How to sell a laptop?

wuxbustah8

wuxbustah8

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This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Two years, I was replacing my computer. I needed something for gaming, so I shelled out for this high-end $1800 laptop. It has not got nearly enough use for the price tag. I attend college online, so I need a laptop just in case, just nothing as nice as that.

I'm looking to sell it for something a little smaller, probably a netbook or something.

Main question, how do you go about selling a used computer, and how do you know what to price it at?


Edit: Here is the exact laptop http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147924
HP HDX 18-1180US NoteBook Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000(2.00GHz) 18.4" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT


I put a bigger hard drive in it (640GB) and already replaced the battery.
 
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If it's two years old, it's likely to have taken a serious hit to its value. Do you have the specs on it to give an idea?

You could always put it up on Craigslist for $1,000 while noting the original purchase price was $1,800. You'll likely get a shit load of lowballers, but someone might offer you a decent price.
 
Haha, Craigslist is funny, you'll probably get people calling to see if they can get it for free, or they'll offer you $20 and some pocket lint.

Seriously though, I'd watch out for Craigslist. If you meet the person, agree to meet them in a public place (not your house), like a Starbucks or restaurant or something. I've heard too many bad things about people selling moderately expensive stuff and getting robbed (or worse).

You can also try eBay. I haven't sold anything there (a few friends and family have), but it's a good reference to use for pricing things out. I think there's a way to see the sell price of closed auctions, perhaps someone with more eBay-fu than me can let you know. I usually just see how much auctions with actual bids on them are going for.
 
When I sold my old laptop, I got a new battery for it (that's really the only thing that's DEFINITELY worse after two years), and posted about it on Facebook. I had 2-3 interested parties, and ended up selling it to a friend's brother for college.
 
As far as what you should do with the HDD...definitely format it and put a fresh copy of the OS on it. Make damn sure you don't leave your data behind. (As stupidly simple as that sounds...you have no idea how many used PC's/laptops I've been given and bought with all the data left behind.)

A new battery *might* be worth picking up for it. But, I'd definitely price them out and see if it's worth it.

Can't really tell you what the expected value is without the specs. Used gaming machines kinda stink; gamers don't want them because they're outdated and casual PC users don't want them because they're too pricey (and they wouldn't utilize the extra power).
 
I have sold two laptops over eBay with no issues. You can search for the model on eBay and select the completed listings option to show what they have been selling for. I think I used Buy It Now both times rather than doing an auction. However, if you have no or little eBay feedback you will likely have trouble selling it for a good price.

I do securely erase any hard drives (not just a simple format). http://www.dban.org/
 
[quote name='tony72']Haha, Craigslist is funny, you'll probably get people calling to see if they can get it for free, or they'll offer you $20 and some pocket lint.

Seriously though, I'd watch out for Craigslist. If you meet the person, agree to meet them in a public place (not your house), like a Starbucks or restaurant or something. I've heard too many bad things about people selling moderately expensive stuff and getting robbed (or worse).

You can also try eBay. I haven't sold anything there (a few friends and family have), but it's a good reference to use for pricing things out. I think there's a way to see the sell price of closed auctions, perhaps someone with more eBay-fu than me can let you know. I usually just see how much auctions with actual bids on them are going for.[/QUOTE]
Craigslist isn't as bad as people make it out to be, i have been selling/buying on CL for years with no problems.

Will you get low ballers? sure, you CAN help with the low-ball spam by saying low-ball offers will be ignored and space out your email, lazy people who were going to low-ball you wont bother.

you will still get lowballs, every post you ever make on craigslist will, thats life but you will eventually get a decent price, and don't use ebay they will fuck you wanting a ridiculous % along with paypal, you might as well take a lowball offer and save yourself a hassle.
 
i have lots of experience with selling laptops on craigslist, my own laptops and people who asked me to help them sell. It usually takes awhile to happen, can happen between 1 - 4 weeks before you actually sell it.

1/10 people who contact you, are probably actually trying to buy a nice cheap laptop on the craigslist or ebay. (By contact, i mean people who called you if you actually left your phone number in your ad)
Sometimes you gotta plan a date with them. If they plan a date longer then 1 week, i'd suggest to keep contacting them to make sure they are still interested. Don't remove the ad off craigslist 'First come, first served'. It really sucks when people waste your time

the other 9/10. Are people trying to low ball you and trying to get your computer for a steal so that they can sell yours for atleast 100 dollars more on profit. These people do and say what they can to make your price get lower. These people are easier to spot when they keep forgetting what your computer's specs are, because they are trying to lowball several people at once. They put you on some kind of que, sometimes calling you again and not noticing they have already called you about your laptop.
Usually these people are very fast though, they have a car ready to meet you ASAP.

about 75% of the people who contact you through email. Are usually scammers (usually from nigeria) Who are going to ask you if they can pay you through paypal and other strange ways of payment. All of them will ask you to ship it, never ship it and just ignore these people. Most or probably all of their emails start off like this.
'Hey is your item still on sale?' or something similar. even 30 minutes minutes after you posted it . No matter how you reply, their generic email response is something along the lines of 'I dont care about the condition, im fine, i'll pay 50-100 dollars extra if you remove it off craigslist, 100 dollars extra to ship it. This is for my brother/sister/cousin in africa, blah blah, thank you so much, send me your paypal'
If you acknowledge these, the possibility is endless. But in the end you lose your laptop/money or even worse.

The other 20% that contact through email is low ballers once again.



It sounds really hard to sell your particular laptop if your trying to get 1 grand for it, for the exact reasons 'Rig' mentioned.
If your aiming low, you might be able to sell it.
But if you have a certain price in mind, advertise it '100 dollars' more then what you actually want. The people who actually want your laptop to use it, will probably try to haggle you (or something along the lines of not having that particular amount, or some lie) And when they haggle you, usually its just 50-150 dollars off your 'advertised price'
And who knows, maybe you might actually sell it more then what you wanted. it has happened to me twice actually

But yeah computers get outdated really fast. And you gotta think in the readers heads "Do i really want to buy a 'Used' laptop for 1,000 dollars??'

Don't let people screw you over though! And don't give up when it seems impossible.
 
I sold my 3 yr old laptop recently via ebay.

You need to have a good idea of what you want to sell it for though.

I had a starting price close to my actual selling price I had in my head.
I didnt want to risk a low starting price and have it sell to low.
Got like 9 bids and it sold for about 50dollars more then i was hoping for.

Just remember to get tracking/signature required when you ship it.
Also for a 1k laptop would be best to add insurance to it as well.

I got about 60% of what I originally paid for the laptop. which is very good considering I used it for 3 years and didnt replace the battery either. (bought it for 500 new on a 1 day sale. sold for 300)
 
I recently sold my old laptop (almost 3 years old) on craigslists (paid $500, sold for $125). I just wiped everything off and put a fresh install with the restore disc. Met the guy in person, there was no problem.

Considering yours is pretty nice you might want to try ebay instead of craigslist. You'll get a ton of lowballs on craigslist. Or hell, try and sell it here on CAG. Here's a somewhat similar, but newer, computer thats re-certified on newegg, it's only $820. I would maybe ask about $600/obo and expect t get $500 (possibly less).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215156
 
Sorry to bump an old thread but you could trade it into Best Buy for a GC. But ebay/CL might get you the most money.
 
I'd be really careful with Ebay. Video game and electronic sellers are popular targets of fraud there. I won't get into all the fraud possibilities here but personally I wouldn't sell a high end expensive item on Ebay. There's simply not enough protection for sellers.
 
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