We got tired of using Facebook Marketplace.
In 2023, Jacob Harrison and Ethan Quaresma were doing what every PC builder does when they want to upgrade: arguing with strangers on the internet about whether their GPU was "like new".
The experience was poor and there was a lack of tools to search for the specs that mattered to us, so we built something better. You're welcome. (now give us your money)
AI ate the RAM. mmmMMm YUM!
187%
Year-on-year RAM price growth by late 2025. No, that's not a typo.
3×
DRAM spot prices vs. one year prior
2027
Earliest prices are expected to drop
$250B+
Poured into AI in 2024 alone. WHO IS MAKING THESE EXECUTIVE DECISIONS??
Right before we planned to launch, something remarkable happened. The high-grossing tech companies decided they needed every single memory chip on the planet to power chatbots that confidently make things up. RAM prices are now nearly triple what they were a year ago, with year-on-year growth hitting ~187% by late 2025. At this point, it would be cheaper to hire Jacob to memorize things for you (coming soon™).
Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron realized that these companies were buying RAM like it was toilet paper during the pandemic. Entire inventories vanished overnight, prices went vertical, and suddenly everyone was pretending 32GB was "probably enough for now."
For regular builders like us, this means buying new hardware feels increasingly like a lifestyle choice rather than a purchase (specifically, the lifestyle of someone who doesn't check their bank account).
Then came SecondByte™ — a marketplace designed to make buying and selling used hardware suck significantly less. Surprisingly, it still sounded like a good idea the next morning.
187%
Year-on-year RAM price growth by late 2025. No, that's not a typo.
3×
DRAM spot prices vs. one year prior
2027
Earliest prices are expected to drop
$250B+
Poured into AI in 2024 alone. WHO IS MAKING THESE EXECUTIVE DECISIONS??
Two guys. One idea. No regrets... yet.
Jacob Harrison
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder
Jacob is the reason SecondByte functions as a business rather than a very ambitious hobby project. He handles operations, business development, and the parts of the job that require talking to people without mentioning thermal paste. He knows what buyers and sellers need, mostly because he's been both and found the experience deeply unpleasant both times.
Ethan Quaresma
Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder
Ethan built the platform, secured it, and continues to maintain the polite fiction that software is ever truly finished. He's a certified cybersecurity professional, which means he spends his time thinking about the ways people might try to break things so you don't have to. Security and reliability were baked in from day one, not bolted on later while hoping nobody noticed.
A marketplace that actually makes sense.
SecondByte is a marketplace built specifically for used PC hardware. GPUs, CPUs, RAM, monitors, full builds, peripherals. If it contains silicon, fans, or enough RGB to lower your frame rate, it belongs here.
Unlike most online marketplaces, we're not stuffing high-end graphics cards between stained couches and "lightly used" food. SecondByte was designed entirely around PC hardware: structured listings, pricing context that reflects reality, seller accountability, and payments powered by Stripe so nobody has to begin a transaction with "trust me bro."
Building PCs used to be an expensive hobby. Now it occasionally resembles a minor financial decision requiring emotional preparation. We think the used market should be reliable and transparent, rather than a listing marked "used for light gaming" attached to a GPU that has seen more mining than the California Gold Rush.
Why not give us a shot?
Small team, big ambitions, reasonable expectations. We're just getting started and we'd love you to join us.