The Gaming PC Refurbishing Experiment

[UltraMega]

Just scored a 5600X for $108 on ebay. Usually they got for $~150, maybe $130 if you get lucky with an auction. 

 

Sometimes sellers just want to sell though, and are not interested in playing the ebay system to maximize their profits. This listing was pretty recent, lucky I saw it before someone else did. 

 

Got the GeForce 3060 12GB for $230 yesterday. 

[UltraMega]

5 PCs worth of parts on the way ranging from GeForce 3060 12GB/5600x config to GeForce 3080 10GB/Ryzen 7700. 

 

so weird that the low end has more ram. 

[UltraMega]

[ENTERPRISE]

On 25/08/2023 at 06:19, UltraMega said:

Nice, so are these already orders I assume?

[UltraMega]

5 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Nice, so are these already orders I assume?

No not yet, these are not even listed yet. Going to take some good pics of them all soon and then list them all on Etsy at the same time and see what happens. I've got two more on top of these three to build that are still waiting on parts. 

 

I'm hoping that having a few different options will help them sell pretty quick. Basically I'm past the "will it sell?" phase and moving into the "how many can I sell?" phase. 

[ENTERPRISE]

4 hours ago, UltraMega said:

No not yet, these are not even listed yet. Going to take some good pics of them all soon and then list them all on Etsy at the same time and see what happens. I've got two more on top of these three to build that are still waiting on parts. 

 

I'm hoping that having a few different options will help them sell pretty quick. Basically I'm past the "will it sell?" phase and moving into the "how many can I sell?" phase. 

 

Well if you are selling them at a steady pace then it does not hurt to have some stock and sell them as custom pre builds. 

[neurotix]

Looking forward to the specs/photos!

[UltraMega]

4 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

 

Well if you are selling them at a steady pace then it does not hurt to have some stock and sell them as custom pre builds. 

That's the plan! And that's what I have been doing, just one at a time before now. With just one listed at a time so far, when one has sold that means there is nothing listed again for a week or two while I wait for the sale clear and reorder parts and all that. Now I won't have those gaps in listings, unless all the listings sell within a few days of each other. 

[UltraMega]

Currently have 3 PCs listed with 2 more planned pending parts. 

 

All are B550 motherobards with wifi, 2TB nvme ~5000mb/s SSDs, 32GBs 3600mhz DDR4 ram/ Thermaltake 700w PSUs.

 

PC 1: 5600X / 3060 12GB listed for $950

PC 2: 5700X / 3060 12GB listed for $1050

PC 3: 5700X / 3070 8GB listed for $1150

 

Took some pics for the listing new pics for the listings. Here are a few:

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by UltraMega

[UltraMega]

Sold two PCs yesterday, one local and one online. 

 

Pebuilding is continuing to work out for me so far. 

[ENTERPRISE]

4 hours ago, UltraMega said:

Sold two PCs yesterday, one local and one online. 

 

Pebuilding is continuing to work out for me so far. 

Awesome news bud

[neurotix]

That's great dude. You do really good work. Congrats.

[SACBALLZani]

I support this thread! About to delid my 11900k that I bought after 12th gen released, not the best i9 admittedly but I also paid 40% of retail for it. Just bought a z590 Hero board as well for $250 brand new sealed in box. Upgrading my 3080 to a 3090, hopefully will serve me well for atleast 3 more years.

[Avacado]

40 minutes ago, SACBALLZani said:

I support this thread! About to delid my 11900k that I bought after 12th gen released, not the best i9 admittedly but I also paid 40% of retail for it. Just bought a z590 Hero board as well for $250 brand new sealed in box. Upgrading my 3080 to a 3090, hopefully will serve me well for atleast 3 more years.

Glad to see you made it over from OCN! Welcome to the forums bro.

[neurotix]

Welcome!

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, SACBALLZani said:

I support this thread! About to delid my 11900k that I bought after 12th gen released, not the best i9 admittedly but I also paid 40% of retail for it. Just bought a z590 Hero board as well for $250 brand new sealed in box. Upgrading my 3080 to a 3090, hopefully will serve me well for atleast 3 more years.

Welcome!

[SACBALLZani]

cheers boys thanks 

[UltraMega]

1 hour ago, SACBALLZani said:

I support this thread! About to delid my 11900k that I bought after 12th gen released, not the best i9 admittedly but I also paid 40% of retail for it. Just bought a z590 Hero board as well for $250 brand new sealed in box. Upgrading my 3080 to a 3090, hopefully will serve me well for atleast 3 more years.

That's the logic. CPUs that are a gen or two behind and usually only ~15% or so weaker end up being around 50% cheaper, maybe more sometimes. It's just a good way to get more for the money in general, at least for CPUs and GPUs. I wouldn't do it with anything other than a CPU or GPU since those tend to last a long time as long as their thermals are kept in check. it especially makes sense for 1440p/4K gaming where the demand lies more on the GPU. 

 

 

Most of the CPUs and GPUs I buy used and don't send back are in such good condition, they might as well be new. Sometimes better than new, because a lot of GPUs will come with the thermal pads and paste replaced which clears up any Vram throttling issues in a lot of cases. I've never had a long-term issue with any of the parts I've bought used, thus far. If there is an issue, it will be apparent right away and I'll just send it back for a refund or fix it myself.

 

I send back so many GPUs on ebay that I had to talk to an ebay rep about it because my account got flagged for doing so many returns, but when the rep looked at my account and saw how much hardware I was buying in general (the vast majority of which does not get sent back), and I explained to him that I buy these parts and then simply test them, and if they fail the testing for any reason I send them back (if I don't fix them myself). He completely understood and he essentially gave me the green light to continue doing that. The issue I have most often is thermals. If a GPU runs at 100% fan speed and is very loud during testing, I consider that failing the testing and I may send it back. Sometimes sellers get butt hurt about that, but they just have to live with it. If a GPU is listed as working normally, to me that means it doesn't have thermal issues. That said, I also will redo the thermal pastes and pads myself sometimes, it's just a case by case basis. 

 

I had one that was a Gainward 3070 with a giant heatsink and the fans were ramping up real loud. I knew there had to be an issue with the pads because the GPU temp wasn't that bad and the heatsink was more than big enough for a 3070. When I took the thermal pads off, they had clearly been replaced recently but there were two squares of pads that still had the plastic cover on one side, and it had melted onto the heatsink to become like glue. I removed it, redid the pads, and the fans were normal after. So sometimes you do have to put a little work into it, and be willing to send something back and piss off a seller who is just looking to offload poor condition GPUs, but it's a solid way to go as long as you're OK with those factors. I've gotten it down to a really good routine. 


It would be interesting to see what the results in gaming benchmarks/performance would be on a 100% new system with no profit involved in the cost (like someone building a PC for themselves) vs a PC sold for a ~$150 profit with a used CPU and GPU, if the overall cost to the buyer were the same. I think in anything other than 1080p CSGO style gaming, the used PC would probably pull ahead. 

[UltraMega]

Just an update on this. 

 

I've sold 3 PCs on Etsy since I started doing Etsy, and one or two locally that were prebuilds. Some of the Etsy orders I thought I had were scams and payment didn't clear (nothing shipped), so 3 total real Etsy sales. Admittedly, the Etsy PCs haven't been moving as fast as I would like them to, so for the next build I am building something less catered to buyer looking for a solid PC at a good price and more catered to women, so my next build will be a white case with a white heatsink and rbg fans. 

 

My last Etsy buyer told me his girlfriend picked out the PC for him and that made it clear to me I need to do more to appeal to female buyers. 

 

I still think Etsy will be a great way to sell PCs, but to have the most success I'll need to adapt more so to Etsy's core audience. 

 

I also think once I have 5 or reviews built up on Etsy, it will be a lot easier to sell. So still in the start up phase here as far as Etsy, but the path the success with selling prebuilds still seems entirely doable. 

[Supercrumpet]

This is honestly the first I've seen of this thread since I browse forums so sporadically, but this is really interesting to follow along with. I've thought about doing something similar for years but I've never been in a good position to. Maybe once I have the space to actually move around hardware like this, it could be an interesting way to make a buck on the side, and I've always enjoyed doing builds for friends and family as well. Keep up the great work, and I hope things keep trending positively for you!

[UltraMega]

This white case is way bigger than I expected... 

Edited September 28, 2023 by UltraMega

[UltraMega]

Took me a while to get this one settled. First case was too big and had some other issues. Swapped it out for a smaller case. Hoping this one sells easier on Etsy since it's white and most of the users on Etsy are women. 

 

 

[UltraMega]

So, it looks like the Etsy part of this whole experiment is over, at least for now, seeing as I just got banned on Etsy. 

 

Yesterday I spent some time trying to improve my Etsy listings and after looking at other listings that seem to be getting traction, I figured I needed to add some text that was basically a "why buy from me" statement. Seeing other listing doing this, I tried to do the same thing and I mentioned in my listings that I used to work as a manager at Digital Storm. Less than 24 hours later, I got banned with no warning and no reason given for the ban. 

 

Etsy deals with a lot of IP theft and I get that they are very cut throat about it when the product being sold is infringing on IP, but the mere mention of a previous work experience seemed like fair game for Etsy to me buy I guess I was wrong. I did think to myself, perhaps mentioning another company even as work experience might be problematic, but I figured if it was I would get some kind of notice instead of a total ban. 

 

After looking into this, it seems Etsy has gained a ton of seller in the last year or so, probably due to so many people looking for extra ways to make money from home ever since the pandemic. They're over saturated with sellers and are very happy to get rid of them.

 

In total I sold 3 PCs on Etsy and got another 12 fake orders from people using bad payment methods and trying to get me to ship before payment failed to clear, which I of course never fell for. So while this is pretty annoying, Etsy wasn't working as well as I'd hoped anyway, which isn't too surprising as gaming PCs are really not the kind of thing that does well on Etsy anyway. 

 

 

I just renewed my business license, and I plan to try to become a seller on Newegg and Amazon if possible as soon as my license comes in the mail, so maybe I will still find an avenue for this eventually. For now, this is basically on hold. 

 

If anyone is interested in one of the three PCs I still have, let me know. Just going to be selling them at cost for now and try again if and when I get signed up for Newegg and Amazon. 

 

I've got a 5700X/3060 12GB, a 5700X 3070, and an AMD 7700 3070Ti currently available. The highest tier one would be like $900 at cost, plus shipping. I know probably no one here is interested, but just figured I'd mention it. 

[GanjaSMK]

Oh man I was hoping this was gonna end up with; 

 

"UltraMega on ETSY is the newest, hottest PC part picker and maker to buy from." 

 

Dude, perma banned? Seems shady IMHO. But I'm also sure it left a bad vibe anyway. 

 

I know you're looking at this as a simple side-hustle and not knowing your own situation (job/family/etc) I can bet it's time consuming beyond the building on top of life. Have you considered hosting/free hosting a cheap site you can link to in some of your ads and/or at least give folks a place to see "you" for you instead of being crammed in with 1000's of other sellers (NE/AMZ)? 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by GanjaSMK

[UltraMega]

35 minutes ago, GanjaSMK said:

Oh man I was hoping this was gonna end up with; 

 

"UltraMega on ETSY is the newest, hottest PC part picker and maker to buy from." 

 

Dude, perma banned? Seems shady IMHO. But I'm also sure it left a bad vibe anyway. 

 

I know you're looking at this as a simple side-hustle and not knowing your own situation (job/family/etc) I can bet it's time consuming beyond the building on top of life. Have you considered hosting/free hosting a cheap site you can link to in some of your ads and/or at least give folks a place to see "you" for you instead of being crammed in with 1000's of other sellers (NE/AMZ)? 

 

 

 

I did setup the store function on my local computer repair website, but that's only local so I don't really expect it to get used. 

 

My next step will be to sign up for Amazon and Newegg as a seller, and try selling PCs from there. Should be doable, just waiting on some paperwork to come in the mail before I can try. 

 

It's not 100% for sure a perma ban yet, I am waiting for them to reply to my appeal which takes a long time apparently, but I'm not hopeful based on what I've read about it. Etsy seems like a pretty terrible platform when it comes to customer support in general, and there are better places to sell PCs, Etsy was just an easy place to get started. If anything, I'm actually glad it motivated me to move on to bigger selling sites. 

 

It is a bummer the way Etsy handles this kind of thing. I've never felt so disrespected by a business before. They're clearly over-saturated with sellers and very ban happy because of it.