Found a Deal On Used Parts, What to Look Out For?

[MikJames]

I was browsing Kijiji and came across the following already assembled for 150$ Canadian:

MSI P55 chipset motherboard (Crossfire/SLI, SATA 2/3, onboard sound)
- G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB DDR3 RAM
- Intel Core i5-760 @ 2.8GHz CPU
- Coolermaster V8 CPU heatsink & fan
- Sound Blaster X-Fi (Xtreme Fidelity) soundcard

Availability of used parts seems to be scarce in Canada which is why I am considering this.
I let the seller know that I will need to plug it into a power supply and boot off my hard drive before I would even consider taking the risk.
Anything else I should look out for if it boots up without issues?
My list so far:
Memory detected in os
cpu temp in bios
I can't completely eliminate risk, but even if all the parts except one are in working order it seems like a good deal.

I'm getting into building to sell, so I'll have to get good at judging risks like this.

 

[johnb35]

Problem is you'll need to reinstall windows as you won't be able to boot from an existing hard drive with windows already on it as the hardware is different.

Thats an older generation I5 cpu so its not the latest and greatest. Not sure how long the seller will let you test it out before payment.

 

[MikJames]

Not the latest and greatest no but not a bad price either. Maybe a Linux live cd then
I'm not sure if the seller will let me test either, but if they want my money they won't have much choice.

 

[spirit]

I used to own an i5 760. It was a great CPU back when I owned one about 3-4 years ago and the i5 2500K I replaced it with 3 years ago and still use today with isn't that much faster, so I'm sure the i5 760 is still a good CPU.

For $150 it seems pretty good. The P55 boards were the good boards for that socket and finding an LGA 1156 board with SATA 6GBps can be a challenge (I know because I ended up buying a board with SATA 6GBps used when I had an i5 760!) so it seems like a decent deal if all of the components work.

Has the CPU been overclocked before? Might be worth finding that out too.

 

[MikJames]

Response from seller: "I have someone coming to look at it but I let you know if they don't buy"
Hmmm, my sketch detector is translating that to: "I don't want to sell it to you because you would find out i'm selling no longer functional parts to whatever sucker I can find"
But we'll see

 

[MyCattMaxx]

He probably does have someone coming to look at it.
Usually whoever commits first gets the luxury of having it put on hold until they buy it or turn it down.
If you would have committed and set up a time before the other inquired he would be told what the seller told you.

Edit: He put "All items are in perfect condition and fully functional, guaranteed." in his ad so I really doubt he is trying to scam someone, especially since the buyer will know where he lives.

 

[spirit]

Response from seller: "I have someone coming to look at it but I let you know if they don't buy"
Hmmm, my sketch detector is translating that to: "I don't want to sell it to you because you would find out i'm selling no longer functional parts to whatever sucker I can find"
But we'll see

He probably does have someone coming to look at it.
Usually whoever commits first gets the luxury of having it put on hold until they buy it or turn it down.
If you would have committed and set up a time before the other inquired he would be told what the seller told you.

Edit: He put "All items are in perfect condition and fully functional, guaranteed." in his ad so I really doubt he is trying to scam someone, especially since the buyer will know where he lives.

I have to agree with Maxx here. There probably is somebody coming to look at it and to be honest if they come along and buy it then that's that. He's not waiting for you, he's just waiting for somebody to buy it and $150 for an i5 760 and P55 setup with 8GB of RAM, a Coolermaster V8 and a sound card thrown is a very good deal, so somebody who is looking to build a fairly high-end system on a budget will snap this up quickly!

If you keep asking him if it works OK and keep questioning his ad in your conversations he'll probably begin to get a bit annoyed by you. Is there anything in particular about this ad that makes you think that this sale is not genuine or that the components are not working as advertised?

 

[MikJames]

He probably does have someone coming to look at it.
Usually whoever commits first gets the luxury of having it put on hold until they buy it or turn it down.
If you would have committed and set up a time before the other inquired he would be told what the seller told you.

Edit: He put "All items are in perfect condition and fully functional, guaranteed." in his ad so I really doubt he is trying to scam someone, especially since the buyer will know where he lives.

If you really believe that then it's amazing you haven't been scammed quite a few times yourself.
Of course a good scam artist would put up a good ad, otherwise no one but the simplest people would ever get scammed.
Nor did the seller post their address or indicate they are selling out of their home.

There aren't a lot of red flags here but i don't generally buy things without a warranty and without an indication they are working, it would be moronic.
Even if I went back to the seller's house with dead parts there is hardly any way to know for certain whether the parts weren't working when they left the seller.
If you sell something in "perfect working condition" you let people try it out. Then you eliminate the possibility of the buyer frying the parts and coming back to knock down your door

 

[MyCattMaxx]

I've bought plenty of stuff from only a picture and description, haven't been burned once.
It was also obvious that he was nearby since you stated that you would need to hook it up first and I doubt that would happen at McDonald's or were you expecting him to ship it you to test before he gets paid?. If so talk about someone being a sucker.
You also said he said someone was coming over to look at it so it seems obvious he is selling from home or a business he owns.
In any case I'm done with this thread since I don't like being insulted as to my intelligence.

 

[MikJames]

Yes well, your very lucky then. I haven't had such luck. Moronic was probably to strong a word, unnecessary would be more descriptive of buying things without knowing they work. Why take a chance?

 

[kam]

Response from seller: "I have someone coming to look at it but I let you know if they don't buy"
Hmmm, my sketch detector is translating that to: "I don't want to sell it to you because you would find out i'm selling no longer functional parts to whatever sucker I can find"
But we'll see

Ha! Classic.

 

[beers]

This thread is needlessly dramatic.

Most of the time, even a post test is a luxury. You can't really expect someone to allow you to run memtest or something for hours.

If that's out of your comfort zone then you'd be better off researching another offer.

 

[MikJames]

No not memory stress testing, I would just like to confirm the memory actually functions.
I would literally be wasting minutes of the seller's time for a post test and boot into linux, not hours.