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Fair Selling Price for a '14 MBA?
- Thread starter Rhyno37
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Considering you could purchase one new for $700 just a few weeks ago, I would be surprised if you could get anything more than that.
It depends largely on where you live. Overall, I would say 950 is way too high considering Best Buy has them on sale for 950 currently. Yes there's tax there, but people will gladly pay that difference to have piece of mind that it is brand new.
A month ago I got the exact model from Best Buy for 720 taxes included. I stacked student discount with movers coupon but it's not hard to do.
With student discount deals so easy to get, I would say you would be good to get 750 to 800 for it.
Very few people know about all of the Best Buy specials and movers coupons and stacking them, etc.
There are a couple of things that could happen if you price it at $950.
1) Someone pays at or near your asking price. You take advantage of their lack of knowledge. They get a deal on the computer because it's less than what a new one would cost.
2) Someone lowballs the offer to 700-800. You have the choice of accepting the deal or not. But the hassle of dealing with the lowball offers if you choose not to accept.
3) The computer sits for a while at the price.
If you price it at $700 because "that's the lowest of all selling prices" you immediately cheat yourself out of the possibility of a few hundred extra dollars. Add on to that the fact that people will offer you $500 for it (half of what you just paid).
You're trying to sell this thing to make back your money. Best Buy can afford to shave a few hundred bucks off the price and still make money. You're already going to take a hit no matter what. Unless you absolutely need the cash, don't lower the value. It shouldn't be your responsibility to provide people with the best possible deal.
There are a couple of things that could happen if you price it at $950.
1) Someone pays at or near your asking price. You take advantage of their lack of knowledge. They get a deal on the computer because it's less than what a new one would cost.
2) Someone lowballs the offer to 700-800. You have the choice of accepting the deal or not. But the hassle of dealing with the lowball offers if you choose not to accept.
3) The computer sits for a while at the price.
If you price it at $700 because "that's the lowest of all selling prices" you immediately cheat yourself out of the possibility of a few hundred extra dollars. Add on to that the fact that people will offer you $500 for it (half of what you just paid).
You're trying to sell this thing to make back your money. Best Buy can afford to shave a few hundred bucks off the price and still make money. You're already going to take a hit no matter what. Unless you absolutely need the cash, don't lower the value. It shouldn't be your responsibility to provide people with the best possible deal.
You can get a new one for $950 on the Apple education store, and you get a $100 Apple store gift card on top of that. At BestBuy, you can get one new for $860 with an edu email address today. Both of those options are very easy.
Just by the way, the BestBuy price of $750 was available for a week, and the price of $800 was available for two months. Also, the 2013 model was available for $700 from April-June (all these prices do not include the mover's discount). These were not brief opportunities, and there were realistically thousands of MacBook Airs purchased at this price. It does not necessarily benefit people who purchased them at retail price, but the market price since its launch has been around 800$.
Either way, $950 is above the price of a new MBA. Selling the computer for the lowest price ever available is probably unrealistic, I can agree with you on that point. On the other hand, trying to sell the computer above market value in the off chance that you will be able to rip somebody off is also unrealistic, and it is kind of horrible.
The market does not always benefit you, but we can at least hope that it is fair. There are two choices here. Try selling it for more than it is worth and hope you find some sucker, or you can sell it for a reasonable price. Considering the retail price of the computer, the most I would ever consider selling it for would be $850, and that is high balling by quite a bit.
Quick question, but how much did the OP buy it for?
Matt
Edit: I just checked out ebay sold listings, and I found them being sold from the range of $775-$950, and the $950 one was still shrink wrapped. There was one sold for $1030, and that is a shame. Most showed up in the mid $800's.
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^ this.
If I were to sell it on Craigslist, I'd list it at $895 and accept anything over $800.
If you want to hold out for the chance to get a bit more, up to you, but as time goes by it will be less and less likely that you'll get more.
If I were buying one, I'd figure out the lowest I could buy a new one for and offer substantially less - probably 10-20% less, give or take. That's the price penalty for not getting a brand new one.
A lot of selling is psychological - it's not the deal you get, it's the deal you think you got. So for someone aware of how inexpensively a new one can be purchased, you're looking at a very low offer. For someone not aware, it needs to offer enough of a price advantage to be worth doing. $50 lower doesn't do that.
If I were to sell it on Craigslist, I'd list it at $895 and accept anything over $800.
If you want to hold out for the chance to get a bit more, up to you, but as time goes by it will be less and less likely that you'll get more.
If I were buying one, I'd figure out the lowest I could buy a new one for and offer substantially less - probably 10-20% less, give or take. That's the price penalty for not getting a brand new one.
A lot of selling is psychological - it's not the deal you get, it's the deal you think you got. So for someone aware of how inexpensively a new one can be purchased, you're looking at a very low offer. For someone not aware, it needs to offer enough of a price advantage to be worth doing. $50 lower doesn't do that.
I second this. Even with the best buy deal going on, I was able to sell my base model 2011 13" macbook air for 675 on craigslist this summer.