Why You Should Be Careful When Buying on Facebook

Social media sites like Facebook have evolved from sharing cute photos of cats and sharing funny videos to a fully fledged market place. You are able to sell and buy almost anything (legal) under the sun. Unfortunately, like all markets, comparing prices and quality is essential in ensuring getting the most from your money. 

A Hurried Purchase, a Trap for Buyers

A few weeks ago I spent K70 (US$20) on a DDR 3 RAM for my laptop. I had just registered for a workshop on Network Security and one of the requirements was for a system with 8GB RAM – mine had only 4GB. 

The workshop was only a couple of days away and I couldn’t find DDR 3 in the shops. They were all selling DDR 4! Then I realized I had seen DDR 3 RAM sold on Facebook. 

I logged into Facebook, went into the various market places and found someone selling used 4GB DDR 3 RAM. I offered to buy at the price I mentioned earlier and he agreed. 

The next day he cam over with the RAM and I just bought it – without any checking. However, it was when I tried installing it when I found the problem. 

Mismatched RAM 

It became obvious when I disassembled the laptop and removed the installed RAM. The one I had was PC133 standard – the one he brought was PC3L standard – it just could not work.  

As anyone who has experience in computer hardware will tell you, you can’t use mismatched RAM. It just won’t work. Fortunately, I did find another PC133 2GB RAM which I used to upgrade to 6GB

It wasn’t enough to run GNS3 but I managed. 

The Lesson

There are a few lessons to be learnt from my experience. 

•  Always make sure you know what you are buying,
• always make a good inspection of any item before you buy, and;
• Its always better to buy a new RAM. 

Anyway, that was just an experience I thought to share and thank you for reading until the very end.