When Do You Get the Best Resale Price on Mac

[zachlegomaniac]

So I typically sell my Mac between 3 and 4 years of the original purchase date to upgrade to a new machine. I use the money I make from the resale towards the new purchase.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to the best time to sell a Mac in order to yield the highest resale price? I notice some folks on these forums hang onto their Macs for several years. If the computer suffices to perform well for the user is it more effective to get almost nothing in resale, and just purchase a new one when the computer simply stops working for the user?

I'd love to hear opinions on this.

I wouldn't mind hearing people's thoughts on the iPhone in this matter as well! Thank you!

zlm

 

[merkinmuffley]

Best resale time? Before you open the box.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

Best resale time? Before you open the box.

I meant to say in my initial post that I did not want to include any suggestions within the first year or so of purchase to avoid insights such as yours, but thank you for a reply!

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Depends on what the next revision brings. Prices of 2012 minis skyrocketed (particularly the i7s) when the 2014 models were announced.

 

[MRrainer]

Personal or professional use?
The problem with the iMac is that it can hardly be repaired. So, there's a reasoning that recommends selling it as soon as the extended AC has run out (or slightly before, hoping to get a better price) - so not to be left with a prohibitively expensive to repair heap of junk shortly after...

 

[OneMike]

This has changed a lot over the years in my experiences.

I think the more important thing is to try to get a good deal when making your purchase. Try to avoid paying retail. That's what I do, as of recent there hasn't been anything groundbreaking where I just had to have it day one.

For example the Macbook is currently $300 off at bestbuy now. If you sell in a year locally when no deals are going on. You may get back what you paid.

Other than that, sell before announcements are imminent and don't buy products that are about to be refreshed ie anything Apple is selling now.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

Personal @MRrainer . That's a good point on selling it slight before the AC runs out.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I meant to say in my initial post that I did not want to include any suggestions within the first year or so of purchase to avoid insights such as yours, but thank you for a reply!

After a year then the newer it is the better the price you'll get its that simple.... Apart from a few machines with known issues this will hold for all tech.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I understand this @Samuelsan2001 - I guess I was trying to figure out if there was a point at which the value dropped off rapidly on Mac resale (e.g. year 4, year 5), or if there was a plateau in value for a while. I've always done pretty well with my upgrading after a few years. I suppose I will continue to do that. It appears the answer to my question is as straightforward as your answer, which is what I suspected. Thanks!

 

[Tomorrow]

The sooner the better. The price of used electronics rarely goes up.

 

[jwpoof]

I've sold over 12 macs in the past 15 years. In my experience, you have several ways to go:

1) Sell it while the model is still utterly usable, supported, and nothing dramatically better has come along to replace it that makes it less valuable. 1-2 years. I rarely ever do this, because I have so many plugins and software to uninstall / reinstall that I generally wait much longer.

2) Sell it when it's discontinued, and because the replacement machine in the mac lineup lacks something that many people still need/want. This has happened to me several times. I got a lot of money for my G4 PPC tower after the switchover to intel, as lots of businesses still needed PPC machines for legacy setups. Ditto for my 2010 Mac Pro, which remains a popular machine today due to the changes to the nMP.

3) Sell it at the bitter end and be amazed at what you can still get if it's in good shape and working properly. I've found that macs retain a lot of low-end value 5-7 years on. When I say a lot of value, I mean $300-$400 depending on the model. For me that's an amazing sum given the age of the product. This is usually pro laptops for me.

 

[maflynn]

The bottom line is the sooner your sell it the most money you'll get. That starts the moment you walk of the store with an unopened computer (as mentioned above), until the time you start using it.

I personally won't sell my computer until I have a replacement on hand, which will of course mean less money back from the one I'm selling but I'm ok with that.

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I've sold over 12 macs in the past 15 years. In my experience, you have several ways to go:

1) Sell it while the model is still utterly usable, supported, and nothing dramatically better has come along to replace it that makes it less valuable. 1-2 years. I rarely ever do this, because I have so many plugins and software to uninstall / reinstall that I generally wait much longer.

2) Sell it when it's discontinued, and because the replacement machine in the mac lineup lacks something that many people still need/want. This has happened to me several times. I got a lot of money for my G4 PPC tower after the switchover to intel, as lots of businesses still needed PPC machines for legacy setups. Ditto for my 2010 Mac Pro, which remains a popular machine today due to the changes to the nMP.

3) Sell it at the bitter end and be amazed at what you can still get if it's in good shape and working properly. I've found that macs retain a lot of low-end value 5-7 years on. When I say a lot of value, I mean $300-$400 depending on the model. For me that's an amazing sum given the age of the product. This is usually pro laptops for me.

Thank you. This is EXACTLY the advice I was looking for.