Reselling used Macbooks

What should I set as a starting price for used macbooks? The original core duo models, 1.83GHZ, 1gb ram, 60GB drive, and I will include a new copy of SL with each one, purchased for it... as well as a new battery and used working charger....Might be black or white battery, all white macbooks they all work great, no MAJOR cosmetics anything wrong with them, little discoloration on the pallm rests, some of them, all have usual markings on trackpad, wireless and bluetooth work great

These will be sold on craigslist, mostly

Sorry so sloppy, kind of pressed for time

Take a look at the Mac2Sell guide -- Mac2Sell - Argus, Evaluation, Guide to used Mac, iPad, iPad mini, iPhone & iPod - Occasion -- and discount your price accordingly for cosmetic issues. Add in the cost of a LEGAL copy of Snow Leopard (sorry, but I'm doubting you have bought a copy and will provide said DVD for each individual MacBook, so unless you have that's not legal) and your battery cost.

Actually, I HAVE bought about 10 shrinkwrapped copies of snow leopard so far...20 bucks each, 20 for a new battery...I know, I know chinese knockoffs, but **** I don't know where to GET a OEM original macbook battery anymore

Add in the fact that the macbooks didnt really cost me much, and the fact that I own 100 of them...Cost per notebook: $60...TOTAL with software and battery

I know about mac2sell, but I wanted to get a feel for what real people would think of a good price, since I will be selling to real people, not places like gazelle and ****...Appreciate any HELPFUL replies!!

Canablis said:

What should I set as a starting price for used macbooks? The original core duo models, 1.83GHZ, 1gb ram, 60GB drive, and I will include a new copy of SL with each one, purchased for it... as well as a new battery and used working charger....Might be black or white battery, all white macbooks they all work great, no MAJOR cosmetics anything wrong with them, little discoloration on the pallm rests, some of them, all have usual markings on trackpad, wireless and bluetooth work great.

Click to expand...

E-Bay is another place to check out prices. On my local CL...these 1st gen. MacBooks are selling for about $250.

- Nick

$250 seems a bit steep for these...Especially with 1 GB ram...And I am not out to gouge people...Maybe $200....But if demand is high, I might consider $225...I wouldn't deal with ebay, too many fees and whatnot..

Canablis said:

$250 seems a bit steep for these...Especially with 1 GB ram...And I am not out to gouge people...Maybe $200....But if demand is high, I might consider $225...I wouldn't deal with ebay, too many fees and whatnot..

Click to expand...

Negotiation man! No smart buyer on CL pays the asking price. Start at $250...and maybe get $225. Or start at $225...and get $200. Buyers want to feel like they got a deal (less than asking price).

There's a lot of psychology that goes into buying & selling things!

- Nick

p.s. I didn't say you had to deal with e-Bay. I said you can use e-Bay as a place to get some pricing info. Cause guess what?? That's where smart buyers are going to go for price info!

Yeah, I figured on doing that...But my initial listed price is what I am concerned about...Too low, and I will have to negotiate lower than I want, too HIGH and they wont even bite...

Canablis said:

Yeah, I figured on doing that...But my initial listed price is what I am concerned about...Too low, and I will have to negotiate lower than I want, too HIGH and they wont even bite...

Click to expand...

Right...then start at $250 like I mentioned. Then negotiate down from there.

You have to keep in mind what stuff older than these 1st Gen. Macbooks are selling for. For example Powerbook G4's & iBook G4's (the models before the first gen. MacBooks). 14" iBook G4's can sell for $100-$125. 15" and 17" Powerbook G4's around $150.

So 1st gen. MacBooks are in the $175-$250 range. Depending on exact specs (ram & HD), physical condition, and remaining battery life.
- Nick

p.s. Also. If initial price turns out to be too high. Then adjust & repost. Don't sweat the details too much. Get the stuff posted...and get things roliing! You don't want to suffer from "Analysis Paralysis"!

HAHA....Analysis Paralysis....I love that...Well, I was thinking 225-250 and you have convinced me to go with my original 245 starting price, makes it stand out net to the 250's and 225's...


Thanks, people!!

Canablis said:

Add in the fact that the macbooks didnt really cost me much, and the fact that I own 100 of them...Cost per notebook: $60...TOTAL with software and battery

Click to expand...

One other thing to remember. If you got around 100 of these to sell...and you want to sell them on CL...you better be in a VERY large metro area. Because in a smaller population area...you're going to saturate the market pretty quickly with these.

There's only so many folks interested in a 6-7 year-old used 1st. gen. MacBook. Many folks just have a phobia about buying something used. And for the folks that don't mind buying used...they're going to be concerned that a 6-7 year-old MacBook won't be powerful enough...and/or not want them because they cannot run newer versions of the Mac OS.

I live in area that has a population of 1-2 million. If I had 100 MacBooks to sell...I think that MAYBE I'd be able to sell about 5-10 of these (fairly quickly) at a fair market value. The only way to get more of these sold quickly is to drop the price BIG TIME...to a "Too good to be true...can't turn it down price". And even then...you may not be able to find 100 local folks to buy them.

Most of the info I was mentioning above was for someone selling one of these.

If you have 100 of these to sell. Selling on e-Bay (like it or not) is amost a must! To sell 100 of these (in a reasonable amount of time)...you need the LARGE audience that e-Bay brings.

Good luck,

- Nick

Very True....****....Well, ebay will be getting the remains...

One other thought (if you've only got $60 invested in each MacBook). Instead of trying to get the full used retail value of each computer...try selling them in volume quantities to interested persons.

Maybe sell the computers for a low enough price...that if someone else wanted to resell them...that they can make a few bucks as well. Maybe list them for $125-$150 if five or more are purchased.

This way you double your money...someone else can make a few bucks...and you get the 100 computers sold faster.

- Nick

p.s. Of course you could sell some locally and on e-Bay.

Something else you may want to consider is selling through Amazon (given the qty involved). Downside is Amazon takes their cut, but it does emliminate the back and forth negotioation.
I've had both good and bad experience selling this way, but given the volume you have to move using Craigslist may be, shall we say, tedious.

RavingMac said:

...but given the volume you have to move using Craigslist may be, shall we say, [size=+1]tedious.[/size]

Click to expand...

A great way of putting it!

- Nick

As an update, In combination with ebay and craigslist and word of mouth, I done sold all of them...I have mad a net profit of $11,565....a bit over a hundred each average...Holy, ****.....Christmas was good this year..Sold 99 computers, gave one to my girlfriend for xmas...thanks for the advice, guys!

That is a Merry Christmas, and you're welcome.

Congratulations! You said that you paid about $60 each for them...and made about $100 profit on each...so the selling price on average must have been about $160. That's a pretty attractive price...and probably played a big factor in selling them relatively fast and easy.

- Nick

Well, some sold for more, some for less, condition and some had 100gb drives and some had 60s...

I have donated 500 to toys for tots in mac-forums.com's honor since i couldn't find a donate option for this site, hope thats okay...Id have been lost without this site MANY times

That's really nice of you. I can't speak for the admins, but I really appreciate you doing that and being such an upfront, honest seller. The world could use more such people. Merry Christmas!