Sad times of a college student/selling issues

[2056]

Hey all.
I'm a very poor college student and I've done what I can to keep my head above water. The time has come where I need to sell my macbook pro to pay off some bills.

I'm having a hard time trying to sell and feel like people are trying to rip me off.

I have the latest 15" mbp/2.53 C2D/250GB HD/4GB ram/stock version. applecare til August 2010. so yeah, i havent upgraded to snow leopard and i didn't buy applecare yet, and i know that can make the price go down. the computer is in great condition and never left my desk. it hasn't even reached 3 months yet.

i put it up on craigslist and asked for 1500.00. in my experience, people try to lower the cost so i assumed it'd go down to 1400.00 and that'd still be good.

the best offer i received is 1200, but i still feel that i'd be getting ripped off. thoughts on this?

i also got an offer for 600 cash and a early 2007 white macbook with the plastic chipping and no applecare.(didn't get specific specs) i've done a little research and it seems that those macbooks couldnt sell for much more than 600.

am i asking for too much?

i'll probably have to put it on ebay, but i'm usually never satisfied with those sales either.

 

[dukebound85]

its only worth what people are willing to pay for it

why you included your life story is confusing to me as it has no relevance and frankly, the buyer doesnt care (its the truth)

ALL sellers want the most they can get and ALL buyers want it for as cheap as possible

No body is ripping you off, they are merely giving you an offer

If you have no bites at 1500, then thats a sign you have priced it too high

So either
1) be willing to accept less than what you would like if you need cash now
2) if you can wait, then keep trying to hold out until you get a fair offer in your opinion
3) hold onto it

good luck

 

[Eddyisgreat]

1200 is a little bit of a lowball, but you have to remember that Craigslist is 100000% buyer beware. They don't know if the machine is stolen, if there are some failed components on the inside, etc etc, so the risk of getting a bunk machine is factored into the costs. I remember about a year ago I bought a 12" powerbook from some rich college kid driving a range rover . The powerbook was in great condition, guy didn't say much tho. He turned it on and completely turned it off after about five seconds, which was fine by me because I could replace the hard drive and what nots if something was wrong. Lo and behold when I got home the machine would die about 40 seconds into using it. Turns out it had one of the defective batteries and Apple sent me a brand new one within a week. Guess the joke was on that guy, or maybe he was doing me a favor by saving the free battery for the new user? Who knows. Could have been alot worse.

If you or someone you know sells on ebay that may be a good route. you'll have to wait 30 days for your funds and there are a multitude of things that could go wrong, but you stand to make more on ebay than on Craigslist because of feedback/paypal protection offered to buyers.

 

[Sneakz]

You need to price it less than $1450 because that's what Apple wants for a refurb of the model right now. Most people would prefer a refurb over a pre-owned laptop. The refurb would also have 10.6 and all new wrapped discs, cables etc.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Your notebook is too high. Your story is too common.

 

[m85476585]

Your asking price is probably too high, and leaving the price up for negotiation can be a bad thing.

On ebay I made the auction for my desktop PC buy it now or best offer, and I kept getting a bunch of lowball offers. I was listing the computer for around $300, and most of the offers were in the $200 range. I even got an offer of $70! I tried lowering the price and making counteroffers somewhere in between my price and theirs, but no one bought it. I changed to a fixed price buy it now auction, and it sold the next day at my asking price (this was after over a week with the best offer option). I think I could have even listed it higher.

I don't trust regular bidding auctions on ebay because there is nothing you can do if only one person bids and your item sells for the starting price. I could just raise the starting price, but that scares off bidders and seems to reduce the final selling price, or I could set a reserve price, but then no one bids because they don't know what price you are asking. Canceling the auction just before it ends if the price is not high enough is not allowed.

Look at what similar computers in similar condition sold for on ebay, and list yours in that price range as a fixed price buy it now auction, then be patient.

 

[dukebound85]

Your asking price is probably too high, and leaving the price up for negotiation can be a bad thing.

On ebay I made the auction for my desktop PC buy it now or best offer, and I kept getting a bunch of lowball offers. I was listing the computer for around $300, and most of the offers were in the $200 range. I even got an offer of $70! I tried lowering the price and making counteroffers somewhere in between my price and theirs, but no one bought it. I changed to a fixed price buy it now auction, and it sold the next day at my asking price (this was after over a week with the best offer option). I think I could have even listed it higher.

I don't trust regular bidding auctions on ebay because there is nothing you can do if only one person bids and your item sells for the starting price. I could just raise the starting price, but that scares off bidders and seems to reduce the final selling price, or I could set a reserve price, but then no one bids because they don't know what price you are asking. Canceling the auction just before it ends if the price is not high enough is not allowed.

Look at what similar computers in similar condition sold for on ebay, and list yours in that price range as a fixed price buy it now auction, then be patient.

Heck, I was selling my 40" Samsung tv not even 6 months old that I bought for 1000 and people were offering me 100 for it and many offers for around 200'ish

WTF

 

[kainjow]

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