Bitcoin Forum

I find it completely ridiculous that people are still buying Antminer U1's and U2 for about $10 to $15 each on Ebay.  
$10 for a miner that does 2GH/s.  At today's difficulty (if it doesn't increase again), they can stand to make about 5 cents in a year! LOL

Here's a link that show the U1's and U2's that have been sold on ebay recently:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=antminer+u1&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc

Maybe collectors?

Most people who buy those know they're not going to make a profit, and those who don't - well they're only out $10-$15, so they'll just not go to the movies this month.  Big deal.  I'd be more upset with those who try to sell low-end stickminers for $50+, or those trying to sell $2,000 miners for home use even though they won't ROI under typical home electricity costs and the people who buy them have to jump through hoops to try and quieten them.  And then there's cloud mining...

Yeah, I'm biased - but it's true all the same ;)

Thanks for pointing it out.  I just now listed the last 3 I had.

HAHA! I hope you make a few bucks from those suckers  ;)

I don't know why, but I love the U1 simple design :D

well some people get free ebay money in the form of ebucks and they can buy a few sticks and attach them to a pc at work that gets free power .

So cost is zero.  at zero cost why not.

That reminds me, I was going to get a U1 and U2 to take pictures of.

going for a movie is 10$ when they can watch it online for free, are they sucker too?

Definitely, you need to get out more. Just try it once in a while ..

Free power? Free internet? Where?  ;D

On topic: You can still make some decent deals on ebay.

Look at those Neptunes https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=886033.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=886033.0)

Running my business involves meeting people and visiting offices.i have once seen a U2 on a pc mining because the green light was flashing.did not know the man over there and din not want to embarrass him but yes I have seen then them where power is free, yet small hashing but free and probably they know it its no use running the in a pool but solo ???
Playing lotto for free who cares how much is the hash rate 1/300.000.000 currently

They are still usefull for people involved thru the Bitcoin Utopia Project in BOINC to generate more than a million credits per day ;)

better to lose less than lose a lot.  You can learn a lot about mining software, hardware and mining in general by buying ultra cheap, no longer profitable miners.  It costs a lot less, and depending on where you live, a much lower electric bill, and your still involved in bitcoin.  At this point, the writing is on the wall for home miners and for all the "you'll never ROI" there's still a lot of people more interesting in understanding mining than hooking up your bank account to an exchange to trade fx.  And trading btc on exchanges is wrought with spreads and fees and complexity to withdraw funds and such that makes mining far more interesting than buying btc.

If you think that's bad, look at what redfurys go for.  Those things actually sell for like $50 on ebay.  I understand dropping $5-$15 on something to collect it, or just to learn about bitcoin- much better than signing up for some cloudmining scam- But holy crap some of those miners are insanely expensive.

--
novak

People are not suckers for buying them. More than likely that people are buying out of fascination to get into mining and to see how to set them up and make them run and  build their knowledge in mining and then start using other equipment. I still have 30 block eruptors collecting dust with pencil mods to them. Maybe start mining with them solo for a lol and see if it ever makes a block of BTC lmfao

Yes solo is the only way for these if you decide to try them , as a suggestion run them on scolo colivas pool.dont run them fully overclocked as solo pool pushes them like working full time

The top listing there is offering free shipping.  Once you consider Shipping ($2-$3) and eBay and PayPal fees 30 cents + 13% they are only selling that USB miner for about 5 bucks.  In other words the price floor on mining equipment isn't determined by how much you can mine with it but at some point it comes down to basic costs.

10-15 bucks isn't a bad deal to learn the ropes of using an ASIC before plunking a tone of money into something more expensive.

I know a few teachers/professors who whilst teaching about cryptocurrencies, they would bring in small ASIC examples, power them up and hash away. Naturally some of these items would "disappear" so anything cheap that worked was logical.

I supposed these $10 U2's are one of the cheapest ways to get your feet wet on the Bitcoin madness.
Any serious mining rig is going to cost some serious bucks. At $10 a pop, it's a nice educational tool for someone to get a taste of what Bitcoin mining is about.

When I had a small mining farm (12 Antminer S1's) in the garage, my kid asked me what are all those machines doing? (lots of blinking lights, fan noise, and heat). I couldn't explain it the way a young person could understand. So I gave him an explanation that isn't exactly true, but easily understandable:
"You know how people have solar panels on their houses to generate electricity? Electricity costs money. So if they generate electricity themselves, they make making money. These Bitcoin machines are kind of similar. When they are running, they are making money."

That's a sharp markup right there. I remember times back in 2013 when the block erupters went for 150-200% their BTC value on eBay... Crazy times, really! And I bet the resellers of those made a killing back then buying them in bulk from ASICMiner and selling them to people all over the world.

It was good in the beginning, but then got rather competitive so very little markup.  After fees and such, you'd make a buck or two on each one by the time it caught on.

There is no such thing as free power in your context. That is called theft and misappropriation of employer resources.

In general I have to agree with this. If you have talked with your employer and gotten the green light, then go right ahead. Otherwise proceed with extreme caution. Many employer's take a really dim view of running a Bitcoin miner on the company dime. You might well find them more sympathetic to using paper and pens for your kid's art project. Just my $.02 on the matter.

U1 and U2 sheesh was going to hook up my block erupters just for the light show :'(, now I feel stupid.

One of the quickest ways ... (for today's gen with short attention spans)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2en3nHxA4

A USB powered device normally is silent and just having one is a stepping-stone to learning hardware miners before you go bigger!

Crazy money you might say, but educational!

I don't think an employer would make a big fuss about an Antminer U2.  After all it is about 3W - about £3 per annum.

Of course something using 500W is another matter

I bought 2 x USB 330mh/s sticks just for the fascination and to see if I could set it up with CG Miner on a solo mine and I did!! Obviously they are not running now but I am running 1.5 TH/S at slushpool. Point being, those 2 USB sticks introduced me and hooked me in :-)

Thank you very much for pointing it out!
I have some legacy hardware I'd like to sell.

Very much off-topic, but employers usually see this more of a liability issue than one of consumed resources.

Back on-topic - don't forget that this board has a marketplace as well.  Depending on the miner, you can get a good price there for items you want to sell for those who don't want to mess with ebay; and you can always list at both places.

Its normal, before i get into buying antminer s3 i wanted to buy an usb miner and try it out..just to get the "feel" of bitcoin mining.