I would think again about a used cage. You have to find a good one, but I often look on Craigslist by going to Community, then Services, then Pets, and just scroll through my local areas. I see many more cages than birds, and recently I got my Senegal a basically brand new Prevue Hendryx cage that retails for over $300 on Amazon for $100. It's large enough for an Amazon and he loves it! I would never buy one that they show photos of being outside or all junky and filthy, but I see beautiful macaw, cockatoo, and African Gray size cages that cost well over $500 for between $100-$200 all the time, people just want to get them out of their houses for space. I actually was lucky enough to find a guy that had owned a small exotics pet store outside of Harrisburg and it went out of business, so he had loaded excess inventory into his barn and put it all up on eBay and Craigslist. I got my bearded dragon a brand new, in new packaging EXO Terra brand vivarium, huge for him at 36x18x18 with front opening doors, foam 3D background, etc. that I had originally seen at Petco. A much smaller version cost $189 at Petco but I loved it, it's easy to clean up and so much easier to navigate getting my beardie in and out and to feed him than a regular aquarium. So I decided to start looking on Craigslist and eBay for the small one, o figured I would save around $50 from what Petco was charging, and this guy was selling the brand new huge one for $149!!! So I paid him over PayPal and drove my truck (luckily) to his farm outside of Harrisburg, about a 2 hour drive. So he loaded the Exo Terra into the back seat of my truck when I noticed all the bird cages and everything else in his barn. We worked out a combo deal and all the birds got brand new, huge cages for a fraction of the price!
Seriously though, last week I was on Craigslist looking through that pet section, just scrolling through (not searching for anything in particular) and I must have seen 7 or 8 like-new, brand name cages in people's living rooms, still full of expensive toys, perches, stainless steel dishes, etc. Either their bird had died or they had rehomed it, and they all really wanted the cage "gone ASAP" as they all put. I don't think one of those cages was going for more than $200 and I saw everything from the typical cage on casters with the seed guards and the play top that is large enough for a large conure, a Senegal, IRN, etc. to a massive, double-sized macaw cage for $200! And they typically just let everything inside the cages go too, so you end up picking up some free, never-used toys and perches too. A good cleaning/disinfecting and they're like new!
The other option where I've had huge luck is on eBay. You have to be careful because a lot of the larger cages they sell between $90-$150 are not brand name cages and are made in China, and they are very difficult to put together, the holes don't line up, and they are very flimsy. But there are a few retailers on eBay that sell nothing but larger bird cages that were used as floor models in stores and are brand name cages that are very high quality for a fraction of the price. The best deal I've gotten on eBay was a brand new, large, white YML cage that had been a floor model. I had heard horrible things about YML cages, so I did some research on this particular cage and it actually got really good reviews. My Quaker needed a new cage, his was old and wanted something a little larger. This cage was large enough to easily house my Senegal or an IRN, even a small Amazon. I looked online to see what the retail was and most places were selling it for around $150-$175. This new floor model on eBay was $60 Buy It Now plus $30 shipping. I figured if it ended up being junk oh well, I could use it as a second cage for my budgies for upstairs or something, at the price it was worth trying. Well for $90 I got a brand new YML cage, new in the original box. It wasn't at all broken or missing any pieces, you could see it had been opened of course, but other than that it was perfectly new. I put it together in about 30 minutes without instructions, lol, and that was about a year ago. It's an awesome cage and I have not one complaint. It's sturdy, strong, large, and has held up wonderfully. It's also a good looking cage, I have it in my dining room area and my Quaker loves it. So not all of the Chinese brand cages are bad, you just have to research. And if you can snag a floor model or a pre-owned one on eBay (most on eBay are local pickup only if being sold privately, but because they are auctions you can really steal a nice cage).
I actually just saw a stainless steel macaw sized cage on Craigslist last week, I don't remember what brand but it was a good, name-brand cage like Avian Adventures I believe, and the guy was selling it for $400, he said he had paid near $800 for it new and it was used for 3 years but never outside, no rust, looked really nice. It was tempting, lol. But I don't need a macaw cage unfortunately. Just using as an example for you. If you look on Craigslist in your area and surrounding areas in the pets section I stated above, I guarantee you can find a hell of a cage for $200.
"Dance like nobody's watching..."
I hope I can get some suggestions.
