Reference

Glossary

41 terms, in the words of the trade. The eight most used appear as tooltips across the site; the rest are here for the first week.

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All terms, A to Z

Jump to a letter, or pick a term; every one links to its definition below.

Auction terms

How a timed auction with proxy bidding works, from the start price to the close.

Auction registration: Signing up for one specific auction before you can bid in it. It opens days before the live window, needs a verified account and a payment method on file, and may take a deposit on high-value lots.
Bid increment: The smallest step a bid can rise by at the current price, set by a table that grows with the price. The room bids for you in these steps, never more than needed.
Bidding deposit: A card hold taken at registration on auctions whose reserve is above a threshold: a percentage of the reserve between a floor and a cap. Released the moment you do not win; applied to the invoice if you do.
Buy-it-now: An optional fixed price a seller may set above the reserve. A buyer who pays it ends the auction at once. It disappears once bidding has climbed close to it.
Floor offer: An instant buyout offer from ITAD Authority, priced on the inspection or the index, available when an auction ends below reserve.
Hammer price: The price the auction closed at: the winning bid. Fees are computed from it, and the buyer pays it plus shipping. "Hammer" because that is where the gavel fell.
Live window: The hours an auction accepts bids, after registration closes. The soft close can extend it; it never shortens.
Proxy bid: You enter the most you would pay. The room bids for you, one increment at a time, only as far as needed to lead. Your maximum is never shown.
Relist: Putting a lot that ended unsold back into a new auction. A seller whose reserve was not met can relist, accept the high bid, or take the floor offer.
Reserve: The seller's hidden minimum. The page shows "Reserve met" or "Reserve not met"; the amount itself is private.
Reserve met: The badge that appears once bidding has reached the seller's hidden minimum. From then on the high bidder at the close wins outright.
Runner-up offer: If the winner fails to pay inside the payment window, the second-highest bidder is offered the lot at their own maximum for a short window. They may decline.
Soft close: A bid in the final minutes extends the auction by the same number of minutes, up to a cap, so nobody wins by timing alone.
Start price: The lowest first bid the seller will accept. It is public; the reserve above it is not. A lot with a low start price and a sensible reserve attracts early bidding without risking a giveaway.

Memory terms

What is on the label and in the spec of a server memory module.

Capacity: Gigabytes per module: 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and up. Lots are listed as quantity × capacity, and prices are compared per gigabyte.
DDR generation: DDR3, DDR4 and DDR5 are successive, incompatible generations of memory. A server takes one generation only, so the generation is the first filter every buyer applies.
$/GB: Price per gigabyte of module capacity: hammer ÷ (modules × GB per module). The unit dealers compare across capacities and generations.
ECC: Error-correcting code memory detects and corrects single-bit errors. Nearly all server memory is ECC; registered modules always are. A listing states it so the buyer knows the module suits a server.
LRDIMM: Load-reduced DIMM: a registered module that also buffers the data lines, used for the highest capacities per slot. Not interchangeable with RDIMMs in the same bank.
Manufacturer mix: Which memory makers are in the lot and in what proportion, for example Samsung, SK hynix and Micron. Stated on every lot because some buyers need a single maker.
OEM pull: A module removed from a working branded server, carrying the server maker's or the memory maker's original label. The usual origin of memory in this trade, as against new, refurbished or relabelled stock.
Part number: The manufacturer's code printed on the label, which encodes generation, capacity, rank, speed and module type. Our automated check reads part numbers from the photos and the search box accepts them directly.
Rank: A set of chips on a module that the controller addresses together. Single-, dual- and quad-rank modules of the same capacity behave differently in a server, so the rank is part of the spec, read from the label as 1Rx4, 2Rx4, 2Rx8 and so on.
RDIMM: Registered DIMM: server memory with a register chip that buffers the address and command lines, letting a server hold more modules. The most common server module and the bulk of what trades here.
SODIMM: Small-outline DIMM: the short module used in laptops, micro-servers and some network appliances. Listed by the same generation, capacity and speed as full-size modules.
Speed: The module's rated transfer rate in megatransfers per second, such as DDR4-2666 or DDR5-4800. A server runs all its modules at the slowest one's speed, which is why matched lots sell for more.
Tray: The anti-static tray memory ships in; a standard DIMM tray holds 50 modules. Quantities show pieces and trays.
UDIMM: Unbuffered DIMM: memory without a register, used in workstations, small servers and desktops. Cheaper per module and limited in how many a board can hold.

Memory Traders terms

The words this marketplace uses for its own rules and badges.

Condition grade: The scale every lot is graded on, from tested OEM pulls to parts-only modules. Each grade states what the seller claims about function and cosmetics; it is a promise, and a dispute measures the lot against it.
Confirmation window: The business days after delivery in which the buyer counts and confirms. Confirming releases the funds; silence releases them when the window lapses; a short count opens a dispute.
Consignment: Shipping trays to our bench so we count, grade, photograph, list and ship them under your account. The lot carries the Inspected tier and the count is ours.
Dispute: A formal claim that a delivered lot is short, damaged or not as described, opened from the order inside the confirmation window. Release pauses until it is decided in writing.
House account: The ordinary member account ITAD Authority trades from. It cannot bid on its own lots, gets no early data, and its floor offers are published prices. Staff accounts cannot trade at all.
Inspection report: The bench's written record of a consigned or disputed lot: modules counted by tray, grades assigned, part numbers read, tests run. Attached to Inspected lots and binding in a dispute.
Landed cost: The hammer price plus shipping to your door. Every lot shows an estimate for your postal code so you can compare lots shipping from different places.
Price index: The weekly median price per gigabyte by generation, module type and capacity, computed only from released protected-payment deals on this site.
Protected payment: The buyer pays the platform, not the seller. Funds are held until the buyer confirms receipt or the confirmation window lapses; a dispute pauses release.
Strike: A mark against an account for payment default, late shipping beyond grace, or confirmed misrepresentation. Enough strikes inside the strike window end the account.
Transparency report: The published count of what the platform did each quarter: lots listed, deals completed, disputes opened and how they ended. Counts of real rows, never estimates.
Verification level: What an account has proven about itself, from L0 (email and phone) through L1 (a verified business), L2 (a bank account on file and a completed deal) to L3 (an inspected seller or market maker). It decides what the account may do.
Verification tier: Photos: the photo rule is met and a reviewer looked. AI-checked: labels read and modules counted by an automated check. Inspected: counted and graded on our bench.

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All terms, A to Z

Auction terms

Memory terms

Memory Traders terms

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