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Is this a good price??

mariahlullaby

mariahlullaby

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 19, 2005
852
3
NYC
Another question from me :p :p Sorry, but everyone here knows so much about the market, etc. and I pretty much know NOTHING so I need to ask a lot of questions. Anyways, I have listed me Windows laptop on eBay with a reserve price of $1500; it recently went for $1275. I paid about $1700 for it w/ Microsoft Office in October. Is it worth it to sell for this price? I desperately want an iMac (and hate Windows more with each day...it's so annoying) but I will be losing money, obviously. I am 17 years old and the iMac will cost about $2100 with Microsoft Office, so I need another $800 before I can afford it, which is a long way off with the way I earn money (however, in October, 1700 was STRETCHING it). I guess what I am asking is do you think I will get anything higher anywhere else? Or should I just give up and keep the PC?

Here are the specs of the computer:

HP Pavilion zv5000
-1 GB of RAM (works like a dream)
-3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 processor
-15.4” WXGA Brightview Widescreen display (beautiful and crisp)
-Spacious 80 GB 5400 rpm hard drive
-DVD/CD-R drive
-Integrated WiFi
-USB Wireless Mouse included (Targus)
-5-in-1 media card reader built in!
-Comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2 CD (original), Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) 2003 Master CD, wireless optical mouse, and all original cables and manuals
 
Although that is a good system, I doubt that you will get more from someone else. It is very rare to earn money or even break even when selling used computers.

If I were you I would take that offer.
 
Try selling it without a reserve. Reserve pricing really discourages a lot of bidders from bidding on the item.

I know this will sound crazy, but it has NEVER let me down. Start the bidding at 1 cent with no reserve and list it as a 7 day. So many people will be intrigued by the low starting price that they won't be able to help but opening the auction to check it out. By the time there's only 1 day left, you will have like 40-50 bids, and don't forget that the number of bids on an item is shown in the search results!

In my 6 years of using ebay to sell, I've found that this will get you the most money for anything. Setting a starting price that is really high or using reserves will kill the number of people who view your auction and bid on it.

Just make sure that when you set your 1 cent starting bid, that you really have a good title that covers all the variuos possible spellings. The point is to drive as many people to your page as possible. ;)
 
mariahlullaby said:
I'm too scared to do that lol...but thanks
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<Yoda voice> And that is why you fail. < /Yoda voice>

Seriously, the person above is correct about the reserve price deal. It might make you feel better, but it severely limits the number of bidders. That usually signals someone who wants an extreme amount for the thing being sold. Most people don't want to waste the time bidding on something they might not even get because the owner wants an extreme amount.
 
And on the Mac side, watch the Special Deals page on the Apple Store. You might be able to get a refurb G5 iMac for considerably less money.
 
Have your needs changed since october? Why did you need a laptop then, but a desktop now?

$1200 for a used laptop, that's about right.. but I wouldn't suggest buying a new iMac in your finanical situation. It just doesn't make sense to drop that kind of money on a new machine... why not a used g4 imac, or a mac mini?

Keep the pc if you need the performance. You payed $1700 for this machine and have to sink another $800 into it to get a imac g5... christ man, those machines are NOT worth $2500. Trust me.
 
I want to echo anubis and hcuar. One penny starting price, 7-day, no reserve is the way to get the most money for your item.

I bet there are more PC buyers running eBay sniper programs than there are Mac users who are even aware of them. That's to your advantage, in trying to sell that nice laptop.

I bought a similar 15" widescreen HP laptop for my brother in law (he paid me for it, but I picked it and took it to where he is). Of course it's much more comfortable sitting on a table than on a lap.
 
Rod, just wondering, what did you pay for the laptop? You don't have to tell, I'm just wondering how much a 15" HP went for.

Do you think I would get $1500 on the 7-day/1 cent listing? Or just $50 or so more?

Either way, thanks for all the replies; I'm definitely considering relisting (though it's getting expensive).
 
anubis said:
Try selling it without a reserve. Reserve pricing really discourages a lot of bidders from bidding on the item.

I know this will sound crazy, but it has NEVER let me down. Start the bidding at 1 cent with no reserve and list it as a 7 day. So many people will be intrigued by the low starting price that they won't be able to help but opening the auction to check it out. By the time there's only 1 day left, you will have like 40-50 bids, and don't forget that the number of bids on an item is shown in the search results!

In my 6 years of using ebay to sell, I've found that this will get you the most money for anything. Setting a starting price that is really high or using reserves will kill the number of people who view your auction and bid on it.

Just make sure that when you set your 1 cent starting bid, that you really have a good title that covers all the variuos possible spellings. The point is to drive as many people to your page as possible. ;)
Click to expand...

He, as well as the others, are dead on about this. Starting at 1 cent with no reserve, featured, and listed for 7 days will make bidding go crazy. I have always had luck with it and I bet you would get a least a few hundred more than what you got the first time if you do it that way. I say go for it and if you don't get what you are looking for get a mac mini or an iBook. Any mac you get will not let you down as long as it is not DOA.. like 4 of my powerbooks in the past... but I am a rare case so don't let that discourage you :)
 
mariahlullaby said:
Rod, just wondering, what did you pay for the laptop? You don't have to tell, I'm just wondering how much a 15" HP went for.

Do you think I would get $1500 on the 7-day/1 cent listing? Or just $50 or so more?

Either way, thanks for all the replies; I'm definitely considering relisting (though it's getting expensive).
Click to expand...

I think it cost $1450 or $1500, something like that. It was last year in March or April. It was a 2.8GHz (or 2.6GHz but it was non-HT) with combo drive and XP Pro.

I think you have a decent shot at $1350 or more with using the 7 day one penny strategy.

You're right that it's expensive to sell on eBay. The good news is if you follow a certain link eBay gives you and meet some conditions, you can relist the same item for free. The conditions are to lower your reserve price and lower the opening bid price.

What Chrispy is suggesting, making it a featured listing, may also work well for you. It's more of a financial risk (it costs $20 more) but I guess Chrispy has had good experience with it.
 
gco212 said:
Couldn't he just create a second name and bid a ton for it if it's not going for a reasonable amount as well?
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He is responsible for a certain percent of the closing costs... so why doesn't he just skip all that and mail ebay a check right now?

What you're suggesting is against ebay rules and it doesn't help him at all.

The best bet is to put some faith in capitalism, the item will sell for what it's worth. period.
 
take out that ram!!!

and sell it seperately. if its a common type, like pc3200 low profile laptop ram, it will go for 200 on its own, whereas in the machine it might only raise the price by 50 or 100 at the most.
 
mariahlullaby said:
I'm a girl :p And I've already taken your advice and relisted the computer :) :)
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I forgot to mention one more thing. Buyers who are going to be bidding 4 digits on an item are more comfortable dropping that kind of cash if you have digital camera pictures of the actual item they are bidding on. Take 5-10 pictures of the laptop at various angles, with the screen off and on, etc. If you havn't done this, it isn't too late to add them to the description. There is an "add to description" option even if the bidding has started.

Also you will notice this. Using reserve price increases the listing fee. Setting a high reserve price or starting bid will increase the listing fee even further. I think the listing fee for a 7 day, $0.01 starting bid, no reserve, no buy-it-now, self-hosted image auction is about 27 cents, whereas a 7-day, $1,000 starting bid, ~$1500 reserve price auction might cost like 3 bucks.

At least that's what it was the last time i used reserve pricing, which was about 6 years ago ;)
 
mariahlullaby said:
I'm a girl :p And I've already taken your advice and relisted the computer :) :)
Click to expand...


Also post the URL of your auction. I'll post some token bids to increase the number of bids, thus driving up attention and traffic.
 
IT WORKED!

Thanks guys so much :) :) My computer went for $1525 on eBay and the buyer is NOT Nigerian! It just ended, so the deal hasn't gone through, but everything is going smoothly. Thanks!

As soon as I get the money, I'll be buying my first Mac, though I'm waiting until April 15th for Tiger. Thanks again!!
 
mariahlullaby said:
Thanks guys so much :) :) My computer went for $1525 on eBay and the buyer is NOT Nigerian! It just ended, so the deal hasn't gone through, but everything is going smoothly. Thanks!

As soon as I get the money, I'll be buying my first Mac, though I'm waiting until April 15th for Tiger. Thanks again!!
Click to expand...

That's so awesome! I read your problem and I'm just so happy for ya! Make sure you tell us about your new Mac and everything! :)
 
Way to do it! I did the same thing as you before I got my first mac :) It is amazing what people pay on ebay when it starts to become a bidding competition haha. Glad to hear it went well :D
 
mariahlullaby said:
Thanks guys so much :) :) My computer went for $1525 on eBay and the buyer is NOT Nigerian! It just ended, so the deal hasn't gone through, but everything is going smoothly. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Awesome! Congratulations, and you're welcome. I bet it was a little nerve-wracking for the first three or four days when the bid price was still low, but it's all worth it in the end. All the best in completing the sale (meaning the winning bidder follows through). Of course, don't ship until you've received the payment in full. Some sellers wait until the money goes from their PayPal and into their bank account before they ship (which I think is lame, but I guess I can't blame them with all the PayPal chargeback horror stories).
 
Thanks for all the support :) When I finally get my Mac, I'll post...can't wait! And it's all thanks to Macrumors!
 
When you ship the HP, insist on shipping with tracking, insurance and a SIGNATURE on delivery. That way you have a defense against the "you never sent the goods" scammers. Make it clear this will be the only way you'll ship. If you want to be really careful, boot the machine before you pack it in the box, and take a video of it booting, to prove it worked when it was sent.

Don't let the buyer talk you into any alternate means of payment, such as a forged money order or a cheque from "someone who owes me money" or a phony escrow site. Escrow is fine, as long as YOU research and choose the escrow company. Never take someone elses choice of escrow service if you hadn't previously researched it.

Get the buyer's home address and phone number and look it up on whitepages.com or directory assistance to make sure you're dealing with a real person with a real address. If you are comfortable with the answers you get, you'll give them your address and phone as a demonstration of good faith (you'll not be telling them your age, however, and you may elect to do this under a parent's name).

Now, about that iMac: Don't forget, you more than likely qualify for the Student and Teacher version of Office, which will save money off the retail version. And buy your RAM upgrade from a reputable third-party RAM seller who gives a guarantee of compatibility with the imAc and a lifetime warranty.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
 
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