It goes without saying that computing and gaming can be a fairly expensive hobby so many will turn to the second hand market to get started or look to progress further with whatever systems they prefer to use. It's an area littered equally with pitfalls and opportunities for the buyer but how do you know just what to look out for? For those of you looking to console gaming on a budget, then older systems are definitely worth considering. PlayStation 2s are becoming more common on the second hand market as more and more are upgrading to the vastly superior PlayStation 3, as is the original XBox with owners again upgrading. Don't always expect a lot of games as many sellers will keep a lot of their games to use on their newer consoles but you …show more content…
While some of these may be cheaper, you will have problems getting them repaired when things go wrong and most consoles are restricted to playing games (and DVDs) to a specific part of the world so buying Imported consoles could make life difficult for yourself in the long term. For the older games players looking to reminisce over their youth, there is continual interest in retro gaming and while old computers and games consoles don't tend to appear in classified adverts too often, they can be fantastic value for money. The obvious great bargains are the seminal classics Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum along with the Sega Megadrive and Nintendo SNES. The great thing with retro gaming is that old consoles and computers generally hold very little value to anyone apart from those looking to buy them, so you can often pick up some fantastic deals, just don't always expect all of the games and accessories to be in full working order! Looking into the PC camp, prices of new PCs are dropping daily and hardware is becoming more reliable. While this is great if you are buying new, it makes buying second hand systems harder when you are looking to get a PC that will be able to run more contemporary software and nigh-on-impossible if you're on a shoestring budget.

The first thing to always bear in mind when shopping for a second hand PC is what you're going to need it for. I know this sounds like an obvious question to ask but it's something that a lot of people don't always think about and just decide that they want a PC and nothing else. If all you are looking for is a PC for simple home use (word processing etc), basic games and using the internet then you are not going to need a state-of-the-art computer and as such your budget will stretch a lot