Among Asian countries,JapanIt seems to be one of the countries hardest hit by the recent hardware price hikes and shortages? In addition to the retailers we previously reported on,In addition to implementing purchase limits due to limited graphics card inventory,…even secondhand stores have been affected. Recently, a well-known Japanese recycling company PC Together with electronics retailers, we’ve publicly asked everyone on our official social media channels to bring in their oldComputerSell them to these people—since hardware shortages continue, secondhand computers are almost sold out, which is a rare sight.
Image source: Sofmap Gaming
This is crazy! As the hardware shortage continues to worsen, shops in Akihabara, Japan, are asking everyone to sell them their old computers: “We’ll take just about any PC.”
“Sofmap Gaming,” a subsidiary of Sofmap, a major Japanese computer and 3C retailer, recently posted on its official X account, pleading, “If you’ve bought a new computer, please sell your old one to us.” The post explained that they’re running low on even used computers and included a photo showing just a few scattered units on the shelves:
現在連中古的遊戲電腦都真的沒有庫存了，就是這種狀況。
那個……真的拜託了，如果您要換新電腦的話，請務必把遊戲電腦賣給我們……
Sofmap Gaming did not specify which store the photo was taken at, but the foreign media outlet Tom’s Hardware speculates that the location is likely a large, three-story brick-and-mortar store in Akihabara.
They also specifically mentioned that they basically buy any type of used computer and offer very competitive prices:
我們收購價格其實給得相當高……
不論是遊戲用的桌上型電腦還是筆記型電腦，當然就算不是遊戲電腦，只要是電腦基本上我們都會收購……
So I did a quick search online to see what people in Japan were saying about Sofmap’s buyback service, and it’s true that some people have mentioned that, compared to other secondhand buyback stores, Sofmap offers slightly higher prices for many models and is more reliable.
More importantly, Sofmap offers a public buyback price lookup tool, which means you can get a rough idea of the potential amount upfront. If you can’t make it to the store, they also provide a free mail-in buyback appraisal service. If you’re not satisfied with the appraisal amount, they’ll ship your items back to you for free—which is a really nice touch:
Of course, even though there’s a severe shortage of used computers, buyers like Sofmap won’t accept some that are too old—they definitely have certain acceptance criteria, such as requiring at least a DDR4 platform and hardware that meets the minimum requirements for Windows 11 (Intel 8th Gen, AMD Ryzen 2000 series) .
However, I really didn’t expect the ongoing memory supply crunch to have such a wide-ranging impact. It’s not just memory, SSDs, and other storage products, or graphics cards—even used computers are starting to run out of stock. As expected, the reason is likely that “brand-new products” are too expensive, so many people can’t afford them and are turning to the used market instead.
There doesn’t seem to be a shortage like this in Taiwan yet, but one thing is certain: if you have an old, unused computer with an SSD, DDR4 or higher RAM, or a decent graphics card, selling it now will definitely fetch a much better price than in the past. If you have an old computer at home that you’re not using, you might want to consider selling it.
Source: KOCPC Chinese