Is there any talk aboht eventually offering an officially-endorsed place to swap used parts? With the laptop being so upgradable, it would be great to have a place to, say, sell/trade your old wifi module if you upgrade down the line, or swap bezels with someone since you want the color they have and vice versa, or even someone needs a new display and you’re upgrading yours, so you swap and don’t necessarily have to deal with third-party platforms?
13 Likes
Great idea! I’m not sure if the upcoming Framework Marketplace will allow general Framework customers and users to buy and sell or if it will be just Framework itself that will sell parts here. Logistically, operating a site like eBay is very difficult and we wouldn’t want to take away from Framework’s focus in developing new products.
But it would meet with Framework’s objective of sustainability and responsibility - allowing customers to buy and sell items with the intention of reusing them rather than disposing of them.
I used to sell quite a bit of computer hardware on eBay. Not so much anymore, the market seems to be tapped out. Something like a Framework mainboard would be so incredibly specific it would be hard to sell.
4 Likes
If a used marketplace were “officially” supported, it would introduce risk to Framework. How can they possibly police whether the used parts are certified or otherwise not broken? Also, how could they possibly verify the traders/swappers? You just know some bad actors will surface. Framework isn’t in the used PC parts business. They’d be smart to leave the used parts to the community, and focus on new parts via their online store. Refurbished is a whole different story.
4 Likes
This is absolutely something that aligns well to our mission and product philosophy. It’s not something that will go live in the initial stages of our Marketplace rollout, but something that we are actively exploring for the future. Definitely agree with everyone on both the challenges and the importance of getting it right.
18 Likes
If it’s a community effort, better if some portion of the sales goes back to framework? (don’t know if the price will be competitive though).
@Nixingit Yeah I was thinking certified used / refurbished might be an option, it’d be nice for example if Framework could offer trade-in credits when upgrading components to help close the product waste cycle, but pricing it in a way that would make sense for Framework would be the tricky bit.
Peer-to-peer sales are fine for the risk tolerant and obviously the most profitable, but I’m sure there are many people like me who would be satisfied with a smaller amount and ease of exchange (imagine new components including a return label for returning old parts for store credit, either using the original or new product packaging). Hopefully priced a little better than Gamestop trade-ins…
6 Likes
I can see a used market for ‘different’ working well, but ‘older and worse’ will likely just be inventory on the shelves.
Things like modules, screens (touch, higher res, OLED, eink), there isn’t a best option, someone may be interested in switching it up.
Old i5 1135g7 mainboard, why would anyone ever want to buy it used in the future?
If framework was going to offer a trade-in program, I’d love to see them roll out a super low cost option, i.e. an htpc case or plastic laptop case which doesn’t bother with modules, that they could use to resell old boards as repackaged bundles.
You would be surprised! I sold lots of used old computer parts on eBay earlier this year and the price surprised me! The Core i5-1135G7 mainboard is more powerful than most of them.
The only thing is - it’s super specialized. This is why it needs a dedicated marketplace.
But at the right price I’m convinced it would sell. It beats the pants off any SBC and isn’t much larger.
1 Like
Well, first, older parts will naturally be cheaper. So if I bought an 1135G7 originally and needed to replace a bad part, being able to get a replacement of the same component for less than the price of an upgraded component would absolutely be a consideration.
Second, there may be a market for refurbishment, where someone buys a used Framework and wants to bring it back to life. Buying older, lower end parts is a way to do that at lower cost.
2 Likes
Remember the part about repurposing the motherboard outside the case. It was specifically designed to be able to do that.
Look at the potential (and actual!) creativity surrounding the laptop itself all over this site.
Wait until a) the marketplace opens in whatever form it will, and 2) above-mentioned creativity sets its collective sights on cool things to do with swapped-out components, especially motherboards.
I believe once the community really starts thinking along these lines there’ll be demand for them…
2 Likes
Yeah, remote work and parts shortages definitely exacerbated this, but there is still a large and growing used parts market. Many people around the world can’t afford or don’t have access to modern hardware. Admittedly, you could buy a Chromebook or a similar machine for about the same price as 10+ year old hardware, but between a repairable 10-year old laptop and modern e-waste on a limited budget, I can see why many opt for the former. And I’d say the vast majority of laptop users don’t need more than basic internet access and the ability to run a few apps, which even an old 2 core, 4 thread processor can still handle these days.
(Not if Windows 11 has anything to say about it, but that’s a separate issue… admittedly security concerns are a potential problem with old hardware)
2 Likes
I can see in the future having something with FW verifying used parts. However IMO there is currently not enough of a volume of used parts to make worth their time and resources. What I think would make more sense right now is a “For Sale” section added to the forum.
3 Likes
Any updates to this? I would really like to sell my mainboard.
2 Likes
@john_doe
Yes, I won’t be interested in upgrading my mainboard until there is a use for the old one.
But is there at least a recycling program?
1 Like
@nrp Any updates here? Definitely understand if the answer is “We’d still like to do this but it’s a long ways off”, or “We don’t have any estimate for when this will be available”, but I’d love to have an idea of whether this is likely to happen in the next year or two 
Personally, it seems to me like a Framework buyback program would be a better approach than a second-hand market. Would be a much smoother experience for both end-users (both the seller and buyer of the used part), and could provide Framework with another nice source of revenue, refurbishing and reselling the used parts.
I think implementing both would be a lot better for everyone. Framework should offer both a second hand market where you don’t get warranty at all, and an oficial refurbished shop. For less important stuff(speakers as an example), I’m sure people would prefer to buy it cheaper(from a seller) then to have the warranty(on something new or refurbished). And lets not forget about the shipping 
which is still a lot from the marketplace right now.
I second @Michael_Hays. I bought Framework a week before 12th generation was announced. Now I’d like to upgrade, but I don’t want to throw away practically new motherboard and I don’t have any use for it otherwise. Having secondhand market or buyback program would make my decision to upgrade much easier.
1 Like
Perhaps, a place for the parts market is below.
3 Likes
@prepaidpyramid That’s a fair point – the less important/cheaper stuff would benefit from a second-hand marketplace.
Though tbh, it does seem less necessary for Framework to be directly involved in that case. It’s more or less already solved with tools like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Reddit (e.g. the link that @junaruga just posted). Not that it would be an unwelcome addition for Framework to maintain an official marketplace like this, but that I still think it’s far lower in priority than a buyback program.
1 Like