been rather poor.

I'm a CS/Finance person myself but I like to mess with electronics too. Got a nice little setup with a very good soldering station, multi-meter, and my new prime day pickup of an AmScope which just got it's first big use pulling those caps off. Tinkering definitely pays off, not gonna let this dud stop me. Recently bought some brand new but broken Dell R630 mother boards that just needed a little TLC (and a dremel) and now they're working just fine.

I'm completely confused about these as-is recyclers after this little experience. The one I bought from matched your exact description in the OP, new account, low feedback. Either I pulled the short straw and got one of the few really broken parts or a lot of people are getting screwed. The prices getting paid just don't make sense.

 

[britinpdx]

(how did you enter the mu symbol here?)

In a Windows environment, use the ALT + numpad keycodes .. I use this almost every day !

For example hold down the Alt key and using the numpad (with Num Lock on) type 0181 and the character displayed will be "µ".

Others that I use a lot ..
Alt + 0153 = '™"
Alt + 0176 = "°"
Alt + 0177 = "±"
Alt + 0178 = "²"
Alt + 0188 = "¼"

There are others of course, see this list ..