Buying used
A punchy sub-woofer and a HD TV. A booming center channel and an AV Receiver.
A dishwasher. A dining table for 6.
A child car seat, a dashcam set and the car they sit in.
A carton of books.
The laptop I am typing on. The laptop my daughter uses. An SLR camera with 3 lenses. A bunch of headphones over the years.
A collection of out of stock hot wheels cars I gifted my kid.
All of these were bought used. Some were bought several years ago and still going strong. Many of these items may outlast me!
Buying used is sustainable. In many cases, the items I bought would have otherwise been dumped in some landfill.
Buying used gets you better stuff at the same budget. My speakers are a couple of orders of magnitude better than the price I got them for.
It can get you stuff that's out of stock. We wanted a dishwasher during the lockdown but all stores were out of stock. We found quite a few choices in the used market and picked up one that worked well for us.
There are interesting people who occupy the niches for some products. For example, I know a "sound guy" who can source good used audio components because he is an installer. A collector of lego sets and hotwheels! A guy who specializes in used Apple products.
Where do you go looking?
You are completely sorted for most things if you reside in a country where ebay operates. Even buying used cars is a fairly transparent process in developed countries.
I have burdened many a friend coming from the US or the UK with stuff I've bought on ebay. My SLR camera and lenses were all sourced this way. The bidding process can be quite fun and the sellers are very easy to work with!
In India, we have to work harder but the used buying ecosystem is getting better.
The used cars ecosystem in India is now mature. The size of the used car market has overtaken the new car market. There are well-funded start-ups that charge a small premium for a better buying and selling experience. I just hope they can become profitable and sustainable.
Platforms like Quikr and OLX are a good start for other items but they are still off by several magnitudes compared to the experience on ebay US or UK. I have never trusted them enough to purchase without actually checking out the item. But the good news is all of the sellers who agreed to meet and show the items were very easy to deal with!
Another way to come across some great items is connecting with the right communities.
TeamBHP is a good place for researching cars, getting to know the issues with specific models and their prices and meet people who want to buy or sell used cars.
In my case, I came across a nice used car on TeamBHP that I eventually bought. I also connected with a fellow car buyer who added me to a WhatsApp group of owners of that specific model. This has been priceless for troubleshooting!
HifiVision is a similar community for HiFi audio equipment. I met the "sound guy" when he posted something there.
UK based CEX is also available in some cities of India. They have very good warranty policies but the prices can be quite high. I have bought a bunch of headphones from them and various electronic accessories.
My used android phone purchases have not been a good experience. But this is more to do with the android ecosystem which seems to make you dump your phone in 2 years.
Keep an eye on your apartment community app like Adda or MyGate for residents who are giving away some of their stuff.
Building life skills
Buying used stuff can teach you how to negotiate. The little negotiation skills I have picked up now have all been built by practising when buying used stuff.
Being polite and respectful goes a long way as well. Don't hesitate to do due diligence. If the seller is pushing a bad product they will refuse it. Conversely, a seller who accepts will take your offer more seriously.
One habit you can build by buying used is your ability to walk away. Always mentally set an upper price limit and walk away if it doesn't work out. There are almost always substitutes if you can be patient so you don't lose anything really. And this skill of walking away when the deal is unfavourable to you is immensely useful in other parts of your life.
Dealing with breakdowns
Sometimes the used products can breakdown. One reason many people sell something is because they haven't been used for a while. This almost always means they haven't serviced these items.
You have to be prepared for this.
The stuff thats unbreakable seem to be speakers and DSLR cameras/lenses. Also wooden furniture and child car seats.
But the dishwasher broke down after 2 cycles. It was up and running after a servicing though. The used TV's power supply unit needed a change. An electrician from Urban Company was able to fix it in a day.
I bought my used car for a great price because it needed fixing. It was not used much during the pandemic and a couple of necessary part changes were delayed. It needed 3 visits to the garage in the first 3 months after I bought it to iron out all these issues. But after that it has been smooth sailing.
Finding a trusted garage if you don't trust the branded service is important. I use Wheels Wisdom and Engineering Exponent in Bangalore. Wheels Wisdom in fact helped me do the due diligence before I bought the car and this helped me negotiate properly.
TeamBHP and the WhatsApp community I mentioned has been a treasure trove of contacts and helpful diagnostics.
You can also find great resources for restoring used cars to look slick and elegant. I used Saddles India to redo my seats. They took care of the special stitching for the airbags as well. And Splash to fix up dents and paint it up.
I have been mentally prepared that out of every 10 used things I buy, a couple might fail. But that has never happened! I've always been able to get things fixed.
Selling my stuff
I've sold my cars to individuals rather than the used car start-ups for a 10% premium. The buyers also manage to get a better price than with the platforms although I can't offer a warranty. Both times I've managed to sell to the first serious buyer for a decent price as I didn't want to spend too much time on this.
Most of the other stuff we give away to people who need them. This includes furniture, toys, phones, clothes and appliances like old refridgerators. The truth is there is a huge number of people who need all of this but can't afford it in India so this is a easy decision for me.