EEVblog #1184 - Ebay $200 6.5 Digit Meter Search

Dave shows how to search for cheap 6.5 digit bench multimeters on Ebay and other auction locations
Would you believe less than $200?

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[bitrot]

I’m not sure if it’s documented anywhere, but eBay searches allow multiple choice (logical OR) search terms. These are really handy for combining model numbers, spellings, etc. into a single search.
For example, you could use “fluke (77, 79)” to find two different meter models at the same time, or “(Tektronix, Tek, Tektronics) (465, 465M)” to find six different variations for the 465M scope.
Putting a minus sign in front of a term excludes listings that contain it (logical NOT), which is a great way to eliminate “nuisance” items while still casting a wide net. For example, to find items made by Miranda Video without seeing videos of Carmen Miranda, use “Miranda Video -Carmen”.
Happy hunting!

[MichaelDuFresne]

EEVblog eBay price effect in 5, 4, 3...

[hightttech]

"Behind the camera, while Dave's minions prepare a pallet of used 6.5 digit multimeters for an eBay flood, Dave decides on a vacation destination."

[herbertsusmann]

Thanks Dave for instantly jacking up the price of used test equipment world wide...

[ElmerFuddGun]

13:54 - $22, 229.99 *_SHIPPING..._* ya, I'll have to think about that one! ;-P

[tablatronix]

good luck, test equipment has gone through the roof

[Arek_R.]

13:00 You're damn right, I got a bargain on 34401A (old HP make) it was sold for like $180 as not working, but on the picture it was powered up and showing couple of tens of mV, so basically what you expect when leads are not connected, seller clamined that it's not tested.
I was actually looking for broken stuff so I can have fun repairing it, so I purchased it without much thinking.

And once I got it, sure enough it's working perfectly fine, it is even in a perfect condition, not even a scratch and VFD display super bright, all of this would indicate that it was barely used.

Only one thing I purchased it from USA to UK and shipping + tax + vat raised the price quite a bit and it wasn't that much of a bargain at the end but still cheaper than what I would have to pay for local auctions + in worse condition or missing the rubber bumpers.

[loukashareangas]

Usefull knowledge for ebay: you can logically OR search statements.
If you want things that contain either of the three you can write it as such:
"(Keysight, Agilent, HP) multimeter" (without the quotes)
and you can use that to exclude ORed statements by having a minus sign (-) in front of the parentheses.
i.e. "multimeter (Keysight, Agilent, HP) -(refurbished, broken)"

separate keywords are automatically ANDed
 Hope this helps!

[trainfan]

Thanks Dave!!! Thank you for driving up the cost of test equipment for all. Just because you needed to create a video?? Thanks

[kevincozens]

That "for parts or not working" PM2534A at 22:35 may have sold for $60 but it was $461.09 for shipping via UPS! Never forget to check the cost of shipping. Some sellers put low prices on items but have ridiculous shipping costs. Another thing you can do when checking for gear is check the availability of the user and/or service manuals for the equipment. If you can find a unit that needs repair and the service manual shows it uses all standard parts that could easily be replaced you stand a better chance of getting it working if it needs repair.

[Darieee]

18:30 actually, you’re better off excluding terms, so: 3457a -knife would cut out the bushland shit, and that way you’re still flexible on your main search

[NullStaticVoid]

When I used to do IT MAC (moves adds and changes) for a living, we often got projects where a branch or a facility was being closed.
Our job was to remove all the IT equipment and send high dollar items (and hard drives) back to corp.
What we quickly found out was that properly e-wasting IT gear in California is not cheap. So we started to just ebay all the stuff that was remotely viable.
Sure a Cisco 2500 router is obsolete and slow today. But bundle it with a couple Catalyst switches and a few cables and you could sell it as a "CCNA lab" for $150 USD + shipping.
Likewise, certain Dell and HP servers or Apple towers are worth parting out. Just the power supply or raid card can get over $100 USD.
I basically made half my income from that for a few years. Especially in 2008-2010 when so many banks were merged. Lots of branch closings.
The down side was that I had hundreds of computers and networking boxes all over my house, and the more volume you do in ebay transactions the more probability you will get a problem with a buyer, even with 'as is' or 'parts only' listings. So I exited that side gig.

[richardgoebel]

Roll of the dice on the cheaper units. Lots of good advice in this video. Experience pays off.

[jasonbrindamour]

I had bought a class D car sub amp back in the year 2000 because nobody was bidding on it and the seller had it as working perfectly and no reserve. He had missed a few things in the description so I noticed that and read real deep into the ad to be sure it seemed real. The seller ended up on vaca after I bought if for a real stupid cheap bid (because there were no bidders due to the wrong description), but when he got back he shipped it to me..I still have it and it still "works a charm" as you would say. Back in the day a MTX 6500d class car sub amp was worth a lot more than I paid, $65!!!

[ElmerFuddGun]

Awesome job *Wytnucls* ! That truly look like an excellent comparison table. - 2:20

LOL that Dave didn't really try to figure his user name _"White Knuckles"_ out until editing! :-P

[scotshabalam]

Dave, the only people this video helps is Ebay brokers who use this as info to mark up the prices.

[TheMrKeksLp]

Ebay is awesome. But local listings (Ebay Kleinanzeigen, Craigslist, Kigjiji) are even better. The selection is obviously smaller but prices drop $100 easy for the same stuff on ebay

[tad]

A good tip for ebay is to use or searches like this (term1, term2, term3, "some exact thing", etc). You can use multiple of these along with single matches.

[Zardox-The-Heretic-Slayer]

I just noticed that 2015THD in that spreadsheet and remembered that you said you were thinking about doing a video on THD measurement using that meter - I don't know about other people, but I'd love to see that video.

[marcus_w]

I love my phillips meters! I got 5 of em - 2 pm2521, 2 pm2525 and a pm2534. -they're cheap, they are reliable - only the reflective display is a bummer. And 6.5 digits take a time to sample. It's not as speedy as new fancy ones. It's taking it's time.