Sorry to necro this thread, but I have a similar issue with mine, also bought second-hand. The rolling friction is very high.
In my case it looks like the bearings are actually crushed into the plastic a bit (as if someon dropped something heavy on top of the ball while it was installed), which could explain why they don't quite work right. I'll see if they can even be removed, and will update here if and when I am able to test out replacement bearings.