The days of bargains are over!

As a gadget lover, one thing I have always enjoyed is looking out for a second hand bargain. After all, there are so many devices out there that it is impossible to buy one of everything brand new. I for one would be in serious debt if I did that, and unfortunately for me I am not a famous tech blogger - so therefore manufacturers don't feel obliged send me gadgets for free so I can test them.

However, a great place to look for such bargains used to be online auction sites. There was a time when you could find great deals on a wide range of technology between 1-3 years old. Things like laptops, smartphones, tablets, games consoles etc!

This seems to have changed in recent times however, and from a selling point of view, auction sites are now less used by the person on the street and more by small businesses trying to make a profit.

As a result, if I search for something like an iPad 2 (16GB WIFI only) - I will probably find at least 50 matches, but in terms of price they won't be too far away from the full retail price of a brand new iPad 2 (which Apple still manufacture for sale here in the UK at £329.00).

What is even more extraordinary than the level of these prices, is the fact that people actually seem willing to pay them? I often look at an item and think that it is ridiculously overpriced considering its age and condition, but then I see that the item has several bidders and that in all probability it will end up exceeding the sellers reserve price by quite some margin. This absolutely baffles me!

So why are people willing to pay so much for a second hand product, when they could get exactly the same product brand new for as little as £10.00-£20.00 more in some cases? I wish I knew the answer!

This pattern is not exclusive to online auction sites either. A chain of retail stores that buy and sell second hand technology also seem to be well practiced in the art of "buy low" and "sell high".

Let me give you a few examples.  I picked out a few random second hand devices and searched for them on an online auction site, and also on the website of a second hand High Street Tech Dealer.  Average prices came out as follows;

Device	Capacity	Average Online Auction Price	Average High Street 2nd Hand Price
iPad 1	16gb WIFI only	£239.95	£270.00
iPad 1	64gb WIFI only	£499.99	£300.00
iPad 2	16gb WIFI only	£304.99	£360.00
iPad 2	64gb WIFI only	£449.99	£430.00
Samsung G S2	16gb	£309.99	£285.00
Nokia Lumia 800	16gb	£259.99	£220.00
iPhone 4	16gb	£379.99	£355.00
HTC One X	32gb	£389.00	£350.00

So on first impressions the 16GB iPad 1 from the online auction site is actually not too unreasonably priced at £239.95.  This takes into account that this is a two and a half year old product which will likely perform very sluggishly on iOS 5, and won't be able to update to iOS 6 at all when it is released later this year.

Because of this, many newer Apps will not run on the device and the user experience will be quite limited in many ways.  Still, the price is not too bad I would say - on the assumption that this is the winning bid (which of course it may not be).

£270.00 from the second hand high street store however just seems way too excessive for me.  Apples cheapest brand new iPad is currently just £329.00 (this being the iPad 2) so a difference of just £59.00 is absolutely not good enough for me!

This brings me to the 16GB iPad 2.  An average online auction price of £304.00 is bad enough, but £360.00 from the second hand high street store is just plain ridiculous.  Why would you pay more for a second hand product when you can get the same thing brand new from Apple for £329.00?  I am absolutely staggered by this!

The iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S2 also seem very costly considering these are no longer the newest models in the range from Apple and Samsung.  However, the HTC One X and Nokia Lumia 800 are current products, and these prices are probably a fair reflection of their value.

So what is behind this inflated price structure when it comes to second hand gadgets, and why are so many consumers falling for this and actually paying too much for such devices?  Does the average person in the street not realize that they are not getting value for money, or are they just happy to get any sort of reduction no matter how small?  That I can understand in a way, but for anyone to pay more for a second hand device than it costs to buy it brand new is just utter madness!

I think it's a shame that it's now so hard to find a great deal on a piece of second hand technology.  Surely there must still be some other way of getting a fair deal on second hand gem?  If anyone knows how, I'd love you to tell me!

Take care!
Peter