I can't name companies, they're not only getting recycling contracts, they also have employees dedicated to prowling eBay and buying up private sales of 'popular' items. Now we all know the counter argument of it being a free market and capitalism etc etc etc...
However, keep in mind that when you find something really good, and the seller has a fair few in quantity to offload at totally realistic affordable prices, if you do list it in the Great Deals section, the companies I shall not name will buy up everything, yes they prowl here!. After a week or so, the same stuff miraculously appears back on eBay at nearly twice or close to list price even though it is no longer sold by manufacturer.
Unfortunately we cannot stop this, because we have no idea who is who and there really isn't any point in even making the Great Deals section for members only considering the additional counter argument of SEO advantages etc, plus it would be impossible to 'vet' members.
However to give you an idea of what I grabbed off of ebay in the past 6 months within minutes of items being listed and YES this hardware is for personal use as I'm forever changing things (restless techie in a way I guess, I'm never happy)...
1) Quadro 4000 RTX for £300 - brand new.
2) Samsung PM1725A 6.4tb x 2 - £500 - brand new.
3) Once purchasing the Samsung AICs, the seller also sold an off-list server to me, £2000 (though I had to collect) for a brand new Dell R840 with 4 platinum 8170 cpus and 256gb. The gent was basically selling up hardware kept in storage at his design company who closed down their IT department and outsourced everything to Lanware. This server is currently being borrowed by a friend as I don't need it right now and more than happy for it to be put to good use until I do need the extra horsepower.
Now the Quadro seller had 3 more RTX's available, sold in a flash literally a minute after mine. I asked him who they were all sold to, he told me the name, and it is the one company I absolutely despise on eBay because I've known them to grab everything, they have the budget to do so and then the nerve to bang everything back on at literally less than 20% off list prices, but they add the "We warrant all our items for xyz long" so I guess they're in a sweet spot with small/mid-size businesses at the expense of homelabs.
There really is no full-proof way of sharing great deals without these stooges of reseller businesses getting wind, so unfortunately I refuse to share deals going forward in the best interests of fellow homelabs. I have no idea why ebay likes me so much as it is constantly throwing amazing deals in my face, but when I search for said item using my other half's account it doesn't even appear.
I just hope fellow homelab'ers eBay search skills and timing are good enough to grab what they can before such businesses buy up everything, because these businesses are our worst enemies and I've noticed more and more joining their fold as homelabs is now a 'thing' where once it was the niche of uber-geeks. But as I said earlier, there is nothing we can do about it, but we can slow them down by not mentioning great deals where a large number of items are being sold on ebay.
I think all need to remember that plenty fellow homelab'ers are prowling ebay waiting for such items to appear at reasonable prices, but by listing in the Great Deals section, we effectively are potentially taking that opportunity away from them by placing a homing-beacon on said listing for resellers to horde.
I suggest calling this 'pro-active damage control' in the best interests of Homelab budgets.
I appreciate the above topic is a fairly emotional one for some, but it is what it is, a real issue which is getting worse.
However, keep in mind that when you find something really good, and the seller has a fair few in quantity to offload at totally realistic affordable prices, if you do list it in the Great Deals section, the companies I shall not name will buy up everything, yes they prowl here!. After a week or so, the same stuff miraculously appears back on eBay at nearly twice or close to list price even though it is no longer sold by manufacturer.
Unfortunately we cannot stop this, because we have no idea who is who and there really isn't any point in even making the Great Deals section for members only considering the additional counter argument of SEO advantages etc, plus it would be impossible to 'vet' members.
However to give you an idea of what I grabbed off of ebay in the past 6 months within minutes of items being listed and YES this hardware is for personal use as I'm forever changing things (restless techie in a way I guess, I'm never happy)...
1) Quadro 4000 RTX for £300 - brand new.
2) Samsung PM1725A 6.4tb x 2 - £500 - brand new.
3) Once purchasing the Samsung AICs, the seller also sold an off-list server to me, £2000 (though I had to collect) for a brand new Dell R840 with 4 platinum 8170 cpus and 256gb. The gent was basically selling up hardware kept in storage at his design company who closed down their IT department and outsourced everything to Lanware. This server is currently being borrowed by a friend as I don't need it right now and more than happy for it to be put to good use until I do need the extra horsepower.
Now the Quadro seller had 3 more RTX's available, sold in a flash literally a minute after mine. I asked him who they were all sold to, he told me the name, and it is the one company I absolutely despise on eBay because I've known them to grab everything, they have the budget to do so and then the nerve to bang everything back on at literally less than 20% off list prices, but they add the "We warrant all our items for xyz long" so I guess they're in a sweet spot with small/mid-size businesses at the expense of homelabs.
There really is no full-proof way of sharing great deals without these stooges of reseller businesses getting wind, so unfortunately I refuse to share deals going forward in the best interests of fellow homelabs. I have no idea why ebay likes me so much as it is constantly throwing amazing deals in my face, but when I search for said item using my other half's account it doesn't even appear.
I just hope fellow homelab'ers eBay search skills and timing are good enough to grab what they can before such businesses buy up everything, because these businesses are our worst enemies and I've noticed more and more joining their fold as homelabs is now a 'thing' where once it was the niche of uber-geeks. But as I said earlier, there is nothing we can do about it, but we can slow them down by not mentioning great deals where a large number of items are being sold on ebay.
I think all need to remember that plenty fellow homelab'ers are prowling ebay waiting for such items to appear at reasonable prices, but by listing in the Great Deals section, we effectively are potentially taking that opportunity away from them by placing a homing-beacon on said listing for resellers to horde.
I suggest calling this 'pro-active damage control' in the best interests of Homelab budgets.
I appreciate the above topic is a fairly emotional one for some, but it is what it is, a real issue which is getting worse.
Last edited:
