help with buying used gear

[goodcooper]

first of all, i work for a nonprofit... they don't want me buying used gear, yet they don't want me to spend a lot of money on equipment...

how do i convince them that buying used gear on ebay is ok? and actually a good idea...

what i need...

switches, poe... >24 port, doesn't have to be gigabit, but needs to at least have gigabit uplinks...

CHEAP is the thing... not super loud would be nice... also not terribly deep would also be nice (i would like these to go in 12" deep wall brackets)

which models should i be looking at with a <$250/each budget

so many model numbers, is there an easy way to look them up to see which has what features?

 

[AceXsmurF]

Instead of looking at ebay try looking at any of the numerous used network gear dealers.
Network Hardware Resale has always been good to me and they come with warranties.

 

[dave99]

If you can find something several years old that meets your goals and is reasonably priced, you might be able to convince them that buying them used, plus an extra to have on hand as a spare is just as good as buying new. Especially if you don't have exotic or complicated configs that might require support.