How to sell a Mac

How to sell a Mac

Thinking of selling your old Mac so you can buy a new one, or because you have bought a new Mac. There are various ways in which you can sell it, and various services that can help you to do so with the minimum amount of hassle. However, there is more to selling your Mac than just picking the means by which you will sell it. We discuss everything you need to do when selling a Mac, from evaluating the market and choosing the right price, to making sure you aren't ripped off, and being prepared for hagglers. Read on for our advice about selling an old Mac. First things first this is probably the most pressing question you have: Wondering how much you can get for your Mac? When you pick your price you need to keep a few things in mind: The first step when it comes to selling your old Mac is finding out what its worth. Pretty obviously, the risk otherwise is that you might be undercut and not make as much money as you could, or, on the contrary, you might be unable to sell your Mac because your price is too high. If you arent in a major hurry to sell your Mac you might be happy to price it higher on the off chance that at some point someone will be prepared to pay extra for it. Dont be unrealistic about what its worth though. You might have paid 1,500 for your MacBook Pro three years ago when you bought it but, while Macs can keep their value pretty well, you have to be realistic and look at what Apple sells now with a similar spec it could be that your potential purchaser could pick up the same spec in a completely new Mac for not a lot more than you think yours is worth. Alternatively, if you really want to shift it quickly you might think that pricing it for a fast sell is wise. There are a couple of things to bear in mind here. 1) You might find that buyers assume that your Mac is faulty if you price it too low. 2) You may find that you could still get more money for your Mac if you were to sell it to a Mac selling service. Another thing to check is how much competition there is. If there arent many other Macs like yours being sold then you might be lucky and get a quick sell at a good price, but equally, that might just suggest that there isnt a lot of demand for that model. We looked up MacBook Pro on to get a feel for what the competition is like, and how much the various Mac laptops are selling for. You may notice there is a Refurbished Apple store there, with refurbished Macs right from Apple that come guaranteed with a one year warranty. Thats some major competition already (speaking of which you will also want to check Apples refurbished store on their website too, well come to that). On the we found a 21in 4K iMac for 1,079.99 that model was originally introduced in 2015, but it currently sells new for 1,499.99. So if that was the Mac you were trying to sell second hand you obviously cant expect to get 1,000 for it. A search for a secondhand MacBook Pro on Ebay showed up various models of various ages, which is worth a glance, just to give you a feel for the market before you try looking for your actual model. Note things like whether people are selling the model with extras, perhaps its in the original sealed box, I.e. never used. Maybe they are bundling software with it (which isnt strictly legal the Mac should be wiped before you sell it). Base your pricing decision on Macs that are a similar as possible to the one you are selling, and note whether there are a lot of people watching the sale to gage interest. Circling back the Apples refurbished store that we mentioned earlier, you can view deals on the Apple Refurbished store . Keep these prices in mind when you set a price for the Mac you are selling because you have to accept that a person is perhaps unlikely to buy your second hand Mac if they can get what is essentially a new one for the same price. Even if your machine has a higher spec, it may be an older processor, so perhaps its not that much more powerful. On the other hand, if your Mac has a very high spec particularly if it was one that had veracious build to order options added when you bought it, you may be able to get more for it simply because it is rare and its rare because it is pretty much impossible to add components to a Mac at a later date. So if you are selling a MacBook Air with 8GB RAM, rather than 4GB RAM as used to be standard, you can expect to sell it for more. Although, even in that case, the MAcBook Air is now sold with 8GB RAM as standard, so as before, you need to keep an eye on the market for new Macs. It might sound like a lot of work, but its worth getting an idea of the value of your Mac even if you don't plan to sell it on eBay or similar. You want to make sure you have an idea of its value even if you plan to sell it to a company who will go on to sell it themselves. You can expect them to pay you slightly less than youd get for it on eBay, but you wont have any of the hassle and that can be worth much more. Just make sure you do your homework first so that they dont rip you off. Another thing to consider is whether it is a good time to sell your Mac. Typically it makes sense to sell on an old model before Apple announces a new one (rather than after the announcement). Obviously when a new model is announced, the older ones willlose a significantamount of value. So keep an eye on upcoming Apple events and rumours and try to pre-empt them if possible. The following articles will give you an indication of whether an update is expected soon: Another good time to sell is in summer months prior to students returning to or starting university. While students can get a decent discount on Mac products (read more about ), we all know how poor students are. Selling in the run up to Christmas when people are shopping around for deals is also a good time. As we explained above, how much you get for a second-hand Mac depends on a lot of things, from the specific specs of the model that youve got, to the competition, and what Apple is selling currently. Another thing that will effect the price you get for it is where you sell it. Typically youll get more cash from a private sale than from a shop or services (as they will obviously need to include a markup when they sell it on). However, if you sell your Mac to such a service you can get the money in your hands a lot quicker and with minimum hassle. Selling to a high street shop like CeX https://uk.webuy.comcould seem like a quick and easy way to get money for your old Mac. Youll get an idea of what they will buy it for on their website here https://uk.webuy.com, as well as what they sell it for. For example, a 13in MacBook Pro with 128GB SSD will get you 382 in cash. They will sell it for 660 You can get more money if you choose to opt for a voucher 462, which maybe you can use in store to upgrade. Incidentally, you can actually sell your Mac back to Apple. Apple has a Reuse and Recycling program and will buy your Mac from you. Youll get a gift card that you can use to purchase your next Apple product. Not all Macs qualify though Apple explains on its site , that it only includes Macs from 2007 or newer. Apple certainly doesnt pay the highest rates either, and as we said, you will get a gift card rather than cash in hand. Apple will offer you vouchers if you recycle your PC with them too. To use the Reuse and Recycle program you will need to add your Macs serial number which you can find in the Apple Menu > About This Mac. You may be shocked to learn how little Apple will pay you for your Mac. Click This is another option if you dont have a local Apple Store. Some Apple resellers can use the Apple Reuse and Recycle program to take your old Mac off your hands. Its likely that they might offer to knock some money off the purchase of a new Mac in exchange for taking your old Mac. But there isnt a lot of flexibility in terms of how much of a discount they can give you because Apple controls the prices they sell products at. This is our preferred option and not just because Mresell is a partner ofMacworld. runs a service via which you can sell your unwanted Macs, iPhones and iPads. Mresell will buy your Mac off you, in some cases even if it is faulty. However, the company only buys Macs that are less than five years old because then they can get parts off Apple if repair is necessary. Mresell will also erase all your data before the Mac is sold on, which will give you peace of mind if its not something you feel confident about doing yourself. You dont have to pay to send the Mac to Mresell either, all of that is included. (Thats one issue with an eBay sale if you sell your Mac that way you also need to consider the price of postage or a courier and Macs are hefty items). For more information, see: We wrote in some detail about eBay above. It may be the case that a private sale via one of these services will get you more money, but in our experience there is a considerable amount of hassle selling this way. It might be preferable to sell locally on Gumtree where a person will drive to your house to view the Mac and potentially buy it from you but be prepared for them to haggle the price down. Facebook is really pushing its Marketplaces. A quick look and you might find lots of people in your area are selling old Macs. Because they are local they will probably be happy to come to your house but again, expect them to haggle You could of course sell via an ad in a local newspaper ad or a poster in your local supermarket, work kitchen, or student halls, if you want to go old-school. These days goods are likely to sell a lot quicker if you have an online listing though. If you just want to get rid of it and you dont care about getting money for it you could sell via Freecycle, or give it to your local charity. Either way, the Mac will go somewhere it is needed and you will feel good about yourself. It's perfectly safe to sell on a Mac second-hand, provided you take some basic precautions. (Well, if you've been storing state secrets or billion-pound business-critical data on there, you might want to get in some specialist help. The following tips are for the rest of us!) Before you sell your Mac on second-hand you should clean it both inside and out. Here are the things you should do before selling a Mac. Clean it Back it up Sign out of iTunes, iCloud, iMessage Format the hard drive Erase and reinstall macOS Read more about preparing your Mac for sale here: Also, check to see if you have any original box or packaging. The more presentable the Mac looks in its photographs, and the more original packaging you have, the more it will fetch on the second-hand market. IF it's an old iPhone you want to sell, read this: