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True value of older white macbooks?

J

JustLikeYou

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
58
0
So I've been trying to sell my white macbook to upgrade to the 13" MBP, but I'm having real difficulty, and I don't know why.

I have the white macbook model 2.16 with 2gb ram and the super drive... and I went to mac2sell to get its approximate value. I priced it lower than that (figuring they may inflate a little) and even threw in some goodies to sweeten the pot, but I've relisted it for weeks on craigslist and I tried ebay a couple times, but I'm still getting lowball offers of $500 and $600. Is this normal for older models, is mac2sell out of their minds, or are people just trying to get a computer as cheap as possible? I'm starting to feel awful about its resale value (even though I baby my computers)... and I don't know if I should keep holding out for what I think it's worth (about $700) or just let it go? What do you think?

Are these things really only worth $500 now? *starts to tear up*
 
Sadly, yes. People look for bargains and want it cheap. $550-$650 is probably the price people would buy it for. The refurbished 2.0GHz 9400M White Macbook is $749, so they want a cheaper price.
 
yeah sadly even though macs hold their value, i wouldnt pay a cent over 600 for a whitebook, but if you look at a pc that was out at the same time/price you'd get between 200-300 realistically so it did hold its price pretty well. 900-600 isnt nearly as bad as 900-250ish.
 
Mac2Sell, IMO, really underrates the value of computers, especially PPC products.

On a side note, I've started a Mac Depreciation Guide that, I think, will be in full swing within two years.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
Mac2Sell, IMO, really underrates the value of computers, especially PPC products.

On a side note, I've started a Mac Depreciation Guide that, I think, will be in full swing within two years.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw your depreciation guide before, but couldn't find it again. I'm a lazy searcher, though... so *shrug* :)

Otherwise... yeah, I guess I'll have to just keep an eye out for the next $600 or $650 offer. I refuse to take $400 for it, I know it's worth more than that... but man, people are cheap. lol.

rust puppet - true, very true. I guess something's better than nothing!
 
You can get a better selling price on craigslist. Just sell locally and meet in person. Any serious buyers will meet you in person. They are also willing to spend $100-200 for peace of mind that they aren't getting ripped off.

I have a personal policy when I sell expensive stuff on craigslist and meet in person. I take a digital camera with me, photograph the person, and sometimes their drivers' license or at least their car's license plate. If they aren't willing to go along with the photographs, I won't bother meeting them. They are most likely con artist, with a criminal record or believe in UFO conspiracies. Nothing against UFOs.


Mac2sell is totally off in their pricing sometimes. Things are worth what people are willing to pay for them. Their is some thread on the Mac mini forum complaining about an ebay auction, because the poster thought the price was way too high compared to the mac2sell recommendation. People are still willing to pay alot for G4 Mini's because the are the cheapest way to test the Mac OS and make good servers and HTPCs.
 
on eBay it will be worth $610-$720.

on craiglist it will be worth $490-$500.

on ebay, people work collectively to drive the price up. on craigslist, each person works individually to bring the price down.

Also, FWIW, if someone asked to photograph my driver's license on a craigslist meeting, I'd laugh and leave. Not because I'm a scammer, but just because that's ridiculous.
 
spacepower7 said:
Any serious buyers will meet you in person. They are also willing to spend $100-200 for peace of mind that they aren't getting ripped off.
Click to expand...
If that's the case, for an extra $100-200 I'd just get a new one from Apple.

Really, for $899 (with the educational discount) I don't know why anyone would pay $700 for a used one.
 
True Value of older Whitebooks

Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place here, but I have a question that is related. My iBook G4 was stolen recently and I need to find the value to give my insurance company. It was equipped with Mac OS X v. 10.4, internal modem, Bluetooth and 64 MB of RAM. I can't find the receipt or serial number and don't know whether to find a price on ebay or craigslist or use the price of a new, equivalent model from apple.com.....
 
chazrw said:
Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place here, but I have a question that is related. My iBook G4 was stolen recently and I need to find the value to give my insurance company. It was equipped with Mac OS X v. 10.4, internal modem, Bluetooth and 64 MB of RAM. I can't find the receipt or serial number and don't know whether to find a price on ebay or craigslist or use the price of a new, equivalent model from apple.com.....
Click to expand...

Depends, do you have replacement or current value for your property. If it was replacement, just sub in the lower or higher macbook pro 13".

If you have current value, try mac2sell and ebay. Take the higher values to your insurance agent. But iBooks that I have seen have all been 400 and less, depending on version.
 
chazrw said:
Sorry if I am posting in the wrong place here, but I have a question that is related. My iBook G4 was stolen recently and I need to find the value to give my insurance company. It was equipped with Mac OS X v. 10.4, internal modem, Bluetooth and 64 MB of RAM. I can't find the receipt or serial number and don't know whether to find a price on ebay or craigslist or use the price of a new, equivalent model from apple.com.....
Click to expand...

If the policy goes by replacement value. You can look at apple-history and choose your model of iBook. For most systems it lists the original sale price for standard config models.
 
spacepower7 said:
I have a personal policy when I sell expensive stuff on craigslist and meet in person. I take a digital camera with me, photograph the person, and sometimes their drivers' license or at least their car's license plate. If they aren't willing to go along with the photographs, I won't bother meeting them. They are most likely con artist, with a criminal record or believe in UFO conspiracies. Nothing against UFOs.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense. If you are a seller of something expensive (let's say a Macbook), then the minute you get their cash you should care less what kind of person they are. The only reason you would want to keep their info is if you are afraid their cash is counterfeit (which I'm yet to see after 5+ years of dealing on Cl).

Now, I bought and sold many items on Cl from parts to complete computers and cars and never saw such a thing. And if somebody insisted on taking photos, I'd tell them to buzz off because I have no idea what they can do with such information - ie it's simply not worth it. I'm surprised buyers are willing to go along with this.
 
spacepower7 said:
I have a personal policy when I sell expensive stuff on craigslist and meet in person. I take a digital camera with me, photograph the person, and sometimes their drivers' license or at least their car's license plate. If they aren't willing to go along with the photographs, I won't bother meeting them. They are most likely con artist, with a criminal record or believe in UFO conspiracies. Nothing against UFOs.
Click to expand...

Like others said, once you know the money isn't counterfeit, and it 99% of the time isn't, you don't need to know who they are.

If you asked me for a drivers license or a pic of my license plate, I'd give you slap in the face. Asking for both would earn you a broken nose. That is just none of your businesses. If you're so concerned with con artists, you shouldn't be selling you stuff on craigslist.
 
JustLikeYou said:
So I've been trying to sell my white macbook to upgrade to the 13" MBP, but I'm having real difficulty, and I don't know why.

I have the white macbook model 2.16 with 2gb ram and the super drive... and I went to mac2sell to get its approximate value. I priced it lower than that (figuring they may inflate a little) and even threw in some goodies to sweeten the pot, but I've relisted it for weeks on craigslist and I tried ebay a couple times, but I'm still getting lowball offers of $500 and $600. Is this normal for older models, is mac2sell out of their minds, or are people just trying to get a computer as cheap as possible? I'm starting to feel awful about its resale value (even though I baby my computers)... and I don't know if I should keep holding out for what I think it's worth (about $700) or just let it go? What do you think?

Are these things really only worth $500 now? *starts to tear up*
Click to expand...

2 GB isn't a lot of RAM for the newer MacBook, especially nowadays. If you're not really advertising your MacBook, people won't want to spend a lot for it, as you can get a better and new PC for that price. Mac2sell does inflate the prices a bit, but $500 is a little low; it's a Core 2 Duo, not a damn Celeron.
 
yay, it actually got sold. went to a designer who was using it as a backup for his mac pro. Get this - he said he was running an old eMac as his previous backup, and decided he needed a newer model (holy cow, ya think?!). I got a fair price for it, and I know it's going to a home that will treat it well :) lol
 
JustLikeYou said:
yay, it actually got sold. went to a designer who was using it as a backup for his mac pro. Get this - he said he was running an old eMac as his previous backup, and decided he needed a newer model (holy cow, ya think?!). I got a fair price for it, and I know it's going to a home that will treat it well :) lol
Click to expand...

How do you know he hasn't used it already in his 'How fast can I smash a Macbook beyond repair' YouTube video?
 
JustLikeYou said:
yay, it actually got sold. went to a designer who was using it as a backup for his mac pro. Get this - he said he was running an old eMac as his previous backup, and decided he needed a newer model (holy cow, ya think?!). I got a fair price for it, and I know it's going to a home that will treat it well :) lol
Click to expand...

How much did you get for it?

I'm trying to sell my whitebook too (a generation older than yours, but also upgraded HD and RAM + bought new battery early this summer) for about 950$ but most people ask "why so much??"... >_> Thats a fair price considering how much second-hand Macs sell for here..
 
eXan said:
I'm trying to sell my whitebook too (a generation older than yours, but also upgraded HD and RAM + bought new battery early this summer) for about 950$ but most people ask "why so much??"... >_>
Click to expand...

Probably because that is quite overpriced.

You could get a brand new Macbook White, with 2GB of RAM and 250GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive for around $1060. Nobody in their right mind should pay $100 less than a new machine for a 2 years older machine, especially since the graphics card is much worse, the FSB is also worse, no doubt the body is in worse condition, and you have no guarantee with a second hand sale. If you are able to sell that machine for $950, I will feel very sorry for the person who got ripped off.
 
tristangage said:
How do you know he hasn't used it already in his 'How fast can I smash a Macbook beyond repair' YouTube video?
Click to expand...

Oh gosh... I'll just stay off youtube for a while then, and just hope that he's treating the computer nicely.... my poor old baby, lol.

However, I just picked up my NEW baby at the apple store today, and mannnn is this MBP seeexy :D

eXan, I got $650 for it, and I'm really happy about that. I wouldn't pay $950 for a computer that's older than mine with upgraded parts either. People aren't turned on or fueled by new batteries either, so you'll probably have to drop your price quite a bit to get someone to bite.
 
tristangage said:
Probably because that is quite overpriced.

You could get a brand new Macbook White, with 2GB of RAM and 250GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive for around $1060. Nobody in their right mind should pay $100 less than a new machine for a 2 years older machine, especially since the graphics card is much worse, the FSB is also worse, no doubt the body is in worse condition, and you have no guarantee with a second hand sale. If you are able to sell that machine for $950, I will feel very sorry for the person who got ripped off.
Click to expand...

Sorry, you've misunderstood me. I'm not in US and prices on Apple hardware (new or used) are quite a bit higher. For example, the cheapest new MB you can get in stores here (2.13 GHz, GeForce 9400) costs about 1500$.

I've been monitoring local offerings for used MacBooks for a month and my price of 950 seems justified seeing how a few first gen (core duo) MacBooks with stock config got sold for ~870 $, as well as Core duo MBP 15" also with stock config for ~1050$.
 
eXan said:
Sorry, you've misunderstood me. I'm not in US and prices on Apple hardware (new or used) are quite a bit higher. For example, the cheapest new MB you can get in stores here (2.13 GHz, GeForce 9400) costs about 1500$.

I've been monitoring local offerings for used MacBooks for a month and my price of 950 seems justified seeing how a few first gen (core duo) MacBooks with stock config got sold for ~870 $, as well as Core duo MBP 15" also with stock config for ~1050$.
Click to expand...

Ah, I do apologise, I should have looked at your location earlier before jumping to the assumption that you lived in the USA. Maybe it's not as overpriced as I thought :p Sorry about that. Good luck in selling your machine.
 
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