Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can't sell my MacBook Pro!

L

Luke Redpath

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 9, 2007
733
6
Colchester, UK
I'm desperately trying to sell my MacBook Pro but I'm having real difficulty. I just wasted £30 on an eBay auction that never met the reserve price. Am I asking too much for it? I don't think I am. The specs are:

* Early Rev. A MacBook Pro, 1.83Ghz Core Duo
* 1.5GB RAM
* 80GB HD

It has some minor cosmetic wear (the metallic paint is starting to wear where I rest my palms) with a few minor scuffs on the bottom and 3 or 4 of the keys are wearing away - nothing you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old, well used machine. Other than that its in fine condition with no faults.

Mac2Sell values this at £680. My eBay reserve was £600 although I was hoping to get a little bit more than this; it only reached £476. One person contact me asking how much I wanted for it in cash and I said £600 and they replied "thanks for reply but it seems quite expensive even at #600 - macbook new is only 699 with warranty and faster processor."

I'm not sure the above person realised that a MBP and a MacBook aren't directly comparable, even a 2 year old MBP given the bigger screen size and better graphics.

I think the above person is just being a cheapskate and that a MBP, even a 2 year old one, for £600 is a bargain. Maybe I'm wrong. Am I asking for too much?
 
I think £600 is a bit much personally - but that's just my opinion. I understand that Mac's have very good resell value however for only £99 more than your listing, I could get a new, 0 cosmetic damage, MacBook that has a faster 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, vs your 1.8Ghz Core Duo - and also comes with the new version of OSX bundled.

I respect the difference between a MB and MBP, but I would be tempted to go with the new MB if presented with the two options. Especially as the HDD are the same size, and it's much easier to upgrade the HDD on my own in the MacBook.:eek:
 
Luke Redpath said:
I'm desperately trying to sell my MacBook Pro but I'm having real difficulty. I just wasted £30 on an eBay auction that never met the reserve price. Am I asking too much for it? I don't think I am. The specs are:

* Early Rev. A MacBook Pro, 1.83Ghz Core Duo
* 1.5GB RAM
* 80GB HD

It has some minor cosmetic wear (the metallic paint is starting to wear where I rest my palms) with a few minor scuffs on the bottom and 3 or 4 of the keys are wearing away - nothing you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old, well used machine. Other than that its in fine condition with no faults.

Mac2Sell values this at £680. My eBay reserve was £600 although I was hoping to get a little bit more than this; it only reached £476. One person contact me asking how much I wanted for it in cash and I said £600 and they replied "thanks for reply but it seems quite expensive even at #600 - macbook new is only 699 with warranty and faster processor."

I'm not sure the above person realised that a MBP and a MacBook aren't directly comparable, even a 2 year old MBP given the bigger screen size and better graphics.

I think the above person is just being a cheapskate and that a MBP, even a 2 year old one, for £600 is a bargain. Maybe I'm wrong. Am I asking for too much?
Click to expand...

I personally think £600 is a bit much. I just bought a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro off ebay for £680 with a Genuine Leapard DVD, Clear Platsic Case, and an incase Sleeve.

I would be interested in buying this but not for £600 I'm afraid.
 
Luke Redpath said:
I'm desperately trying to sell my MacBook Pro but I'm having real difficulty. I just wasted £30 on an eBay auction that never met the reserve price. Am I asking too much for it? I don't think I am. The specs are:

* Early Rev. A MacBook Pro, 1.83Ghz Core Duo
* 1.5GB RAM
* 80GB HD

It has some minor cosmetic wear (the metallic paint is starting to wear where I rest my palms) with a few minor scuffs on the bottom and 3 or 4 of the keys are wearing away - nothing you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old, well used machine. Other than that its in fine condition with no faults.

Mac2Sell values this at £680. My eBay reserve was £600 although I was hoping to get a little bit more than this; it only reached £476. One person contact me asking how much I wanted for it in cash and I said £600 and they replied "thanks for reply but it seems quite expensive even at #600 - macbook new is only 699 with warranty and faster processor."

I'm not sure the above person realised that a MBP and a MacBook aren't directly comparable, even a 2 year old MBP given the bigger screen size and better graphics.

I think the above person is just being a cheapskate and that a MBP, even a 2 year old one, for £600 is a bargain. Maybe I'm wrong. Am I asking for too much?
Click to expand...

my gut reaction is actually that you may have been asking too little, although the buyer you quoted is right, and in the end, if it doesn't sell, then you are asking too much.

Quite harrowing really, the resale value of macs could be diminishing! I hope not:eek:
 
MacBook Pro and eBay

Let's see, that works out to about $1176 US dollars... Doesn't seem out of the question to me. I typically search for recently closed auctions for the item I'm about to sell in order to gauge a price. Here's what your 1.83ghz MBP is doing right now in the states:

$1301 - has 250gb drive
$1350 - same specs as yours, but the seller offered to "pre-load" some expensive software... a shady practice
$1200 - 100gb drive
$1076 - same specs, comes with older style Airport Extreme

It looks like you're right in the pocket for what these go for in the US... Maybe the demand is lower in the UK?

eBay buyers are fickle... I just put a quite decent 6.3 megapixel Fuji digital camera with extra chargers and memory cards on there a week ago - Had the starting bid at $50 and no reserve. Not a single bid.

I think it's free to re-list. Maybe give it one more try?

Luke Redpath said:
I'm desperately trying to sell my MacBook Pro but I'm having real difficulty. I just wasted £30 on an eBay auction that never met the reserve price. Am I asking too much for it? I don't think I am. The specs are:

* Early Rev. A MacBook Pro, 1.83Ghz Core Duo
* 1.5GB RAM
* 80GB HD

It has some minor cosmetic wear (the metallic paint is starting to wear where I rest my palms) with a few minor scuffs on the bottom and 3 or 4 of the keys are wearing away - nothing you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old, well used machine. Other than that its in fine condition with no faults.

Mac2Sell values this at £680. My eBay reserve was £600 although I was hoping to get a little bit more than this; it only reached £476. One person contact me asking how much I wanted for it in cash and I said £600 and they replied "thanks for reply but it seems quite expensive even at #600 - macbook new is only 699 with warranty and faster processor."

I'm not sure the above person realised that a MBP and a MacBook aren't directly comparable, even a 2 year old MBP given the bigger screen size and better graphics.

I think the above person is just being a cheapskate and that a MBP, even a 2 year old one, for £600 is a bargain. Maybe I'm wrong. Am I asking for too much?
Click to expand...
 
Now that Apple is on Intel processors (The same as the whole rest of the market, non-OSX) I think we are going to find our famously high Apple resale values aren't going to retain like they used to.

They will still be higher than Non-OSX machines, but the hit will be much more dramatic, imho.

The only thing your MBP pro offers a buyer is a dedicated graphics card, and a very, very old one now at that. (And a larger screen). Most people would just buy a new Macbook.

-Allen
 
student_trap said:
my gut reaction is actually that you may have been asking too little, although the buyer you quoted is right, and in the end, if it doesn't sell, then you are asking too much.

Quite harrowing really, the resale value of macs could be diminishing! I hope not:eek:
Click to expand...

Nope, I wouldn't say value of Macs are diminishing. MBP has more features, but I think many people would pay a little bit more for C2D, so Core Duo aren't as desirable.

ebay depends on lots of factors, such as the
- feedback of the seller
- item description / or lack of
- item photos
- shipping cost / insurance cost
- payment method accepted
- other factors

I am helping a friend sell a car. She wrote something but got almost no one coming by to see it.
I rewrote the description and got 3 person interested in checking it out within the day.

Any case you might want to try craigslist.org, but cash and meet in person in public place only.
 
gazfocus said:
Isn't craigslist.org US only?
Click to expand...

craigslist.org is very well know in the US, but is available in many cities around the world (although some might not have as much activity as the US).

It's free, and doesn't hurt to try (well, you should meet in a public / safe place, like all major in person transactions).
 
It is free to re-list on eBay as long as it sells - I also have the option of making an offer to the highest bidder for their bid price (£476). I'd like to make a quick sale to be honest as I'm interested in getting a BlackBook but £476 just seems too low and leaves me still having to find another £500 for the new machine. I could maybe come down to £550, grudgingly; I honestly didn't think I'd have problems selling my MBP after only two years for a decent price. What happened to Macs and their great value retention?
 
Luke Redpath said:
It is free to re-list on eBay as long as it sells - I also have the option of making an offer to the highest bidder for their bid price (£476). I'd like to make a quick sale to be honest as I'm interested in getting a BlackBook but £476 just seems too low and leaves me still having to find another £500 for the new machine.
Click to expand...

Have you got any photo's? I'd offer £500 for it?
 
I've just checked out your eBay listing and all I can think of is it's probably the rubbed off anodising which has put people off.

983b_1.JPG


96e1_1.JPG


You also have to realise that you could have just been unlucky and picked a week when nobody was looking to buy that exact model. Try re-listing at £599 with Buy It Now?
 
I knew there was a risk that it would put people off but that's the way it is and felt it would be wrong to not mention it. Can't do anything about Apple's shoddy standards of late unfortunately. The top enclosure was replaced a year ago and it already looks like that. It is ultimately just cosmetic though and I wouldn't expect a 2nd hand 2 year old laptop to look immaculate.

gazfocus, here's the main pic: http://static.lukeredpath.co.uk/~luke/macbookpro.jpg. I still feel £500 is too little but I would consider £550. As this isn't the marketplace forum you should probably contact me offline - PM me if you are still interested. I have a good be.ez LeBag that I'd be willing to throw in for that price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back