---
title: 'I Bought BROKEN Tech from eBay'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=fGLvZdVz_6o'
video_id: 'fGLvZdVz_6o'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1269
---

# I Bought BROKEN Tech from eBay

> Source: [I Bought BROKEN Tech from eBay](https://youtube.com/watch?v=fGLvZdVz_6o)

## Summary

The video follows the host as they attempt to fix several pieces of broken tech purchased from eBay, testing both their repair skills and the value of such purchases. From a simple fix on a PS5 Slim to a failed Switch Lite screen replacement, they explore the gamble and potential savings of buying broken items.

### Key Points

- **Repairing as a gamble** [0:14] — The host notes that fixing cheap broken tech for little cost makes you a genius, while spending hundreds on unfixable items makes you a dingus.
- **PS5 Slim disc drive fix success** [1:31] — A PS5 Slim purchased for under $200 with a disc error was fixed easily by registering the disc drive. The host considers this a great deal since functional units go for ~$400.
- **Game Boy screen and lens upgrade** [4:18] — An upgraded screen and lens were installed on a Play It Loud Game Boy. The repair was straightforward and resulted in a crisp display and louder speaker.
- **Nintendo Switch Joy-Con rail replacement** [7:03] — A heavily damaged Switch with a broken left Joy-Con rail was repaired by replacing the rail ($15 from iFixit). Total cost ~$100 for a functional Switch, a good deal.
- **Old gaming laptop battery replacement** [10:25] — A 10+ year old ROG laptop with a dead battery (purchased for $175) required a simple battery swap. The host considered it less of a deal due to the laptop's age and price.
- **Switch Lite failed screen replacement** [13:03] — A Switch Lite ($60) with a dead screen had a $70 screen installed, but the problem persisted, suggesting a motherboard or connector issue. This was a loss, moving the host to 'dingus' territory.
- **iPhone 12 battery swap** [17:00] — An iPhone 12 with a degraded battery was fixed using an iFixit kit ($46). The swap was successful, though the phone shows 'unknown parts' for the battery percentage.
- **Overall savings and takeaways** [20:17] — Total savings across all repairs were $135. The host concludes that repairing your own gear can save money, but buying broken items on eBay is risky and requires research and luck.

### Conclusion

Buying broken tech on eBay can save money, but success depends on research and luck; simple repairs (like disc drive registration or battery swaps) are often worthwhile, while complex issues (like dead screens) can turn a bargain into a loss.

## Transcript

- We have bought a bunch of
broken tech from eBay to see,
can I fix it first of all?
And if so, was that actually a good deal?
If I get myself a cheap
broken piece of tech,
easily fix it for 20
bucks and call it a day,
I'm a gosh darn genius.
And if I spend hundreds of
dollars on pieces of tech
that I can't fix, then I'm a dingus.
- [Alex] Oh, god.
- So, for context,
I would consider myself
to be fairly average
when it comes to my repair skills.
I know how to disassemble consoles.
I know how to follow an iFixit guide,
maybe not too much more than that.
I'm certainly no Dosdude.
First up, we have a PS5 Slim.
So, Alex has purchased all of these items,
so this is my first time seeing
them. I know nothing at all.
So, tell me what's the deal with this guy?
So, we purchased a presumably
broken PS5 on eBay.
What the listing say?
- [Alex] This was one of those weird ones
where I kind of just took a shot at it.
They didn't even show like in photos,
like what's wrong with it or anything.
- Ooh, okay.
- [Alex] But there's a disc error
that I can't fix or make go away.
- [Austin] Oh, I can fix that.
I take off the disc. What? Wait.
- [Alex] That is what he said.
And I was like, wait a minute.
I do know a lot of people-
- [Austin] Yeah.
- [Alex] Were very confused
at how these disc drives
kind of attach to.
- [Austin] That's true.
- [Alex] PS5.
So, I'm kind of hoping
that maybe this is somebody
who just didn't know what he had.
- That'd be great.
How much did we pay for
this disc less disc PS5?
- [Alex] So before shipping
tax and everything,
we paid it just under $200.
- Oh, (bleep). Okay.
So, basically, I don't
care about the disc at all.
If I fix it, cool, if I don't whatever.
If this is a functional
PS5 for less than $200,
we've instantly won.
- [Alex] I hope so.
- Well, let's just see what happens.
- [Alex] Okay, good sign.
- Yeah.
- [Alex] Okay. Oh, hey, look at that.
- Is this the disc drive error they had?
- [Alex] That's just
setting up the disc drive.
- So, if you're unfamiliar
with the newer PS5 Slims,
they do need to be registered to your PS5.
But that registration is literally,
you put it on your PS5, you get it online,
you push this button once,
it like pairs it with
your console, the end.
So, we'll give it a few
minutes to download the update,
but that's exactly what
should happen, right?
So for context, a brand new PS5 Slim
as we're recording this video,
who knows what it'll cost
by the time you watch it,
is 650 bucks. On the used market
what are Slims going
for with the disc drive?
It's gonna be like what,
like 400 bucks or something?
- [Alex] Yeah, I would say
depending on condition,
I think you could probably get
a decent one for 400 bucks.
- I mean this one is not
in like amazing shape.
It's a little bit scuffed,
but it's not like,
not enough to be upset about at all.
We're up to date, register
the disc drive and.
- [Alex] Wow. It was that easy.
- All right, so we are
installing the game via disc.
I did actually log into my PSN account
and it does seem to be functioning,
but as long as it actually
boots up and works.
- [Alex] Aye, aye.
- I mean this is all looking great.
Look at that, French (beep) let's go.
- [Adriana] I was literally just gonna say
that's the Frenchest man, I've ever-
- He is the Frenchest man of all time.
On the score of dingus to genius,
Alex, you get all the credit for this one.
This is a full on genius territory.
- [Alex] Yeah, I think this is proof
that if you just do a little
bit of searching online-
- And don't mind taking a risk
'cause obviously this could
have gone a very different way
as some of the other items
we're about to look at
probably will illustrate.
When it comes to making
over a hundred videos a year
ideas are one of the things
that I'm always in need of.
So, when Zapier reached
out to sponsor this video,
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Last time I showed you the initial setup.
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and it pulls the top few ideas
and drops them directly into Notion.
A good example is this one.
Remember those airline seats
from Mystery Tech the other day?
Well, a bunch of you asked me
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and that is a great idea.
So, thanks to Zapier,
it's now an idea that's
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You can do so much with Zapier,
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And thank you again to Zapier
for sponsoring this video.
Next up we have a Game Boy Play It Loud.
Alex, is this the one we got
from the Video Game Company?
- [Alex] It is.
- So, we're cheating already. I like it.
This is technically a
functioning Game Boy.
However, the screen looks bad,
the screen lens is also
like really scuffed.
So, what I think we're
actually gonna do here
is we're not going to fix it,
we're gonna actually upgrade it.
So, this is a screen and
screen lens replacement.
This is purchased from the
Retro Game Repair Shop,
which no affiliation, we paid full price 
for this, I think.
Normally, I would recommend
for you to follow tutorials.
However, I'm built different,
so I'm just gonna figure it out.
- [Alex] Oh god. All right, we'll see.
- So, with the Game Boy, I
believe it's just six screws
if I remember right, to pop it open.
So now we've got ourselves the display,
the button membranes, which
all are gonna go here.
So, I think we're gonna
reuse all of those.
And the speaker, which is all
gonna come out in one unit.
So, this screen lens is the
thing that gets really scuffed.
So, that's actually one of the upgrades
that you could technically
just swap a new screen lens
without actually replacing
the screen itself.
I'll listen to it, just
listen to that glue
giving up after 30 years.
All right,
and there we go, my friends
carefully without breaking it,
the old screen lens,
which, as you can probably
see, is pretty gross.
So, we're gonna line
up our new screen lens.
I tried to clear most of the old residue,
so it should just line up
and just gently work it in.
Beautiful crystal clear
screen lens installed.
So, again, I'm not really
following the tutorial, I should,
but my understanding is
probably that the screen
is gonna mount up something like this.
There we go. That looks correct.
Oh yeah, it looks very correct.
Would always, always recommend
when you're doing a repair
to try to hit a checkpoint
where you can actually
do a little test boot
before you start putting glue
and screw a bunch of stuff in and whatnot.
Let's see if it wants to work.
Beautiful. And there we go.
Behold my friends a very beautiful looking
Play It Loud Game Boy
with a fresh crispy screen
and a brand new speaker.
Again, this is like easy mode, right?
If you know how to work on
almost any kinda electronic,
this is dead simple.
I didn't have to cut the plastic.
Everything just dropped right in place,
so we have a brand new screen lens
we've brand new, quite nice
looking back lit IPS display
and a much louder speaker. So-
- [Alex] And now it really plays it loud.
- It plays it louder, right?
- [Alex] Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed
the two very easy pitches I lobbed to you,
you know, to build up your confidence.
Let's move on to something
a little more challenging,
shall we?
- You mean the whole premise of this video
is it's gonna get harder and harder
and I'm gonna be more and
more miserable every day
that we work on this thing
until I finally give up?
- [Alex] I mean, I hope you don't give up.
- Is this, oh, no.
- [Alex] Switches.
- Is that a Switch?
Oh my god. A very, very (beep)
up looking Nintendo Switch.
Someone even broke the
grill over the heat sink,
holy man this thing has
been just destroyed.
- [Alex] I will say
it didn't come with Joy-Cons
or anything, it just came with-
- [Austin] Sure. 
- [Alex] Just the the tablet thing.
These are our Joy-Cons.
- Okay.
- [Alex] They're fully functional. 
- So this thing is so broken
that you cannot pair Joy-Cons with it.
- [Alex] So, basically the listing said
this is a functional Switch
minus the fact that the left
Joy-Con port does not work.
- Oh. Yeah, actually doing
the right one again did work.
- [Alex] So, I thought this was
a interesting redemption arc
because I don't know if you remember
when we did the ultimate Switch.
- Yeah, that was fine. There
was no problem with that one.
- [Alex] You sure? When you
modified one of the Joy-Cons.
- No. No, no, no. It was totally fine.
Edit team won't flashback
to that or anything.
- I've never done that.
- We basically just ruined this Joy-Con. 
- We just break the Joy-Con.
- How much did you pay
for this for parts,
heavily used Switch?
- [Alex] I paid $60.
- [Austin] Okay, that's worth it.
Yeah, that's pretty good.
- [Alex] $60. And, for reference,
if you were to buy like a Switch,
just the tablet, no Joy-Con whatever,
like a fully functional one,
it might still be pretty
beat up, whatever,
but I mean they're going for like 90,
so like this is still cheaper.
- How much was this
replacement at Joy-Con rail?
- [Alex] We got it from iFixit,
and they use, you know, quality parts.
- [Austin] Yeah, yeah. 
- [Alex] That was like 15 bucks.
- Okay, so, not cheap, 
but not certainly like crazy expensive.
All right.
And so we have the just
horrendously scuffed
Switch back plate off,
and that is our rear shell
carefully pulled away.
Yep, there's our glob of thermal paste,
and there we go, that is
the inside of the Switch.
The left rail, for some gosh darn reason,
goes underneath the board
and pops up over here.
What that, why?
Why would you not just,
we're gonna do is we're
gonna take our new rail,
we're going to line it up roughly
with where it's supposed
to go right there.
And it should theoretically just work.
If not, I'll be real sad, but.
To make sure that is actually correct
is I'm just gonna fire it up now
and see if a Joy-Con will attach.
So, right side Joy-Con. Okay, connected.
Now here's the real test,
does the left side Joy-Con wanna work?
Nothing. Okay, that's fine.
I think my question would be,
is it actually fully seated?
'Cause I was not entirely
sure that it was,
oh, no, it's not seated
'cause it's been pulled out
when I plugged in the battery.
There we go. All right,
okay, so one, connect, two.
Yeah boy.
- [Alex] Aye!
- Let's go.
So, that was $15 and that
was a pretty easy swap.
All in, we're still, I
think is it safe to say
probably like about a hundred bucks?
- [Alex] Yeah.
- For a fully functional red box Switch.
And, realistically, if
you didn't mind spending
maybe another $30, you could
also, while we were in there,
we could have just swapped out
the shell and the screen lens
and then this would be
essentially like new.
Again, I think we're doing good,
but the concern, as always,
is every time you buy something
for parts, you're taking a gamble.
The gambles are coming up our way for now,
but if you sit at the roulette
table for long enough,
you will lose your money.
Next up, what in the, oh,
what the hell is this?
Oh, gosh. Well it's, wait,
it's not that old, it's got
USB-C on it. Wait, what?
I look at this lid, I'm
like, oh is this like 2007?
- [Alex] So, this particular laptop
was released in the like 2015 era.
- Oh, so this would've been,
so the fact that said USB-C,
that was like a big deal.
- [Alex] Yeah.
- This is like
one of the first USB-C
devices you could get.
So, we have a whole little thing here.
So, Windows 11, has an
i7-6700HQ, so Skylake,
16 gigs of RAM, 120 gig SSD.
Palm rest needs replacing,
some keys don't work right
away but do after a few clicks.
- [Alex] There is one big
glaring issue with this laptop
that I think is emblematic
of a lot of laptops
in this general age range.
- I mean the screen
seems fine, so, battery?
- [Alex] Ding, ding, ding, the
battery is completely dead.
You'll be replacing that.
- That doesn't seem so bad.
I'm just gonna just yolo this one.
I don't think I need a tutorial,
I think I need to figure it out.
- [Alex] Okay.
- How bad could it be?
I cannot imagine that a 10
plus year old ROG laptop
was that expensive.
Especially something that
has a dead battery, right?
- [Alex] Yes. So, we paid $175.
- Whoa, that's, that's a, 175?
- [Alex] Yeah.
- Brother, maybe 75 bucks.
That's a little steep.
Oh, you look at that
like butter baby. Yes.
And oh my god, Alex,
you (beep) kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
This is what the battery looks like?
- [Alex] That is what
the battery looks like.
- So, hello dear viewers at home.
Take a good look. Where do
you think the battery is?
I'll give you a minute.
It is up here. This is the whole battery.
- [Alex] Yep.
- You wonder why old gaming like,
you know, it's like they put a battery in
just so it would last between
unplugging it your desk
and walking over and
plugging it on the couch.
The good news is,
I'm pretty sure I can just
replace this battery really quick
'cause it's right here and
look at that battery removed,
nothing but success.
So, drop this one in, make
sure it's fully seated.
Put those two screws back in.
I think this is a success.
We have a functioning battery,
it's literally not even
plugged in right now.
It's also mostly disassembled.
So, I need to actually
finish putting it together.
I don't think this particular laptop was,
like, if we're doing the genius to dingus,
this is a little bit
closer to the dingus side
'cause this is way too much money to spend
on a 10 plus year old gaming laptop.
Next up we have a package to Matt Ansini.
- [Adriana] Matt Ansini's package?
- [Alex] No.
- A Switch Lite?
- [Alex] Yeah.
- I'm afraid to know
what's wrong with this one.
- [Alex] Mr. I love Switch Lites.
- I do love the Switch
Lite. Very light wear.
So, no game in here and then
no microSD. That's fine.
And there's no screws anywhere,
which means that I think
I can just pop it open
'cause no one bothered to use the screws.
Yep, it just opens.
- [Alex] The thing that's wrong with it
is supposedly the screen,
which makes it hard to tell-
- That's really interesting
because the screen's
not physically broken.
The problem with the Switch Lite is
because it doesn't have
USB-C like video out,
a dead screen and a dead
motherboard are the same symptom
because nothing happens.
So, I'm gonna just plug
into a power meter here
to see if there are any signs of life.
Oh, nine watts. Okay, it's on.
Okay, so it is on. That's
actually a really good sign.
Oh yes.
- [Alex] Oh yep, yep, I heard a thing.
- Yes.
- [Alex] Yeah.
- Okay, cool. We're good. We're good.
I thought this thing was dead.
So, it actually is just a broken screen,
which is crazy to me.
For context, a fully functional
and maybe like okay condition
Switch Lite, hundred bucks.
You know, something like that.
It's not, it isn't crazy expensive.
- It'll be anywhere between like,
I wanna say maybe like 90 to 120, 130.
- Okay. Now, with a broken screen,
this costs a lot less
than 90 bucks, right?
It cost $60. 
- [Austin] Okay...
Gotta ask how much was
the screen replacement?
'Cause I feel like probably not cheap.
- Screens, in general,
replacement screens are kind of expensive.
This was $70.
Now, again, you could-
- Alex! You could get the OLED
for not that much more than that.
Well, we have successfully
disassembled our Switch
and we found some new friends.
- [Alex] Oh my God.
- So, there's a whole family
of little buggy bugs living here.
- [Alex] Oh my god, I'm outta here.
- So, now that we have fully
disassembled the Switch Lite,
it is time to install
our brand new screen.
I mean that looks fine.
I don't understand how it's gonna stick
'cause there's no adhesive
that it came with.
I think just for safety,
we're probably gonna add
just a little dab or two
of adhesive on the corners,
just to make sure it's not gonna fall.
All right, now comes the fun part
of installing all of this.
I think we're ready for a test boot.
As you can tell, there's
about a number of screws
that are not quite installed
yet, but that's fine.
Most important thing is does it boot?
Does the screen function?
What did I forget?
Let's find out together, my friends.
Hmm, that's not great.
Let me plug it in and see if
it takes a charge perhaps.
- [Adriana] And definitely see
if you can still hear the beeps and boops
'cause maybe it's something
else with the screen, you know?
- Oh, right. So, I could
have swapped the screen
and realize that it was
not the screen at all,
and in fact something much deeper.
Oh.
- [Alex] Aye.
- I heard the button.
- [Alex] Aye.
- So, clearly it's booted.
Speakers work fine, the
screen is completely dead.
So, we just swapped a
perfectly working screen
out of a Switch Lite, spent
$75 on a brand new screen.
I spent two hours swapping it in
just to find out that
that was not the problem,
that the actual problem is,
is that the Switch Lite,
the video connector,
the bugs maybe, what
if the bug got in there
and like messed up the
connector or something?
I think this is a good example though
of what kind of problems you can run into
when you're trying to
do something like this.
You can get lucky like we
have for the most part.
But also you can very much get unlucky
either with a product
that is more deeply flawed
than you thought
or just a simple fact that
you could make a problem.
I'm pretty sure though
that this was not my bad
just because it is literally
the exact same problem we had
with the first screen.
Just with a whole bunch
of money down the drain
and a real sad Austin
full on the dingus scale.
I've been dingused. I am a
dingus. What do we got next?
An iPhone 12.
- [Alex] Correct.
- This doesn't scare me.
- [Alex] Oh.
I've opened iPhones before.
We did a whole video on
Apple's self-service repair.
But, okay, what's the
problem with this one?
Is it, screen looks okay?
- [Alex] One of the
most common issues ever,
it's got a degraded battery.
- Now, if you take this
to the Apple store,
you're paying a hundred
bucks for this battery swap,
something like that I think?
- [Alex] Yeah, you're basically paying
a hundred dollars out of pocket.
- Okay, so first question,
how much do we pay for
iFixit iPhone 12 battery.
- [Alex] So, because we
bought it through iFixit,
it's a whole like kit, it's $46.
- Oh, is it really?
- [Alex] Yeah, so, so they do
give you like little tools.
They do give you all that stuff,
so it's a battery, all that stuff.
- Although they do sell it
in a this battery only kit.
- [Alex] They do sell
it as a battery only.
So if you wanted to buy it
from iFixit specifically,
it's 40 bucks.
- Okay, so we have ourselves,
the battery itself.
They also very thankfully
give us a new adhesive.
The only other thing
that I would recommend
is having a heat gun.
This adhesive is going to
require a little bit more
heat than the Switch did.
- [Alex] You know they
really wanted this thing
to be waterproof.
- Which is fine.
The thing is though,
while I would not really
trust the waterproofing,
after you do something like this,
the adhesive will actually
gets you most of the way there.
So, at this point, I think,
we can start just peeling
the whole thing up.
There we go, look at that.
Now that screen is fairly strong,
but you don't wanna put
too much pressure on it.
And now it is time to remove the battery.
So, the way to do this unfortunately
is just to twist and pull.
The thing is that you wanna
make sure you get the whole tab
and you see I'm just twisting and pulling.
Now, unfortunately, there are four tabs.
So again, a couple of the tabs get close,
so, sometimes you grab 'em both.
I got both tabs up, look at that.
- [Alex] Wow, look at you.
- Is something finally
going my way today? Yes.
That's frigging dope, dude.
I'm actually really happy about that.
Well, at this point, all I gotta do,
where's my replacement battery?
- [Alex] Oh, things were going so well.
- Wait.
All right, my friends, let
us replace our battery.
Now, I just need to make
sure that this cable bends.
Yes, it will.
And that looks pretty good.
So, what I'm gonna do is,
because that looks great,
I'm just going to push it in place.
Battery's installed.
Now, how do I put the
rest of the stuff in?
Uh-oh.
Remember the whole thing about
these screws were really
tiny, you wanna be careful.
- [Alex] Oh. Did you strip one?
- [Austin] It got absorbed.
- [Alex] It got absorbed?
- Absorbed by the rest of the phone.
Okay, so, at this point,
if I am not the world's biggest dingus,
it should just turn on.
Oh my god, I'm a god damn genius.
The only thing is, I
think, if I remember right,
they don't give you the
percentage anymore, right?
Yeah, yeah. So, it says unknown parts.
So, it does not tell you
the maximum capacity.
Honestly, if you had
an almost dead battery,
not seeing the actual percentage
is kind of no big deal.
All right, well I think
we're pretty successful.
Let me go ahead and
zip the screen back on,
and we'll see how well I actually did.
Behold my friend,
a fully functional
battery swapped iPhone 12.
Don't look too close. It's totally fine.
There's nothing to see here.
No adhesive escape the
phone when I put it on.
Don't worry about it.
Anyway, what's the overall verdict here?
- [Alex] All totaled
across the entire video-
- [Austin] Yeah.
- [Alex] We saved $135.
- Wait, wait, that's it?
- [Alex] Well, okay, it
gets a little complicated.
- I saved a little bit
of money on the iPhone.
- [Alex] Yeah, you saved a
little money on the iPhone.
- [Austin] The DMG actually
came out really nicely
and I actually properly upgrade it.
- [Alex] Yeah.
And you saved a little bit
of money on the Switch.
- On the Switch.
- [Alex] The OG Switch.
- I think the real takeaway is
investing in some parts to fix
your own stuff makes sense.
Buying stuff that's broken on eBay
with the hopes of being able to fix it,
and sort of save yourself
some money is possible,
but you gotta really do your research
and hope that you're feeling
just a little bit lucky.
Much like I'm feeling
lucky enough to ask you
subscribe to the channel
and ring-a-ling that ding-a-ling button,
so you too can see resident
local ding-a-ling try to break,
I mean fix some shiny new tech
or some not so shiny tech.
I am a dingus.