I Bought RAM and an NVMe on eBay, Here’s How It Went

While eBay is simply a large spot to find each sorts of items, from apparel and collectibles to utilized electronics. However, it's not typically the archetypal spot you'd deliberation of erstwhile buying caller machine hardware. Nevertheless, I took the plunge. Here's however it went.

Why I Bought the Hardware connected eBay from a Seller successful China

If you're speechmaking this, there's a bully accidental you're from the US. This means you person entree to affordable machine hardware that you tin bargain connected a big of antithetic sites, specified arsenic Amazon, Newegg, and Micro Center.

Unfortunately, I unrecorded successful Europe, wherever hardware tends to beryllium a spot pricier than successful the US owed to taxes and import duties. Being a bargain hunter, I'm ever looking for ways to prevention money. By the way, that's however I ended up buying an AMD Ryzen 7 7700 connected AliExpress, afloat alert that I astir apt won't beryllium getting a warranty connected the $200 portion of hardware.

I figured I'd effort doing the aforesaid with representation and storage. Since AliExpress didn't person immoderate bully deals, I turned to eBay instead, which has a amazingly ample enactment of caller hardware from sellers crossed the globe.

Aside from Newegg's authoritative eBay store (which has costly shipping for my location), astir of the RAM and NVMe listings with bully prices were from chartless sellers from China. After immoderate scrolling, I recovered a decent woody connected a Crucial DDR5 32GB Kit and P3 Plus M.2 NVMe, and I pulled the trigger.

It Arrived Surprisingly Well Packaged

When the bundle arrived aft 15 days, I was instantly amazed by however robust the packaging was. Honestly, it looked similar it could past being dropped retired of a plane—the RAM and NVMe were that well-protected.

The products came successful genuine, factory-sealed Crucial packaging—identical to what you'd find successful immoderate retail store, implicit with English text. This gave maine precocious hopes for the existent hardware.

The RAM and NVMe Work Without Issue

After installing the components into my caller PC, I was pleasantly amazed to spot my strategy footwear up instantly without immoderate errors. The BIOS confirmed that my strategy had 32GB of RAM, and determination was an EXPO preset that allowed maine to tally the RAM astatine the advertised speeds. Storage showed up arsenic well, and the Windows 11 Installer instantly recognized the 2TB.

After mounting up Windows, I installed CPU-Z and confirmed that the RAM ran astatine 6000MHz with a CAS latency of 36. That further confirmed that it was a modular acceptable of Crucial Pro Overclocking RAM, and not a defective portion that had slipped done prime power and recovered its mode onto the grey market.

It's really been a mates of months since I bought this RAM and NVMe, and I'm blessed to study that everything inactive works precisely arsenic expected. I've been gaming and moving connected this PC for 8 to 10 hours a day, and the NVMe is filled to the brim with games, and it inactive hasn't slowed down.

Was eBay Worth the Hassle?

For me, buying connected eBay was worthy it. The prices I paid ($93 for the RAM, $128 for the NVMe) weren't mind-blowing, but the hardware was inactive cheaper than buying locally.

I saved astir $15 connected the RAM, different $20 connected the NVMe, and different $7 connected shipping. That $42 of savings is simply a decent chunk of change—enough for a caller acceptable of keyboard keycaps and switches, a lightweight gaming mouse, oregon a mates of other case fans.

However, if you're fortunate capable to person entree to large online retailers similar Amazon, eBay mightiness not really beryllium worthy it. If the terms quality is lone a fewer bucks, you're astir apt amended disconnected buying from a store that guarantees acquisition extortion and a warranty.

In immoderate cases, you tin adjacent get a worse woody connected eBay. For example, the aforesaid NVMe that I bought for $128 is presently listed for $121.99 connected Amazon, and the RAM is lone astir $2 much expensive. Plus, they often spell connected sale, truthful you tin get them for adjacent cheaper.

That said, eBay is inactive a bully enactment for uncovering used machine hardware oregon tracking down precise circumstantial products.

For instance, I precocious upgraded my laptop's RAM, and I needed to get the aforesaid SK Hynix DDR4 module to guarantee dual-channel memory support. After my affirmative acquisition buying RAM and the NVMe for my PC, eBay was the evident prime for laptop RAM arsenic well, which resulted successful yet different palmy purchase.