Buying used hardware: five things to verify first

Buying used industrial and networking hardware is mostly a question of what you can verify before the money moves. A short checklist.

1. Insist on photographs of the actual unit

A stock render tells you what the model looks like. It tells you nothing about the item you will receive. If a seller cannot show you the unit itself — including its label and serial — you are buying a description, not a device.

2. Check the part number against the photograph, not the title

Titles get copied between listings. Labels do not. Where a title and a label disagree, the label is the truth. We flag these discrepancies on our own listings rather than quietly hoping nobody notices.

3. Ask what "tested" means

It is a word that carries very different weight from seller to seller. For us it means the unit was powered up and put through its functions on the bench before it was listed.

4. Understand the warranty

Ours is 30 days from delivery on everything except items sold explicitly for parts. A unit that arrives dead is replaced at our cost. Anything vaguer than that is worth a question.

5. Confirm what is actually in the box

Power supplies, rack ears, cables and licences are frequently the difference between a bargain and a project. Ask before, not after.