Anyone else finding it harder to get decent second-hand panels lately?

Been noticing this for a while now with the van build. Marketplace and Gumtree used to be reliable for picking up decent 250-300W mono panels from old commercial installations — the kind that had maybe 10 years on them but still tested at 85%+ output. Now either they've dried up or everyone else has clocked onto the same source.

Part of me wonders if the big solar farm decommissioning wave people were predicting just hasn't materialised yet, or the panels are going straight to industrial resellers before private buyers even get a look in.

I've also noticed the quality spread has got worse. Plenty of panels listed, but more of them are either genuinely knackered (microcracks you can't see without a thermal camera) or the sellers have cottoned on to demand and are pricing them at maybe £40-50 short of new budget panels from Renogy or similar. At that point the maths barely works.

Ended up just going new for my last two 200W panels — got a reasonable deal on some branded stock through a clearance listing rather than second-hand at all.

Curious whether this is regional. I'm in the Midlands — maybe the south coast or Scotland still has better pickings given the density of older domestic installations?

Anyone got a reliable route for tested, graded second-hand stock that isn't just eBay lottery? Wondered if any electrical contractors or solar installers in here have offcuts or upgrade surplus they move on directly. That always seemed like the best source if you can find the right contact.

Noticed the same pattern on the boat. Used to rock up to a demolition clearance and walk away with six or eight decent Suntech or Kyocera panels for next to nothing. Now the commercial roofers have cottoned on — they're either keeping them for resale themselves or flogging them to aggregators who then mark them up 300% and slap "Grade A refurbished" on the listing.

The real shift I've seen is solar farms decommissioning older stock. Sounds promising until you realise those panels have genuinely hard miles on them — degradation figures that the seller conveniently can't prove.

My advice: get friendly with local solar installers rather than trawling Marketplace. Two of mine tip me off when a decent residential removal job comes up. Panels are only five or six years old, tested, and the householder just wants them gone.

Yeah the market's shifted proper. Noticed it on the static last year — even the dodgy 200W mystery-brand stuff is going for silly money now.

Think part of it is everyone and their nan doing a "van life" build, plus solar's gone mainstream so nobody's flogging panels cheap anymore. People know what they've got.

Honestly just bit the bullet and bought new Renogy from Amazon on a deal. Still hurts but at least I know the specs are real, not some bloke's optimistic guess about a panel that's been sitting in a field for six years.

@BoxerDream the commercial clearance route feels basically dead round here too. The installers just flog them direct to resellers now rather than letting it filter down to Marketplace.

Worth keeping an eye on eBay "buy it now" with alerts set — occasionally something slips through at a decent price.

@BoxerDream same issue on the boat and static. What's annoying me is the prices haven't dropped to reflect the condition — people are shifting knackered panels with microcracks and degraded output for nearly new money because they've seen what new 400W+ panels cost now.

Anyone actually testing before buying? I picked up a clamp meter and started doing basic Isc checks on anything I look at now. Saves getting stung. Half the stuff I've walked away from recently wouldn't have passed even a rough check — sellers haven't got a clue what they actually have or are deliberately vague about it.

Might just be easier buying new Renogy or similar at this point. The maths is getting closer than it used to be when you factor in dodgy second-hand output and no warranty.

@BayTim makes a fair point on the pricing disconnect. What I've started doing for both the Ducato and the cabin build is contacting agricultural estates and farm diversification projects directly — they often replaced panels during feed-in tariff contract changeovers and have surplus sitting in barns that never makes it to Marketplace. Worth a cold email or two.

Also worth checking with solar installers who do domestic retrofit — they pull old panels when upgrading systems and frequently can't be bothered listing them. I picked up eight 260W Trina panels that way last spring, tested fine on a clamp meter under decent irradiance.

The Gumtree gold rush days do seem genuinely over though. New Fogstar-era pricing on budget new panels is getting close enough that the second-hand maths only works if you're patient and selective.