There is no single best place — there's a best place per part
Every venue for used hardware trades the same three things against each other: price, selection, and how much of the risk you personally absorb. A place with the lowest prices is usually a place where a dead card is your problem. Knowing which trade you're making is most of the skill.
The options, honestly
eBay
The deepest selection of used PC parts anywhere, and the reason our own market data is built from its sold listings — the volume is real. Buyer protection is genuine and it works, which makes eBay the safest of the big open marketplaces. In exchange you pay: seller fees are priced into listings, and a return means shipping something fragile back and waiting. Best for: parts you can't find locally, and anything where you want a paper trail.
Facebook Marketplace and local classifieds
The cheapest prices you'll see, because there are no fees and no protection at all. You are the warranty, the inspection, and the dispute process. It works well when you can test before handing over money — bring a laptop, or meet somewhere you can plug the part in — and badly when you can't. Best for: cases, coolers, and cheap parts where the downside is small. Worst for: an expensive graphics card from an account created last week.
r/hardwareswap and enthusiast forums
Sellers with public trade histories, community rules, and reputations that took years to build. Prices sit between eBay and local. The catch is availability — you get what people happen to be selling — and that recourse depends on the community rather than a company. Best for: patient buyers who know exactly what they want.
Jawa and PC-specific marketplaces
Narrower than eBay, aimed squarely at PC hardware, and with a userbase that generally knows what it's selling. Fewer mystery listings and fewer stock photos. We sell there ourselves. Best for: buyers who want a marketplace without wading through phone cases.
Local computer shops
You can see the part, and there's a counter to walk back to. Selection is whatever came through the door, and prices reflect the overhead of a storefront. Best for: needing something today.
Specialist used-hardware sellers
Businesses that buy machines, test the parts individually and sell them with a return policy — us, and others like us. You pay more than a private sale and less than retail, and what the difference buys is that someone competent already found the dead fan. Best for: expensive parts, and for anyone who doesn't want testing to be their hobby.
How to choose in one line
The more the part costs and the harder it is to diagnose, the more you should pay for someone else's testing and a return window. A $25 case from a stranger is fine. A $600 graphics card from a stranger, sight unseen, no returns, is not a bargain — it's a bet.
Check the price before you buy, anywhere
Whichever venue you land on, the discipline is the same: know the market number first. We publish live used prices for around a thousand PC components, built from real sold listings and free to use whether or not you ever buy from us. Open the page for the part, then judge the listing against it.
Our own answer, for the record: we sell tested used parts with photos of the actual item, condition notes that say what we found, and a 30-day return window. That's the trade we make — not the cheapest number on the internet, and not a gamble either. More on exactly what our testing involves.