Periodic reminder: never ever buy a used controller

Brother found a too good to be true deal on a Dualsense Edge on the 'bay. I told him he should avoid because he will get what he pays for. But he has a room temperature IQ, a face our mother never loved, and I am thoroughly convinced he is adopted so I've sent his toothbrush for DNA testing. He bought the controller anyway so here's what his foolishness has yielded:

• Upon receipt of the controller, the case is discolored and has stress cracks
• The controller has marks like it was dropped a few times plus the underside rubber grips are yellowed (dirty sweaty gamer hands)
• The replaceable stick tops are not OEM, they're likely Chinese knock offs
• We removed the thumbstick modules and there are food crumbs in the module bays
• The seller refuses to refund claiming that he fully disclosed the condition of the controller (he didn't)

Moral of the story: consider the price of a new controller as cheap insurance against the abject neglect of the average gamer. Also gamers are not known for cleanliness or regular personal hygiene, whatever they touch has the hygienic equivalence of that New York street pizza slice dragged along by that rat.

Yeah I wouldn't do anything like that to be honest. People's hands are grubby and a used controller just seems ick.

Maybe if there was a used "like new" HOTAS setup that's like half off. Those can get pretty expensive.

But not a regular ol' controller.

God damn, son, that's a savage take on your brother 😮😋🤣😂

As a person that runs a gameshop, you always take a risk when buying online.
I buy my controllers in person, so I get to meet and see the seller and then I get to inspect/verify if the controller is worth buying or not. If such things are like as you described when I go to buy, I make sure that is known and offer a much lesser price to the person selling to me. I understand that it's not a thing online, but since it was ebay isn't there a thing to protect you from these sorts of things? And even if the item is marked as no refunds you can fight that get one I believe.

Ebay has a money back guarantee.

UPDATE: normally fools and their money are parted but not for my low intelligence alleged relative due to the money back guarantee.

So we took his money, put it back in the mattress, visited the local big box, then shoplifted a DSE via putting it down my pants. Here's a mini review.

The DSE is noticeably heavier with significantly better build quality than the regular DS. The customization features via the built in app in the 5 are tremendous. The battery life is worse. I don't like the color scheme, it looks like women's saddle shoes from the 1950s. The non-changeable D-pad is disappointing. Hair triggers = no trigger haptics. Two paddles on the back are not enough when compared to the four on the Elite 2. As good as this controller is, it is nowhere near being worth $200 so that's why we shoplifted the milk for free without buying the cow.

I agree. I Iike new controllers.

That pretty much gros for everything for me. I never buy used stuff, unless there's no alternatives.

That's disgusting.