Discussion What has happened to Anandtech?

[ricleo2]

A long time ago I discovered Anandtech, when Anand was just a 16 year old kid. Overtime, this website spurned my interest in all things computer. It also helped me with getting the info I needed to advance at my job. And I used to sell my old stuff with no problem, and having fun with it to boot. Now I can't get any serious takers for my stuff. Just guys asking highly technical questions I know nothing about. I haven't had to bump my for sale thread any wheres like I used too. I tried the old Tom's Hardware website to sell my stuff also and it is worse. Where in the vast web is the best place to sell old computer stuff nowadays? Thanks.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

sad to say... but reddit.com

 

[Sean53221]

I too have been on Anand since forever. I bought one of those first Sony digital cameras that wrote its photos to 3.5” floppy disks(!). I’ve had a lot of fun sales and purchases and interactions.

IMHO, most of the buy sell stuff has moved to Reddit on such subs as /r/hardwareswap, or maybe to eBay. It’s a shame forums like Anand and [H] and such seem to have migrated. I liked a smaller community than reddit or eBay. My heatware join date says something like 1/1/2000.

I feel many of the same things you’ve expressed.

 

[UsandThem]

Moved from the FS/FT forum as there is nothing for sale or trade listed.

AT Mod Usandthem

 

[SamirD]

I haven't been trading very long (just a few years), but reddit hardwareswap is definitely the most active place, but others like toms, here, and hf also have 'cycles' in which at times there will be tons of stuff and at other times, nearly none. I don't know the cycles off-hand, but I know summers seem to be more active.

That all being said, knowing where your audience is for a particular item is just as important as where you post it. A full server rack will garner little interest here and vice versa a full gaming rig will garner little interest on a site dedicated to enterprise servers.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

i agree on the cycles... i have been an active trader on forums for years ( i miss PimpRig aka Pcapex)

Reddit has way more users and traffic to the hardwareswap sub-reddit. but at the same time, it is a much scarier place to trade.

i have been almost ripped off twice, when doing a wtb thread, where i sent payment and the user never sent the item. (paypal refunded both times)

In my years on the fourms, this is a much safer place to do trades.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Actually if you look at the trends people building there own computers are not as many as years ago when I build my first computer!

Then when you go to FS/FT forum and people have stuff for sale, for what they are asking for stuff, if you compare the price to what new would cost those sellers are charging almost what it would cost to buy a 100% unused new piece with a warranty.....

Sometimes sellers can be there own worse enemy@!

 

[ElFenix]

Actually if you look at the trends people building there own computers are not as many as years ago when I build my first computer!
!

Due to all the various computer building shows on YouTube and the popularity of the various subreddits, I doubt that.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Due to all the various computer building shows on YouTube and the popularity of the various subreddits, I doubt that.

You could be correct! But I would bet you that there are far less computer builders than 10 years ago, mainly due to the fact that you can almost get a nic compouter for whatever application you might be using it for, pre-built!
I know that every big box store such as Best Byt and fry`s in my area has a smaller assorment of computer related items!
Peace!

 

[SamirD]

That's true about people not building as much. I remember the days when you pretty much had to build your own to save money. Now, you're actually better off pre-built.

Certain segments like gaming still will want to build, but that's mainly to get specific parts installed and that's it. Performance can be the same between a pre-built and custom.

 

[Muse]

Sometimes sellers can be there own worse enemy@!

I don't even check out FS here anymore. I was alerted to a thread with a couple of laptops that looked pretty good for me less than a year ago. I PMed the guy and he didn't get back to me for weeks. By the time he did I'd already bought this refurb laptop off Provantage, also found for me by a poster here. I get tons of great info here, but I don't expect a buy/sell thing here. I check ebay all the time, mostly for new stuff. Reddit? Guess I have a login but never go there, guess I should, I keep getting hints, but didn't know they have merchandise movement going on. I know someone who watches Warriors NBA games free through Reddit, don't know how that works. Of course, that was an interesting thing to do a year or two ago, not now, for me anyway. She was bored at work.

 

[whm1974]

Actually if you look at the trends people building there own computers are not as many as years ago when I build my first computer!

Then when you go to FS/FT forum and people have stuff for sale, for what they are asking for stuff, if you compare the price to what new would cost those sellers are charging almost what it would cost to buy a 100% unused new piece with a warranty.....

Sometimes sellers can be there own worse enemy@!

Indeed. And buying used electronics and computers at pawnshops is best avoided. Auctions? Forget about it. I've seen folks get carried carried away spending way more money then the items are actually worth. I should know, my dad paid just as much for an old computer as what a brand new would cost.

 

[Pohemi]

Auctions? Forget about it. I've seen folks get carried carried away spending way more money then the items are actually worth. I should know, my dad paid just as much for an old computer as what a brand new would cost.

For some, after getting 'caught-up' in an active auction and bidding against others...it becomes more important to them subconsciously to say "screw you, I win!" than it does to actually get a good deal on the item.



That's how you end up seeing used or refurb parts selling for higher price than new MSRP on fleabay.

 

[Sean53221]

For some, after getting 'caught-up' in an active auction and bidding against others...it becomes more important to them subconsciously to say "screw you, I win!" than it does to actually get a good deal on the item.

Very true. And that attitude is as American as apple pie. I only buy on eBay in buy it now form haven’t bid for many many years.

 

[Pohemi]

To OP:
I've shared your sentiment about the forum particularly the FS/FT traffic levels and how they've waned over the past fifteen years since I first joined the site. Not much to be done about it in my opinion, it's simply the shift in the computer industries and the rise and spread/infection of social media and related sites as well.

Unfortunately I live in a small town and even craigslist is no bueno because hardly anyone uses it. It makes it a much different site and experience than when I lived in a larger city with a University and about 8 times as many people.
These days when anyone I know makes a suggestion of where to try to buy, sell, or trade parts whether it be for PCs or cars, they usually are recommending reddit or (even worse) a facebook marketplace. I don't use facebook and won't simply so I can try to sell something there. I refuse to use ebay just on GP, so it leaves options limited.
Hardwareswap on reddit seems to have a decent amount of traffic, but the mods of the sub changed the requirements TWICE after I had first joined the sub, and the changing of rules on-the-fly like that kind of turned me off. They were changes that, in my opinion, were not very helpful, they seemed more elitist than anything.
Also had a bad trade experience from there, guy just wasted my time and shipping cost and I ended up taking the item back and just being out almost $50 in the end. It's definitely nothing like the AT FS/FT of old.

 

[Sean53221]

definitely nothing like the AT FS/FT of old.

I remember the days where once I was established, for some sales we actually cross shipped at the same time, a postal money order and the item being purchased. To anyone that wasn’t around FSFT back then, I’m sure that unimaginable

 

[DigDog]

16 years 1k posts; those_are_rookie_numbers.jpg

 

[pmv]

For some, after getting 'caught-up' in an active auction and bidding against others...it becomes more important to them subconsciously to say "screw you, I win!" than it does to actually get a good deal on the item.



That's how you end up seeing used or refurb parts selling for higher price than new MSRP on fleabay.

After decades of only buying, I've recently been selling some stuff on ebay (not computer hardware, just assorted stuff that I've hoarded for ages and had to accept I don't have space for) and the main thing is, I want to know how do I attract the crazy-people-who-want-to-throw-away-money, to my listings?

I'm constantly stunned by the irrationality I see on Ebay. I'll list something, and I have to slowly lower the BIN price for till it eventually goes for, say , $50. Fair enough, because a lot of copies of that item appear to go for not much more than that, I was optimistically aiming for the upper end of sales I've seen. But very often I will see a few sellers who consistently sell the exact same item that I had listed unsold for ages (or an inferior version of it), but for three times the price that I was asking. And these guys don't even have a higher feedback score than me. I keep wanting to ask the buyers 'why did you skip straight past my listing - and lots of others - and buy the one at the absurdly inflated price?'.

It seems like there is a subset of buyers on there who just buy the first instance of the item they are looking for that they find, without even bothering to sort search results by price. On top of that, these guys usually go on to leave glowing reviews (that to me, always scream 'newbie who doesn't know anything about this type of item and so is too easily impressed').

Is there a place to sell things that has only that kind of crazy-but-rich-person buyer?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I’m going to go there.....

typically the stuff I see on fs/ft are over priced, sometimes way over priced.
im not interested in buying a 4 year old video card that has been used for mining for $100 off its new cost
I‘m not interested in a pentium extreme processor and memory for it when the cost of that processor & memory (no motherboard) exceed the cost of any mid rang Ryzen system
I’m not interested in a 8TB used NAS that is selling for $20 more than a new unit


like any market stuff on fs/ft that is priced accordingly sells fast.

 

[skyking]

I also believe that there's been a huge shift from desktop Computing in general. I know that for myself I quit building desktop rigs years ago and just use laptops for most everything. Posting from $170 Cyber Monday Chromebook

 

[purbeast0]

When the "change of culture" crap happened like 15+ years ago, many people fled.

Then they decided to make all of these sub forums here instead of ATOT being a catch all for non-tech related stuff and the sub forums started to get less and less traffic.

And then they decided to make even more sub forums because a bunch of idiots run this place, and more and more people left causing less and less traffic.

And that is where we are at now.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I mean, is it also the fact that WAY less people are building their own computers as well? Or am I wrong there? What kids these days read hardware reviews?

I figure we are.... almost 2 generations into the "Why use a desktop/laptop when I can just use my phone/tablet" kids.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I mean, is it also the fact that WAY less people are building their own computers as well? Or am I wrong there? What kids these days read hardware reviews?

I figure we are.... almost 2 generations into the "Why use a desktop/laptop when I can just use my phone/tablet" kids.

or as a friend of mine said:

”my kids don’t play video games, they watch other people play video games on YouTube”

 

[Captante]

When the "change of culture" crap happened like 15+ years ago, many people fled.

Then they decided to make all of these sub forums here instead of ATOT being a catch all for non-tech related stuff and the sub forums started to get less and less traffic.

And then they decided to make even more sub forums because a bunch of idiots run this place, and more and more people left causing less and less traffic.

And that is where we are at now.

Pretty much sums it up.

 

[Muse]

For some, after getting 'caught-up' in an active auction and bidding against others...it becomes more important to them subconsciously to say "screw you, I win!" than it does to actually get a good deal on the item.

That's how you end up seeing used or refurb parts selling for higher price than new MSRP on fleabay.

Ebay is a buyer beware thing. Many times I see most prices for an item being quite a bit higher than Amazon. Of course, Amazon's going to be a better alternative if the price is the same because of the customer service.