A user found what seemed to be a bargain at a thrift store. For about 5 euros, he bought a box containing a graphics card. Upon opening it, the hardware turned out to be a disappointment.
What did the user buy? The Reddit user scorpionthecruel reports in his post from 28.11.2025 that he was bored and wandered into a thrift shop. There, he found a graphics card box for roughly 5 euros.
The box officially belongs to a GTX 1060 and was originally offered in the shop for 9.99 US dollars. That’s about 8.60 euros. Thanks to Black Friday, he received another 50 percent discount.
Later, upon opening the box, the user discovered that it was not a GTX 1060 at all, but a GTX 560 Ti: a graphics card that is five years older than the GTX 1060.
The thrift store of the TSA (The Salvation Army), where the user bought the card, finances various social projects with its revenue. This means people donate money or goods, and the organization sells them. How another user had a similar experience with a positive ending, you can find out on MeinMMO.
How other users managed to identify sensitive user data using AI and hidden cameras can be seen in the following video:
Disappointed by opening the box
Why was the user disappointed? The user wanted to score a bargain and, according to his own statements, possibly resell the card himself. Due to the wrong card in the box, the deal and a potential resale are not as good as originally assumed.
Because a GTX 1060 is sold in Germany on the used market for about 45 – 65 euros (via eBay). A GTX 560 Ti, on the other hand, is offered for about 10 – 25 euros (via eBay) (as of 01.12.2025).
The user rules out self-use because his PC is too poor to even use the graphics card.
Stories of false hardware are not uncommon
How can I protect myself from false used goods? To receive the correct product, here are some tips:
- If an offer seems too good to be true, it might be a scam. An example would be graphics cards that are significantly below the selling price of other retailers.
- Test purchased items immediately upon receipt. Because even if the goods are authentic, some sellers may hide defects that are not immediately obvious.
- Check software and drivers of received goods. For instance, there are cases, where older graphics card chips have the BIOS of newer models flashed to mislead users. It’s best to use software like GPU-Z to read the data of your used hardware.
It is especially important not to make hasty decisions, even if an offer is only available for a short time. That’s why we advise you to check offers, then compare prices and ideally sleep on it overnight. You can find out how sellers use methods to sell you old mining hardware here: Miners desperately trying to sell their used Nvidia graphics cards – Using unfair tricks to get you to buy the old GPUs
