There was a time, at least in my experience when if you advertised on craigslist a mint but used mac laptop, you'd get buyers lined up and usually sell at the advertised price in one day. Not so anymore, I 've found. I think the Lustre and excitement surrounding mac laptops is GONE. People don't care so much about them anymore -- they want tablets. I base all this on my recent experience TRYING to sell a truly mint mid-2012 1.8 ghz 4 gb ram 128 hd macbook air. It took more than a week. I initially advertised it at a very reasonable $825. No takers. Dropped to $775. Nada. $750, zilch. FINALLY, after an off of $650, I got $700. And I'm in an affluent area. But while I would have liked more, $700 is fine because it's practically the cost of what I'm buying to replace the air: the new Samsung note pro 12.2, which if anything is a genuine laptop replacement with the best ms office suite as stock, a better than retina HD screen, dual quad core fast, and 1.6 lbs. A while back I sold off my ipads and ipad minis for samsung note 8 and samsung note 10.1 2014 because I find android FAR superior to ios. While my wife and daily use mac desktops, the ipad air and other brand notebooks are going the way of the beta max and film, etc.
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The lustre is off the Air?
- Thread starter Nychot
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So, basically you discovered that electronic devices do hot hold their value
Definitely, they their lose value more quickly than anything else!
Just two years ago I got $500 for my 2008 MacBook on eBay. That's a 5 year old computer. I sell all my stuff on eBay. That's the best place to sell it. Craigslist is the worst place to sell as it is the place were people are looking for the biggest bargains.
EDIT: I'll be selling my MBA later this year. It is a 2012 version too. I have the same specs as you but 8GB of RAM and I plan to get $800+ from it.
EDIT: I'll be selling my MBA later this year. It is a 2012 version too. I have the same specs as you but 8GB of RAM and I plan to get $800+ from it.
I completely disagree with this article.
I like to buy older mac's clean them up,fix whatever might be wrong and resell them for a profit...I wouldn't even think of doing this with a pc,but with macs I have yet not to make a sale and profit....heck even older ibooks,powerbook ect can turn a profit if you get them for the right price.
I like to buy older mac's clean them up,fix whatever might be wrong and resell them for a profit...I wouldn't even think of doing this with a pc,but with macs I have yet not to make a sale and profit....heck even older ibooks,powerbook ect can turn a profit if you get them for the right price.
I was gonna say.... The refurbished units do more damage to used prices than anything else. Why buy an out of warranty used device versus a refurbed one with a warranty and new parts.
The lustre isn't off the air, your pricing was a little off. Old machine requires a modest price tag, not something near what you can get a brand new up to date model for.
You can't expect too much, just think about a fair price and run with it.
You can't expect too much, just think about a fair price and run with it.
There's far more Mac's out there and also far more advertised for sale nowadays so of course they won't command the very high resale value they once had.
But it's never been cheaper to buy a Mac brand new, so you can't have it both ways.
But it's never been cheaper to buy a Mac brand new, so you can't have it both ways.
Especially when the newer ones are greatly improved over those of just a couple years ago.
Even so, it's a lot better than you'd do for reselling a PC
Some people have suggested eBay... do keep in mind that eBay + Paypal fees are pretty high. Whatever difference you might have gotten on eBay probably would've gone towards fees. Amazon Marketplace is another option, though it doesn't have the community that eBay does.
Exactly! 2013 refurb mba's are $849 right now in the Apple refurb store and they come like new with full warranty, much better battery life, faster graphics and so on.
Why the heck would anyone pay even near that price for an older laptop, used, in uncertain condition, with little or no warranty!
I am constantly astounded by the idiotic asking prices some people have for their macs on craigslist.
I would never have even paid $700 for the OP's system knowing that for just $150 more I could get a newer, better, spotless, and perfectly packaged air directly from Apple.
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I just sold a Mac Mini and MacBook Air on eBay. I figured I lost about $100 each per year that I owned them. I probably could have held out and gotten more, but that's still pretty good. We have a fully spec'd Dell that is about 3 years old and can't sell it for a decent price. Probably get a better return by donating it and claiming it on my taxes.
Specs hurt ya
I think your specs probably kept a decent amount of people away from buying your Mac. It had a small HD at 128GB and only 4GB. Not that great if your trying to stretch that computer 2-3 years from today. Of course Apple sells models like these today, but in general I think people go with the "middle" model in every lineup.
It really depends on the area you sell. Large cities with craigslist are always easier. eBay is great but the fees kill your profits.
I think your specs probably kept a decent amount of people away from buying your Mac. It had a small HD at 128GB and only 4GB. Not that great if your trying to stretch that computer 2-3 years from today. Of course Apple sells models like these today, but in general I think people go with the "middle" model in every lineup.
It really depends on the area you sell. Large cities with craigslist are always easier. eBay is great but the fees kill your profits.
Maybe the problem is hiding in plain sight. Why would affluent people go through the hassle of buying used when they likely have the means to go new?
eBay is the best place to get asked silly questions even as your ad is more than complete. Also the best place to sell way under your hoped for price. And pay a fortune in fees. And don't even try to put a reserve price. This repels buyers as orange peel do cats. Buy It Now price? Never put anything in that box. Since eBay changed its behavior, a click from a scammer on that button flags your listing as sold while you're spending way too much time trying to assess if the offer is legit.
On the other hand, a sale on Craigslist is usually closed in one or two emails + final appointment.
I'd be curious to know how you can repair a MacBook Pro with, say, a bent top case or unresponsive keyboard while a top case itself fetches north of $300. Or one with a cracked display while a used one is more than $500.
My city is small and there are usually plenty of people going on Craigslist for computers. I still disagree on laptops bought: most people go with the cheapest model in every line-up. I asked around and no one seem to have bought the top-of-the-line 13" back in 2012 as I did. About the sold laptop you also have to consider the Air isn't upgradeable like other, non-retina Macs.