Advice needed: I want to sell my ATV2 for maximum $$$

hipnetic said:

1) Do I need to jailbreak the un-jailbroken ones before I sell them to maximize what they'll sell for? How much could I realistically get for them if I don't bother jailbreaking them (and leave that for the buyer to do)?

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Yes.

Go to ebay, type "Apple TV 2" in the search, click on "sold listings" to see what the items actually sold for. Here's a link that does that for you:
http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=apple+tv+2&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc
You can draw your own conclusions from the data there, but a quick glance leads me to the following:
-non-jailbroken Apple TV 2's are going for as little as $130 and as much as $230, with the median probably somewhere around $200.
-jailbroken Apple TV 2's are going for between $200 and $320, with the median looking to be about $250.

Hence (again this is off-the-cuff), I'd estimate you should reasonably expect to make an extra ~$50-75 per unit if you jailbreak before selling. If that $50-$75 per unit is worth the time it takes you to jailbreak and install add-ons, then do it. If your time is worth more than that, then just sell them as is. Since your stated goal is maximizing profit, I'd recommend jailbreaking.

hipnetic said:

2) If I'll lose out significantly if I don't jailbreak them ahead of time...do I also need to pre-install a bunch of things like XBMC w/several add-ons or is jailbreaking enough?

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If you truly want to maximize profit, install XBMC and some add-ons.

If you do the above search with "Apple TV 2 jailbroken" and look only at the sold listings, you can do your own comparison. http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?_fro...tv+2+jailbroken&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc

It looks to me that items advertised in the title as just being "jailbroken" typically sell for between $200 and ~$260. Whereas as items that include words in the title like "fully loaded", or "XBMC", "Navi-X", "Adult Content", etc. tend to go for between $250 and $320.

hipnetic said:

3) My jailbroken ATV2 is on an older OS version. Should I upgrade it to a new version and then re-jailbreak it? What's the process for that? Have I already missed my window of opportunity to do that (I believe Apple just released a new OS update that supposedly fixes some jailbreaking holes)?

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I just upgraded my two Apple TV2's to firmware version 5.2 (the latest) last weekend (Feb 24). I also jailbroke them and installed XBMC on both with the Hulu, Amazon and Free Cable plugins. The step-by-step instructions for doing that are here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1305573/

If the instructions are followed carefully it shouldn't take you more than about 30-45 minutes per unit, start to finish.

As for the "window" of time at which you can do that, I think that window is a fairly long time (many months at least). When you jailbreak using SeasonPass, that program creates a custom firmware package. The latest SeasonPass makes a 5.2 firmware by default, then has iTunes install that firmware on your Apple TV. I think when iTunes does that, Apple has to "sign" it. So eventually yes you can't restore to a super-old firmware. But I think they are still signing 5.0.2, and the current version is 5.2. So there will probably be a while before 5.2 stops being "signed".

Also, if you want to install a firmware that is NOT the current (for example, if you want to have SeasonPass make 5.0.2 firmware instead of 5.2), that is potentially possible using SeasonPass. See here for more info on that: http://www.appletvhacks.net/2012/02/24/how-to-downgrade-apple-tv-2-firmware-using-seas0npass/

hipnetic said:

4) It seems like the main market for these things are outside of the USA. Is that correct? Do I need to sell internationally on eBay to maximize the selling price? I'm worried about getting scammed. What precautions should I take?

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I don't know how to analyze this properly for Apple TV's because I don't think I can just look at the location of the buyers on ebay items unless I'm the seller, and I've never sold an Apple TV 2.

But I can give you my anecdotal experience having sold three iPhones on ebay. (one iPhone 3G NOT jailbroken, one jailbroken/unlocked iphone 3G, and one unlocked iPhone 4). I live in Los Angeles. In one case, the winning bidder was in Eastern Europe, and after winning the auction they simply refused to pay, saying it was too expensive (They were the ones that bid. . .?!). So I submitted a complaint/note/whatever to eBay and they refunded my listing fees. I re-listed the phone and ended up selling to someone in Jakarta, Indonesia. That transaction went fine. The only hassle was I had to fill out some sort of customs form at the post office when shipping. The other two phones I sold domestically, though I marked that I was willing to sell internationally.

The iphone 3G I sold to Indonesia went for $230, it was NOT jailbroken. The iphone 3G I sold domestically went for $275, it WAS jailbroken/unlocked. I think the bigger part of the difference in price was due to the jailbroken status of the second one. That probably mattered more than the domestic/international issue. (The iPhone 4 I sold for $300 last September, domestically, was unlocked by AT&T, not jailbroken.)

So, the risks of selling internationally include (in my experience) the winning bidder flaking out on you and you having to complain to ebay to get your listing fees refunded. That just cost me time, no money. I suppose you get that risk no matter what the bidder's country, though I have heard anecdotes that certain countries are worse for that due to difficulty enforcing ebay rules there *shrug*. If you do sell internationally and it goes well, you might have the inconvenience of filling out an extra form or two when you ship. And of course higher shipping costs, but as long as you make the buyer pay for international shipping, it shouldn't matter to you.

My advice: If you are willing to go through some extra hassle/effort, list the items saying you ARE willing to ship internationally. Since the Apple TV 2 is so small/light, personally, I would advertise free shipping within the U.S., but buyer pays shipping internationally. (The free shipping within the U.S. helps to encourage people to bid and drive up the sale price, in my opinion.)

When I sell on eBay I ensure that I qualify for seller protection (look it up on eBays site for the exact details.) You get this if you only ship to a paypal verified address, ship the item with tracking and signature and ensure you ship it within the handling period you specify on the listing.

If I were selling my ATV2 (which I am planning to soon) I would do a complete restore back to factory and then I would jailbreak. If I had to sign into anything I would make another iTunes account and use that to sign in and once finished I would log out and disable the account.

hipnetic said:

1) I believe there was some debate in the XBMC forums as to whether it was better to stick to an older version of iOS (due to it having more free space) vs a later version. Are you familiar with that and, if so, do you have any thoughts on that?

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No I'm not aware of that debate. But I haven't noticed any problems running XBMC on my two Apple TV 2's running the latest firmware. So if it is technically a problem, it's not something I'd notice.

hipnetic said:

2) You didn't mention the risk of getting scammed by way of someone paying with a stolen CC, or claiming that they never got the item, etc. Any particular recommendations there? Does selling through PayPal offer me protection, or does that mainly protect the buyer? If it does, should I state that I will *only* sell via PayPal?

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Stolen credit card: I'm not sure but I think that credit card companies have insurance programs for that. IE: if someone steals your credit card and uses it to buy stuff, and then you report it stolen, the stuff is still paid for by the CC company, probably reimbursed by their insurance. This problem has existed since before the internet, so it's not unique to it.

Claiming they never got the item: Best way to avoid this is to use package tracking or delivery confirmation from USPS or whatever shipping company you use. Those services are fairly inexpensive. That way you will have evidence from the shipping company that the package was actually delivered, and the buyer's claims that they never received it will be easy to prove as fraudulent, or at least as not your responsibility.

Paypal: yes this is probably the best way to do online transactions. I've only ever used Paypal. It has various built-in protections. Go to their site for more info.

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MacLovin78 said:

If I were selling my ATV2 (which I am planning to soon) I would do a complete restore back to factory and then I would jailbreak. If I had to sign into anything I would make another iTunes account and use that to sign in and once finished I would log out and disable the account.

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This.

dgalvan123 said:

Stolen credit card: I'm not sure but I think that credit card companies have insurance programs for that. IE: if someone steals your credit card and uses it to buy stuff, and then you report it stolen, the stuff is still paid for by the CC company, probably reimbursed by their insurance.

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Actually the CC company just issues a chargeback to whomever took the card, so the merchant (seller) is the one that eats the cost. 99.9% of the time the credit card company does NOT pay for purchases on a stolen card.

Wouldn't most people rather have a "virgin" device that hadn't been hacked or modified by who knows who?

Great reply by dgalvan123

When I had my apple tv 2, I sold it for 250$ (with xmbc and all those other apps). Good luck with selling yours!

carlgo said:

Wouldn't most people rather have a "virgin" device that hadn't been hacked or modified by who knows who?

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People who know what they are doing, yes. People who think "Jailbreak is cool!" but can't figure out which side of a computer keyboard faces up, want to buy pre-JB products and then get totally screwed over when they do something to muck it up & can't figure out how to fix it.

for further protection I would make a note of the serial number before sending out the ATV.

I have experienced selling an Xbox which was then "returned faulty" by the buyer, the item that came back was not the item I sent out and PayPal made a full refund to the buyer he ended up with full working xbox that left me out of pocket. Just be wary!

Do not sell internationally unless you're willing to bear the risk. Some countries don't provide tracking information once the package crosses their borders. This is where you run into problems on eBay. There is nothing eBay can do in those situations.

I've sold internationally before, sometimes even high-value items... but I know the risks. You're rolling the dice if you go beyond the US and Canada.

I jailbroke my ATV2 this weekend with the guide and it was flawless. You do not need an iTunes account at all for this process so if you are jailbreaking just do the jailbreak and it is ready for sale.

I'm going to be throwing mine up on eBay as soon as I can. I wasn't impressed enough with the jailbreak to want to keep it so I figure I can buy an ATV 3 and pocket some cash.

I had three ATV 2's. I put one up on eBay, without jailbreaking and was within moments offered £160 to collect and complete the transaction off eBay, given the fees, no postage etc I was only too glad to end it and sold my other two to the same guy.

Yes, I could've gotten more by jailbreaking, but I was happy to make the profit I got and replace my older ATV's with the newer models.

ATV2 jailbreak & max $$$

I've actually been looking to purchase another ATV2 recently. I currently have 2 myself and have considered getting a Mac Mini or something else that would serve the same purposes as the ATV2 plus many more. I keep going back to ATV2 because I am so familiar with it and for $99 (new) it is really a great buy when you think about it.

In response to your question, I hope I am not too late, but here is my $0.02.

If it was me purchasing your ATV2, I would give you the $ it's worth, but I would ask the you leave it as is. No upgrade firmware, no jailbreak. That allows me to do what I wish, including saving SHSH blobs for the firmware currently on the device. BTW, if you don't feel like dealing with eBay, please contact me as I would love to talk about purchasing it.

If you decide to jailbreak before sale, do not jailbreak the most current firmware (5.2). Reason being is that although XBMC is compatible (just recently), a lot of other apps are not. That is the reason I have not yet updated myself.

Either way you go you deserve a premium price because of what the device is capable if. Rather than trying to figure out what someone would like and pre-customizing the ATV2, I think concentrating on finding the right buyer is the way to go. Decide how much cash you want and start looking for someone you can trust with the sale process. That should make for a much better experience in my opinion.

As I said above, please contact me if you are interested in selling the device without all that eBay bs.

What does "jailbreak" mean?
I think it means removing some restriction/protection and now having complete and full system access to something like "administrator mode". Is this correct?
Thanks,
Bob

Apple Power said:

What does "jailbreak" mean?
I think it means removing some restriction/protection and now having complete and full system access to something like "administrator mode". Is this correct?
Thanks,
Bob

Click to expand...

It essentially removes Apple's limitations and opens the platform for community development. It is most often used in a negative connotation in reference to stealing software, but most jailbreak for the additional flexibility, customization, and control.

Thank you for the explanation. I'm actually learning things on this informative site.
Bob

Not sure if it's still relevant, but I just sold two Apple TV 2, non-jailbreaked, for 200$CAD each. Paid for an Apple TV 3 and a low-end gaming PC.