What are some general rules for buying used RC electronics? Is it a good idea? What things can you get away with buying used and what can you not? Buying used in-person vs over the internet?

I’ve bought a number of vehicles used. 6 of the 7 1/10 vehicles I’ve raced this year were bought used. I have done little to them

I’ve had great success with finding on road deals. I’ve only recently tried buy used off road.


Race grade is a little easier to judge its use. Average person it’s going to buy an Xray to just go out bashing. Now buying a used RTR. That’s where I need to look at pictures, damage or is it dirty, or does it look well maintained.

If it’s sold with electronics, I expect to put in a receiver and run. Unless seller says otherwise.

I’ve personally always been VERY Leary of motors and LiPo’s.

ESC’s I’ve had very good luck with and have found some great deals on here.

My general rule of thumb is the user. The post count, the activity, the feedback. If this guys has sold 300 items and had great feedback I’d be more willing then the kid with no feedback and 10 posts.

Activity on the site is something I also check. If only showing up to sell. Its something to consider. If active, do they post information or just simple things and only active till start selling.

I’ve had good luck with batteries. But I typically buy a new one for each vehicle. I’ll used the used one. If it shows a good battery in picture. I don’t expect to see one puffy and taped together when I receive it. Not happen to me. But I’ve read and know people who have.

Follow up: how has your experience been on places like eBay, Facebook, and Craigslist?

Never done Craigslist. Facebook once for small scale. Ebay yes. I’d be hesitant about buying a used Traxxas cause I know how beaten up some get. The more pictures the better. The better the description helps. I’m most likely skipping the vehicle if descriptions is nothing more then “RC car. Runs good”

Motor and Lipo: Better be in person trade, because the pervious users may use them pretty hard especially if you are looking for stock racing stuff. You have to personally spinning rotors and check if lipo pack is puffed to see the actual condition.
Speedo: used should be fine, but be careful if the speedo is from a brand that no longer existed because you may have to find programming card on your own.
Radio: Honesly the best item to purchase used, for a friction of the cost, you can have a pervious flag ship or high end models which have better ergonomics, faster response and features than entry level models. But do make sure it functions normally especially when comes to range.

For me it always comes down to what condition the electronics are in. If a motor is clean and was desoldered properly then I would consider it. Tells me the owner would be more inclined to take care of their stuff. If an ESC has the stock wires hanging off and it looks thrashed, no thank you. Most of the time if I buy used it is from someone I know.

I second being worried about the condition and abuse of used motors and lipos. How were they used. Charged properly? Stored? Over timed? Overheated?

I also have had good luck with used speed controls.

I purchased a 4pl a long while ago. Radio was, and still is good, antenna was bad on the rx. Lucky for me it was for a MOA comp crawler so its still there and working. Something to consider.

FACT: all electronics fail over time

• Servos: Typically the gears wear out and need to be replaced eventually, factor in the cost to replace these gears plus the cost of the servo, if this adds up to more than buying a new servo, then pass on the deal
• ESC's: Hard chassis slaps from off-road use tend to shock the internals which break loose on the circuit board and will eventually fail, doesn't matter which brand you get all ESC's are "ticking time bombs" which can't be predicted how long before they fail... of all the brands I have personally owned, HobbyWing tends to last the longest and when they have failed on me, HobbyWingDirect.com offers deep discounts on replacement
• Motors: Only buy a motor that offers replacement rotors/sators/sensor boards, these are common replacement items that wear out... I've seen a guy damage his sensor board on the very first pack after a bad crash! Many budget brands do not offer replacement parts, consider these brands disposable.
• Batteries: Age quickly, heat is the worst enemy for batteries, use IR readings to tell you the health of the cells, where <3mΩ is considered low IR, and <7mΩ is what I would consider acceptable for resale, I would not buy any pack without current IR readings. I always post pics of the most recent IR reading with any pack that I sell... if the IR is >7mΩ then I simply keep the pack as a "practice" pack or simply give away my older practice packs and I discard any pack with IR >15mΩ
• Chargers/Power Supplies: These electronics tend to last the longest, and tend to hold their value the best

Worth a read:

• Which electronics are best?

So for battery IR, less than 7 for each cell or combined?

I know for sure one of my batteries are getting old and its about time to retire her to a practice pack.

individual cell readings, I have also noticed that my packs tend to take longer time to balance when any of the cells go father than 2mΩ apart from each other, that's typically when I decide to sell a pack which is perfectly good with readings of S1 = 3mΩ and S2 = 5mΩ, but this pack might take an extra 5 min longer to balance than a pack with both cells reading 3mΩ equally. That extra 5 min of charge time is not worth keeping the pack for a stock class when you need to perfectly time your charge cycle so that the pack comes fresh off the charger within a few minutes of the start of a race (or tech inspection).

To support most of what has been said above.

Pictures show best, but not all. I have had good luck on this forum with Radios/Servos/ and ESC's. Motors and batteries can be a great deal or a horrible deal.

when shopping on RCTech, most of the users are hobbyists or racers, so stuff is generally well cared for. Ebay/Facebook/Craig's list gets a "widere variety" of sellers/owners. THe stuff I have bought there has tended to not be in as good of shape as stuff I found here.

Personally, I am still using radios, esc's, and servos I bought here over 5 years ago (can't say the same for other electronics. Chargers are a pretty safe bet as well.

Personally, chargers and motors are good for me, but I would avoid used batteries like the plague, had mega bad luck with those. ESCs and servos are a maybe, I would personally inspect and test it first ideally. Used TXs and RXs are usually ok, provided the they don't look abused and the RX wire is in good shape.

I've bought and sold a bunch of electronics here and on my local facebook groups. Motors, servos, radios, receivers, ESCs and transponders.

Pictures are a must. If someone isn't willing to post pictures or unwilling to send additional pics then I don't deal with them. If an item is dirty and beat up I won't even bother.
I also do a little research on the seller, looking at their past posts and seller history.

But I will never, ever buy or sell used batteries. Batteries can go bad really easy and you can never really know how they were cared for or how your sold battery will be cared for,