Buying used is a great way to save money, whether it’s a car, a piece of furniture, or electronics. I’m constantly browsing Facebook Marketplace for used deals, but there are a few lines I refuse to cross.
Here are some items that I avoid second-hand, even at bargain prices.
OLED TVs and monitors
I love my OLED TV; the picture quality is so much better than the backlit LCD model it replaced. I’d gladly buy another one when the time comes, especially since panels now get far brighter than my five-year-old model. But I’d only ever consider a brand new OLED panel, whether I’m buying a TV or a gaming monitor.
Though burn-in, or permanent image retention, is far less of a problem than it once was, the “O” in OLED stands for organic. The use of organic material means that the electroluminescent diodes that make up a panel will slowly degrade over time. While the lifespan of an OLED panel can reach the 100,000-hour mark, problems can show up far sooner.
So-called burn-in happens when certain pixels are used to display the same pattern over the course of hundreds or thousands of hours. This uneven panel wear causes some pixels to wear down at a faster rate. If you watch the same content with the same patterns day in and day out, you will eventually encounter this problem.
I’m not worried about burn-in on my own TV because it’s used for lots of different types of content. Even if I’m fully hooked on a game like Battlefield 6 for a few hundred hours, where the on-screen map and UI icons appear in the same place every game, I know that this isn’t enough to cause permanent image retention.
The problem with second-hand TVs and monitors is that you just don’t know how they’ve been treated. While most panels are probably fine, there’s no way to tell if the TV has been used to watch 5,000 hours of rolling news for years on end. Panel wear can cause color shifts, like yellows that appear green, too.
OLED monitors and TVs have dropped in price significantly, and they continue to do so. If you’re on a tight budget, a good LCD or mini LED would be a better buy if you’re turning to the second-hand market.
Headphones and earbuds
Headphones and earbuds are right up there in terms of items you shouldn’t sell or buy second-hand. It’s pretty obvious why earbuds that fit inside the ear shouldn’t be shared, but it can also be very difficult to properly sanitize headphones without breaking them. Most don’t have a water resistance rating, which means they’re limited to spot fixes when it comes to cleaning.
I’d go as far as saying that you should even avoid items that are described as “brand new in box.”. I’d have trouble trusting that description, and I’d also immediately question whether or not the items were genuine if they’re being sold in a “brand new” condition on a used marketplace.
Putting aside the biohazard factor for a moment, both earbuds and headphones are items that are subject to a lot of abuse on a daily basis. My AirPods Pro 3 are used for multiple hours a day, in sweaty environments like the gym, and I’m frequently dropping them and their charging case.
Wireless headphones and earbuds come with non-removable batteries, which start degrading from the moment they’re first used. One of the biggest benefits I noticed when I upgraded from the original AirPods Pro was a big leap in battery life, most of it down to the fact that the cells are new.
The good news is there are plenty of brand new budget options you can choose from instead.
Removable memory cards
I wouldn’t blame you for steering clear of all storage-based second-hand purchases, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t eyed up some server-grade hard disk drives for a NAS build in the past. Those drives may have been built for intensive usage, but removable memory cards are not.
It’s always handy to have a few spare SD and microSD cards lying around, but buying them new is best since you don’t know how used cards have been treated by the previous owner. This type of flash memory tends to “wear out” at a faster rate than solid-state and hard drives, so if the drive has been used in a manner that has seriously degraded it—like in a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant—then you’re risking potential data loss.
If you’re using the card in a device like a camera or a video doorbell, where the risk means total loss of data that you simply can’t get back, there’s a lot on the line. Better off spending a bit more money on a new memory card from a recognized brand instead.
Gamepads and some gaming handhelds
I probably get through one gamepad every two years or so, and that’s as someone who doesn’t have an awful lot of time for gaming these days. Stick drift is the killer that always rears its head, where analog sticks start registering input even when you’re not applying pressure to the stick.
This is caused by dirty potentiometers, and it’s an inevitability with these old-style stick designs. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all use these types of sticks on their current generation consoles, including the Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and both generations of Switch.
These points of weakness are found on many handhelds, like the Switch Lite and Valve Steam Deck. Though you can absolutely replace these mechanisms with new ones (and even upgrade to Hall effect sticks in the case of the Steam Deck), this requires time and effort on your part and an investment in spare parts. Controllers also tend to get bashed around, whether that’s from falling off the sofa or being punished during “heated gamer moments.”
The main exception here is retro stuff that you simply cannot buy new anymore. If you’re going as far as hunting down vintage hardware, you’re probably willing to put a bit more effort into fixing it up, too.
Smart watches
I love my Apple Watch, I’d buy another one tomorrow if it broke. While a second-hand smart watch is better than no smart watch, I’m not convinced that the savings justify the drawbacks.
My greatest concern comes in the form of battery life. The batteries in an Apple Watch are fairly small, and this becomes evident as your wearable ages. You stop being able to rely on all-day battery life, especially if you track a lot of workouts or use your Watch as a cellular device.
There’s also the matter of hygiene, since fabric bands tend to take on an odor after a few years’ worth of use. This is especially true for watches that have been used to track intense workouts, which is one of the main features.
Now let’s do some sums. Let’s say you buy an Apple Watch Series 8 41mm model. A battery service will cost you $99 from Apple, and a new Sport Loop costs $49 (again, from Apple). Add this $150 to the price that you pay for your Watch, which at the moment ranges from about $120 to $150.
Now consider that you can buy a brand new Apple Watch SE3 for $249 for the 40mm model or $279 for the 44mm model. If you’re feeling fancy, you can get a brand new Series 11 from $399 too. In addition you’ll be the first to wear it, the first to sweat into the band, and the first to put a scratch on it.
- Brand
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Apple
- Heart Rate Monitor
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Yes
The 2025 Apple Watch SE offers new features, such as fast charging and an always on display, for just $249.
There are other wearables out there that you could choose from, but they suffer the same drawbacks (even if the resolutions have less Apple tax).
Conversely, there are plenty of gadgets that you should buy second hand.