Northern Computer Markets

http://www.computermarkets.co.uk/showlist.html

Anyone going?

No, it's grim up North.

these were really useful in the 80's, but are defunct now.

That maybe explains why there's so many of them, then.

so much of the stuff I bought from markets was junk.
I used to go to the one in tottenham court road every saturday.

Thats why it's (supposed to be) cheap.
I was only stung once at one of these markets. When I bought a DVD-ROM drive that never worked (I found out later that I wasn't the only one who was stung by the same stall) turns out the stall was only there for one night and sold everyone crap. They were never seen again ( and I hope I never do cos I will more than likely stick said drive up where the sun don't shine)

Here's a few rules when going to these places.

1) Get the shows guide when you enter the market it will give you information on safe buying and what rights you have (if any).
2) Always get a receipt and some form of guarantee ( with a contact number )
3) Only buy goods from people that are there on a regular basis.
4) If you know what your looking for get a few prices from your local computer store (you may find them cheaper than the trader at the market and a lot less hassle if it turns out the goods were dodgy)

As a personal rule I only buy consumables (Printer Ink/Paper/DVD-R's). I did break this once and came up trumps with a 4GB USB memory stick.

I've been to a few of these, in fact I went to one organized by the company linked in the first post about a month ago.
Complete rubbish. 6-8 Stalls, of which two where selling 'software' (you'll know why it's in quotes!)
Only redeeming feature was one of the stalls was a company I've bought a few things from in the past, and I picked up a network hub at a few quid below net prices (but it was a few quid to get in, so evened out in the end).
Dawlane's advice is good... Hard to go wrong buying DVD-R's and paper though.

Yep you need to have your wits about you, and you need to be picking up a fair bit of stuff to make it worth the effort but they certainly aren't defunct. I can appreciate why somebody would say that though, if you go to these things and are happy to pay the asking price.

There's always room for negotiation, and getting a few freebies thrown in.

But yeah, I wouldn't buy anything from a computer fair that might require use of a warranty at some point.

i always avoid these things
sound like car boot sales to me

buyer beware and all that jazz
id rather go to a shop and buy stuff than one of these cos i have a propper footing in the returns department

hell i even got some 'cheap' sandisc 2gb SD cards from sainsburys ... other places had em way more
they had an unknown brand £1 cheaper o.O

Just use Ebay.

Darkheart

where they take the photos of simms and pcb's on a carpet