Five items you shouldn't pay to repair

eBay Blogs - Five items you shouldn't pay to repair: "First Item: Computers Tired of your computer crashing on you? Before you hire the Geek Squad to tinker with it, consider this: According to a recent Consumer Reports survey of 2,300 readers, 31% of desktop computers weren't fixed properly the first time or didn't work well afterward. Still, knowing whether to junk it or not is often a judgment call. Here are some general guidelines: If the computer is more than five years old, buy a new one, says Dean Gallea, program leader for computer testing at Consumer Reports. If it's between two and five years old, consider a cheap upgrade. If the desktop is slow, for example, try swapping the memory card for $100. If you've run out of hard-drive space for your digital photos and MP3 files, buy an external drive for $50. But if that desktop keeps crashing and you have to shell out $250 for a 'diagnostic' session, then you're probably better off buying something new. 'You can get a new budget-level desktop for $300 that will probably be much more powerful than the thing that you're scratching your head over,' says Gallea."