Hi everyone.

What is your strategy for finding a good price on hardware?

I hear Amazon is a ripoff for Raspberry Pi, and most hardware reviews read like product placements.

I bought my latest ssd from Frame.work because I want the company to survive. I am in the market for SD cards and Rpi which they don't sell. I also want to buy off-topic hardware that will last a long time, such as a propane burner and a high capacity li-ion/solar panel combo.

I tried finding an existing thread for this topic; sorry if I missed it.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Depending on the type of hardware I am looking for I check with tiger direct, newegg, and ebay for electronic stuff. For other types of hardware I check with ebay and overstock dot com.

You needed to say where you are! I assume you're in the USA, since USians do tend to think that everyone is, but you might be in Tierra del Fuego for all I know.

I'm in Ireland which is a blot on the map laft of Britain, which is a blot on the map north of Europe. I get ripped off with postal charges, but I find AliExpress is usually worth a check if local suppliers fail.

Yes, I am in the US. I understand that in some ways we get a first served discount.

You are unlikely to find RPi for some time to come yet, 2023/4 maybe, it's down to all the chip shortages worldwide; I've recently bought a couple of thin clients instead of RPi, (though I do already have a 4B/4GB & a 400).

I've been buying pre used off Ebay sellers for several years now, I've got some good kit at sensible prices, but I've noticed prices seem to be going up again - time to consolidate what I already have - of course, they all run Linux now.

There's a good supply on aliexpress, although most of the offers are unrealistically complete kits.

For RasPi I've used Amazon (prices can be OK, depending on exactly what you want).

I've also used pimoroni from the UK.

Locally, RS Components are good, just remember to add the relevant VAT to their website prices as they are geared more towards business, if you're in the Dublin area and they still offer the same day delivery they generally aren't joking.

To be honest, Amazon is my main supplier of hardware, certainly better than some of the large mark-ups that go on in the Irish market.

I window shop across the Internet until I learn the going rate for whatever I want to buy. Then I buy what I want on eBay.

Second hand computers are usually good bargains because older versions of Windows have no value. Other second hand pieces of equipment like screens or keyboards in excellent condition will sell fairly close to the new price. Avoid equipment selling for parts because repairing most electronic components costs more than just buying it new.

With eBay there are two other things to consider besides price and age. The reputation of the seller is important. Look at all of the seller's low ratings. If they are mostly slow delivery then there is nothing to worry about. Otherwise beware of sellers with a bad reputation. The other consideration is when a product is made in China. If the product is branded by a reputable brand name like HP or Memorex for example then made in China is OK. But avoid no-name brands made in China.

If I am bidding on eBay instead of "Buy it Now" my bidding strategy is to decide on the highest price that I am willing to pay for an item and then enter that bid in the last 10 seconds of the auction.

I tend to get quite a few things off Ebay. For computer hardware I run my machine's till they are dead. For my load and usage my current i7 3770 + RX570 is plenty more than I need. The exceptions to the ebay thing are ssd's, hard drives for the server, and power supplies. Won't buy those 2nd hand if I can help it.

Craigslist has been good to me as well a few times. Is where I got my 16gb ram kit for my desktop and my server. Both doing just fine and solid thus far after a number of years.

*EDIT* I suppose now is a bad time for graphics cards on ebay. Crypto drop lots of miners dumping their cards, who knows how bad those things have been worked without proper cooling or whatever they did to them.

These are all great insights, especially that ebay bidding strategy. Thanks!

I am thinking about buying a new Framework mainboard even though I can't justify it right now. When I learn enough to build my webserver and mine crypto I might wish I had it lying around.

For new as opposed to used equipment Microcenter brick and mortar stores can be good if you have access to one. Everything they sell is on the website, so you can shop online at home and just drop in for 15 minutes to pay and pickup. If you don't pick up, after a few days they re-shelve & you owe nothing. YMMV may vary but in NYC are they are good on returns in person to the store during the allowed period (usually 15 to 30 days- you should ask return terms when picking up). In my experience, on any item they allow returns on (some they don't), they just take it back & give a full refund (with receipt), they don't make you give a justification.