Selling Retina MBP: Question on Preparing for Sale

[DSTOFEL]

I'm putting my mid-2012 Retina MBP (15 inch) up for sale and am a bit unclear as to how to prepare it for sale. Specifically, I'm not clear on how to reinstall the operating system so that the buyer can start fresh.

I've sold a couple of iMacs as well as regular MacBooks in the past, but all had DVD drives and all came with Install DVD's which I used to reinstall the Operating system that came with the machine...after deleting the hard drive and before passing it along to the buyer (i.e. So that they could start fresh).

I don't believe the Retina MBP came with installation DVD's and in any event, I don't have an external DVD drive even if it did.

I guess my question's are:

• What "tool/process, etc..." do I use to erase the SSD of the MBP when I'm ready to sell it? I haven't sold one in a while, but I believe that I might have used the install disks (i.e. And "Disk Utility contained on it) to do this. Without an install disk, what would I use instead?
• What version of OS X would I reinstall on the MBP once I erase the SSD. I believe the 2012 RMBP came with Mountain Lion, but I'm now on El Capitain. Which would I load? Also, what is the process for reloading OS X with these Retina MBP's given there are no install DVD's?

I'm sure it's a relatively simple process, and that I'm just missing something simple. Just hoping to get a bit of help. Thanks,

 

[DeltaMac]

The links provided are good - even though the imgtfy site is a snarky way to do it.
Macs have not come with DVD media for more than 5 years.
You get the installer by downloading it.
You can easily wipe the drive and reinstall the original system by booting to Internet recovery.
Here's what you need to know - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
(Be sure to check ALL the steps. Although you may not need to back up anything now, the other steps for signing out of iTunes/iCloud, etc is a good thing to check to make sure that when you sell your MBPro, it doesn't come back to haunt you.

 

[DSTOFEL]

The links provided are good - even though the imgtfy site is a snarky way to do it.
Macs have not come with DVD media for more than 5 years.
You get the installer by downloading it.
You can easily wipe the drive and reinstall the original system by booting to Internet recovery.
Here's what you need to know - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
(Be sure to check ALL the steps. Although you may not need to back up anything now, the other steps for signing out of iTunes/iCloud, etc is a good thing to check to make sure that when you sell your MBPro, it doesn't come back to haunt you.

Thanks for the information. Greatly appreciated. I think the missing connection I had was with regards to downloading the installer. I read through the link you provided and it looks like the step where you access the OS X internet recovery is where I'd access Disk Utilty needed to erase and reformat the drive as well as reinstall OS X (I'm assuming it installs the version that came with the Mac....Mountain Lion for mine).

This clears up my confusion. Thanks so much for the information.