How to buy a used TV: the five-minute screen test, boxed-TV scams and what to pay

A TV is one of the easier things to buy second-hand: nothing mechanical wears out, and almost every fault shows the moment the screen comes on. Used TVs go wrong in three ways: a panel flaw nobody looked for, apps that no longer run, or a price set by what the seller paid years ago.

Is a used TV worth buying?

It depends on the TV. An entry-level 4K set from a budget brand often costs little more new than used, with a warranty, so a small saving on a basic 50-inch set rarely justifies the risk.

Used pays off when the saving is large: a higher-end OLED or Mini-LED two or three years old, a screen of 75 inches or more, or a basement TV where a small flaw doesn’t matter. Check open-box and refurbished stock at local stores first; unlike a private sale, it can usually be returned.

How old is it? Read the model number

The model number gives the year, size and series, and those set the price. It’s on the white label on the back. On a Samsung it’s also under Settings (All Settings on newer sets), Support, About This TV, next to the serial number. Other brands keep it on a similar About screen. Ask for a photo of the label before you drive anywhere.

Samsung explains its codes. In QN65Q800TAFXZA, Q means QLED, N means North America, 65 is the size in inches and the T in Q800T means 2020. Its other sets use a two-letter code, such as TU for 2020 or AU for 2021.

Samsung’s own table stops at 2023 (B and C are its QLED codes); the last row comes from Choice, the Australian consumer group. For other brands, search the full model number on the maker’s support site and in reviews.

The screen test

For full-screen colours, join the TV to your phone’s hotspot, open YouTube and search “dead pixel test”, or bring a USB stick of plain colour images. Dim the lights for the dark tests.

Pixels. A dead pixel stays black on every colour; a stuck one stays lit, usually red, green or blue, and shows best on black. One stuck pixel at the edge of a 65-inch screen is easy to live with. A cluster, a line across the screen or anything near the centre is a reason to walk.

Burn-in on OLED. On the grey screen, look for shapes that shouldn’t be there: a channel logo, a news ticker band, a game’s health bar, a taskbar. Check solid red and blue too, and ask what the TV was mostly used for. One channel or game for hours a day is how burn-in happens.

Backlight on LED, QLED and Mini-LED. On black, look for bright patches leaking from the corners, blotchy clouding, and one side dimmer than the other. A little glow in a dark room is normal on cheaper sets. A dim zone or flicker can mean a failing backlight, which only gets worse.

Cracks and pressure marks. Look with the screen off under a light, then on. A crack shows as a line or an ink-like black blot, a pressure mark as a rainbow patch. A cracked panel is usually not worth repairing, so “small crack, works fine” is worth very little.

Ports, sound, smart apps and accounts

Try every HDMI port with your own device and cable, including the ARC or eARC port if you use a soundbar. Listen for crackle or buzz and press every remote button. A missing remote comes off the price.

Then the apps. Netflix has been dropping older smart TVs, and reports said many sets more than ten years old would lose the app from March 2026. Sony says Netflix stopped working on some 2015 Bravia TVs, such as the KDL-40R550C, on 23 July 2025. If your apps won’t run, the panel can still be a good buy; count a streaming stick into your offer. Before you leave, ask the seller to sign out of their accounts and factory reset the TV, or do it yourself at home.

Boxed TV scams and stolen TVs

The classic TV scam is the sealed box. Police in Rye, New York, warned that someone selling TVs out of a minivan was handing over boxes of rocks. In Adelaide, a buyer paid AU$550 for a “65-inch TV” and found cat litter, sugar, a hammer and two books; the seller deleted his Facebook profile and police closed the case. Police in Northern Ireland have warned about faulty electrical goods sold on Marketplace as “almost new”. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s advice: pay on pickup, and distrust prices that look too good to be true.

1. Open the box and plug it in before you pay. Anyone selling a real new TV can show it running.
2. Never send a deposit to hold it. “E-transfer $50 and it’s yours” is how the deposit scam starts, and our guide to Interac e-transfer scams explains why that money rarely comes back.
3. Distrust sealed current models far under the store price, especially sold from a van or a parking lot.
4. Ask for the receipt on anything recent. Sealed, cheap and no receipt means a box swap or a stolen TV.
5. Run the photos through Google Lens. A retailer’s product shot means the seller may not have the TV at all.

Facebook Marketplace scams covers the wider patterns, and Sift’s scam checker marks the wording these listings share.

What to pay

Price a used TV against what the same screen costs today, whatever the seller paid four years ago.

1. Find the ceiling. The same model, or its replacement, new and open-box.
2. Check the used range. eBay sold listings for the exact model number.
3. Compare local listings of the same size and panel, such as “65 inch OLED”.
4. Take off for what’s missing: remote, stand or feet, wall-mount screws.
5. Treat flaws as a steep cut. Burn-in, a dim zone or a dead port means a big discount or a walk.

An illustrative example: a 2022 65-inch OLED is listed at $1,100. Its replacement sells new for $2,200 and open-box for $1,800, and eBay sold prices for the 2022 model sit between $850 and $1,000. With the stand feet missing, $850 is a fair offer. See fair prices and negotiating.

Getting it home

Take the stand or feet with their screws, the remote, the power cable and, if it was mounted, the wall-mount screws. Measure your car: a 65-inch screen alone is about 57 inches (144 cm) wide. Bring a second person and blankets, carry the TV upright by its frame without pressing on the screen, and keep it on its edge in the car, wedged so it can’t tip.

How to search on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji

Search by size and panel or by model: “65 inch OLED”, “LG C2”, “Sony Bravia 55”. Sellers write sizes as 65 inch, 65in and 65”, as our guide to finding deals shows. On Facebook, open Filters, set a price range, Delivery method: Local pickup and Sort by: Date listed: Newest first. The same searches work on Kijiji. Facebook can’t exclude a word like “stand”, so TV searches fill with furniture (the workarounds).

With Sift on a computer

Sift is a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace: no account, set up in a minute, in Chrome, Edge or Brave on a computer. Its general tools do most of the work on a TV search.

• Block words clear out what a TV search drags in. Block phrases like “tv stand”, “wall mount”, “tv cabinet”, “entertainment unit” and “cracked screen”, not “remote” or “stand” alone, since plenty of good listings say “comes with remote”.
• Ready-made block lists for broken and for-parts listings and for dealers clear out dead sets and rent-to-own stores, and hiding shipped and partner listings removes retail “Ships to you” TVs.
• Price drops, Reposted and a price history show who is ready to deal. Sift compares each price with similar listings: cheap ones get a Below typical badge and overpriced ones get Above typical.
• Red chips such as Pay first, Off-site contact and Very low price mark the warning signs, and green ones note good signs such as Receipt, Original box and Warranty.
• Sold on eBay, Google Shopping and Search by image links give the used range, today’s new price and stock-photo checks.
• Is this a good deal? gets you Sift’s AI second opinion on any TV listing: a verdict, a fair offer and a message ready to send the seller.
• Find it used works the other way round: on a TV’s product page at a store, click Sift to see the same TV used near you and what you’d save. More on Find it used.
• Watch a search in Sift and it lets you know soon after a new TV that passes your filters is listed, on your phone too with Sift Pro. See Marketplace filters and the price tracker.

Building a games room? See used consoles, used gaming PCs or used appliances.

Brand names on this page belong to their owners. Sift is not affiliated with Samsung, Sony, LG, Netflix, Meta, Facebook or Kijiji.