First, they will question the provenance of the hardware. They mightsuggest that the broker is selling "gray market" equipment, meaning itmight contain illegal parts, and wouldn't the buyer be better offbuying a server that a big vendor stands behind?

Lynch at ARC says Cisco sales reps told a prospective buyer that itwould be "unpatriotic" to buy from Lynch and suggested that thehardware Lynch was selling was "contaminated" with asbestos dustbecause it had come from offices near the World Trade Center. (About$10 million in gear was recovered from the WTC site. Lynch confirmsthat the hardware he was selling in this deal came from there butdenies that it was contaminated and denies beingunpatriotic.)

Says a Cisco spokesperson, "Customer satisfaction is a core value ofCisco's culture. Any behavior that doesn't support this value isunacceptable."

There are other ways to make purchasing on the secondary market lessappealing.

"I've got EMC stuff, still in the box, still sealed shut with EMCtape," says Jeff Archuleta, who owns secondary vendor Arch Consultingin Sandy, Utah. "It's in perfect condition. And EMC is telling thebuyer it has to be recertified for eight grand before the buyer canget a support contract."