Computer fairs any good?

londonTiger

Haven't been to a comp user fair in a long time. Used to go during the dial up era when discount online retailers were non existent.

Was wondering if they're still worth going to or if they are now non competitive

patman99

Do they still exist. We used to have a massive one in my area but it stopped years back.

londonTiger

yes never mind, just googled and ended up on the overclockers forum. apparantly they're much more expensive than internet prices and tend to be poor customers service (non existent returns policy).

Also, they were mostly for piraters to buy blank discs apparantly as a lot of the sellers would shift hundreds of thousands of blank discs per week. Broadband killed that trade.

patman99

The ones I used to trade at had the same traders every time so it was easy to return a defective product.
Also, most piraters could buy bulk floppies & CDRs much cheaper from the wholesalers who used to advertise in the likes of MicroMart.

ThemeOne

They might still be good for stuff like blank CDs / DVDs - you can get them online oviously, but due to weight, shipping is often expensive.

Mr_Toad

They do still exist.

There was one near me a couple of weeks ago and as it happened a friend needed a cheap graphics card for a PC he was repairing for a relative.

We used to go years ago and they filled the sports hall where they were held. He persuaded me to go, big mistake, there were very few stalls. Most were selling compatible ink cartridges and paper, the paper is cheaper in Tesco!

There were a couple selling very old overpriced bits of junk recovered from long dead PCs and laptops that were old enough to have been sold with Windows 3.1 on them.

He got a very nice graphics card off eBay that was cheap and with free P&P

Nilrem

I used to love going to computer fairs, but stopped probably about 6-8 years ago as they were getting very rare around me, and they were basically a mix of over priced stuff, blank discs, and dodgy DVD's.

It's a shame as when I started with proper computers back in the 90's they were awesome, you could pick up parts (or even complete PC's) cheap, and it was about the only way to get some bits.

I have some fond memories of rummaging through the "spare parts" boxes to try and find an out of date part needed to fix a machine, and picking up things like monitors cheap for my nephews (who tended to inherit my old machines).

I still have a shed load of screws and case fittings I bought from one of the companies that built machines, and obviously found the fairs a good place to dump the inevitable spare fittings you got when building machines (the only computer screws I've had to buy in the last 15 years have been thumbscrews, even when refurbing machines friends have bought me to fix).

A.Penny.Saved

I used to go many years ago but stopped because they just were not worth the time, money or effort when online has far more choice and better prices.

The range was very limited, just the cheap junk. I don't know whether they are still hold them in my area.

andydiysaver

they're like anywhere else - know what you're looking for you can get a bargain, fall for the salesmen with their marked down double price to start with discontinued rubbish and they've got the bargain not you...

JJ_Egan

Outstanding value and choice five years ago . Multiple component sellers all competing .
Then internet made it not viable for many sellers and fairs are a weak shadow of their former selves .

prowla

Our local one no longer runs, but we went to the Croyden one last month and my son bought the items he wanted to build his own computer.

In the past, at the local one, I've found the people there to be honest, and have occasionally taken things back without issue.

I do think that you can get things cheaper online though.