When hardware tells a story: experiences from over 8 years in IT procurement
We can provide you with data sheets, white papers, information pages and process diagrams – everything you need to understand IT procurement from a technical perspective. But the really fascinating stories aren’t found in any handout. Because IT procurement isn’t just about serial numbers, device types and condition assessments. It’s the people and companies behind the scenes that make the job of an IT refurbisher interesting. And sometimes challenging too 😉
So it’s time to lay our cards on the table and let the cat out of the bag. Because yes: other companies are just like us. Not everyone knows exactly what hardware they actually still have in stock – and we don’t shy away from laptops plastered with stickers or repurposed as breakfast plates.
High time to let Benedikt, our junior manager at Serverando, have his say.
What was the first project you handled – and what was going through your mind at the time?
Benedikt: “My first job was a massive undertaking: at the start of 2018, we had to collect goods from nearly 200 different locations – two BladeCenters had to be ‘collected’ from each branch. I was the driver back then, so I was on the road for quite a while 😉.”
Wow, that sounds like quite a challenge – are there any devices where you think ‘Oh dear…’ as soon as you see the purchase offer?
Benedikt: “To reassure companies that they shouldn’t be afraid to send us old or no-longer-valuable devices for valuation: our quotes are free of charge, and anyone interested in sustainable recycling is generally doing the right thing. But yes – printers and telephones are always a bit of a challenge. Printers because they’re bulky. Telephones because they often simply don’t have a good resale value.”
Have there ever been any collections that have put you in a really tricky situation?
Benedikt: “Absolutely – off the top of my head, I can think of the server cabinet we had to carry down from the third floor. Of course, there was no lift in the building. We had virtually no equipment to help us; it was all down to sheer strength and stamina. On days like that, you definitely don’t need to go to the gym.”
Apart from that bizarre situation, is there a customer encounter that has stayed with you to this day?
Benedikt: “Many companies stick in your memory – fortunately, most of them in a positive light. You make small talk, forge contacts, build partnerships. But one large corporation in particular has stayed with me: nobody there knew exactly how many rooms were actually crammed full of old hardware. It was almost like a scavenger hunt through the site.”
What we buy – and why IT remarketing is more important today than ever
The “treasure hunt” – not an isolated case: What we find time and again is that companies often have no idea what hardware, and how much of it, is actually lying around unused and, sadly, losing value every day.
Many are often quite astonished when we put a price on this ‘supposed scrap’ – much of it is surprisingly valuable. And even if there are no treasures to be found: IT remarketing has long been about more than just ‘selling old hardware’. It’s about conserving resources, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, common sense – and thinking of the generations that come after us. So let’s take a look at our little “hardware history”.
Which devices or product categories are we currently being offered most frequently?
Benedikt: “At the moment, quite clearly: RAM. Many companies want to free up budget for new hardware or upgrades by selling their unused server parts. And that’s a good thing – it makes server memory affordable again, even for SMEs. We also receive a lot of 8th and 9th generation servers from HPE. These are currently being replaced by many companies and consequently often end up with us for purchase.”
Are these devices actually worth anything at all? And what hardware is generally more valuable than people realise?
Benedikt: “Small businesses or companies just starting to embrace digitalisation often still benefit from older generations like Gen8 – for example, as file servers, web servers for the intranet or test systems. Furthermore, the systems from the generations above are very flexible and can be easily adapted. Alongside DDR4 RAM, which is currently in extremely high demand, tape drives – particularly LTO models – retain their value surprisingly well.”
Which devices are practically sold as soon as they’ve been refurbished?
Benedikt: “Server components like RAM and SSDs almost always sell straight away. And business laptops are very popular in the shop – many companies are looking for affordable upgrades, while private individuals are looking for reliable devices for working from home.”
Have you ever had any really odd purchase offers?
Benedikt: “In the server and networking sector, there are a few oddities that take some getting used to. But yes – we’ve even had an offer for entire show kitchens. And then there was one for around 8,000 graphics cards. You don’t see quantities like that every day.”
Have there ever been any “rarities” where we thought: “Off to the museum with that”?
Benedikt: “Yes, I can remember a 3.5-inch HDD with 20GB from the early 90s. That was almost a piece of IT history – it’s unbelievable how small the capacities were back then. At the time, that drive must have cost a fortune.”
So you’ve actually seen real “IT fossils” in the wild?
“Surprisingly, mainly old laptops that were actually still in use – there were a few servers in there too. Among other things, we were supplied with an HP (or Compaq, as it was then) DL380 Generation 1 for a project in 2024. With about 23–24 years under its belt, it’s a real old-timer😉.”
But that sort of thing is a bit too old to buy, isn’t it?
Benedikt: “Yes, to guarantee a buy-back value, the technology needs to be up to date. Ultra3 SCSI hard drives and a maximum of 4 GB of PC133 RAM are a bit too outdated. But of course it makes sense to include such one-off items in a project – after all, these are also sustainably recycled and the data storage media are securely destroyed.“
Is there any hardware you really don’t want to buy anymore – and why?
Benedikt: “Here we go again with the phones 😉. Not smartphones, mind you, but old-fashioned desk phones. They’re bulky, take up a lot of space and are almost impossible to sell. And cleaning them isn’t much fun – the effort simply isn’t worth the potential selling price.”
You say cleaning the phones isn’t much fun – has there ever been anything really unpleasant when buying them back?
Benedikt: “Oh yes. Time for an appeal to all laptop users: Please, please don’t cover your devices with thousands of stickers – removing them is a real chore, scratches included. And I can recall a project where we took back around 2,000 laptops: many of them had clearly been used as breakfast plates on a regular basis – at least that’s what we gathered from the crumbs between the keys. After refurbishment, however, everything was sparkling clean again 😉.”
Values, Lessons Learnt & Visions: What we’ve taken away from over 20 years in IT procurement
After all the curious discoveries and unvarnished realities, it’s worth taking a look at what every challenge brings: experience. After all, anyone who has been buying, assessing, collecting, wiping data storage devices, recycling and remarketing hardware for more than two decades doesn’t just collect devices – they also gather insights. Some of these are surprising, some pragmatic, some almost philosophical. So it’s time to let our expert have his say again: what sticks with you when you’ve been in the IT remarketing business long enough?
What have we learnt in our many years of IT purchasing that we’d like to pass on to other companies?
Benedikt: “Getting help with the disposal of old IT equipment isn’t a big deal – it’s sensible and often the better way. Above all, the logistical effort involved (alongside data erasure) is massively underestimated. Dismantling the hardware and transporting it requires time, flexibility, ingenuity and sometimes even strong nerves. Many people think: ‘We’ll just quickly take those few servers away ourselves.’ In reality, this often involves a complex project in which security – in many respects – plays a major role.”
What misunderstandings do you frequently encounter when purchasing equipment?
Benedikt: “Quite clearly: data erasure. Many people underestimate how much time and care this requires. Secure erasure processes don’t happen at the touch of a button – they are an important part of a sophisticated remarketing workflow. And you have to carefully weigh up which data storage devices it makes economic sense to erase, and where the effort would be too great and it would be better to physically destroy them. To illustrate: a simple 2 TB SATA HDD takes around three to six hours to overwrite once. Multiple overwrites can take ten to twenty hours – or even several days.”
What do you think: How will IT procurement change over the next few years? Which devices will disappear from the market?
Benedikt: “No one can say for certain – how often have desktop PCs and HDDs been ‘buried’ only to reappear again? But one thing is clear: hardware is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Small or low-spec systems will become less relevant in the long term because modern requirements demand more power. At the same time, the demand for hardware is generally increasing – as is the demand for sustainable solutions. Companies want to save costs, conserve resources and still remain efficient. IT remarketing will therefore continue to grow in importance.”
Ready to recycle hardware you no longer need in a responsible way? We’re here to help
With over 20 years’ experience in IT procurement, we know that every piece of hardware has its own story – and every company has different requirements, challenges and goals. Whether it’s secure data erasure, fair buy-back prices, sustainable recycling or simply taking the pressure off your day-to-day operations: you don’t have to go it alone.
If you’d like to know what value your old IT still holds or what a smooth, secure and sustainable recycling process looks like, we’d be happy to help. With no obligation, transparency and a focus on what matters most.
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