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Why are iPad Pro values so low?

cc00lltt00nn

cc00lltt00nn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 23, 2012
147
79
Buford, GA
As many have seen, iPad resale values are and have been in the toilet. I was looking at moving my 12.9" WiFi 128GB Pro, Smart Keyboard, and Apple Pencil. On eBay these bundles are going for roughly $800. This would be my first time reselling a newish iPad. Given the retail price (excl tax) this is roughly a 33% drop in value. Is that pretty standard?

My experience has been with reselling my iPhones. For example, I sold my 128GB 6S+ for $850, shortly before the 7 was announced. That's only a 10%* drop.

Thanks in advance!
 
maflynn said:
Supply and demand.

Perhaps many people just don't have a need for them (the demand), or that so many people are selling them that there's an over abundance.
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I'd reckon this is mostly due to low demand. Also, $800 is a relatively high price point for used tablets. More likely than not, people willing to pay close to a grand on a tablet are less price sensitive and have already bought their iPad Pro 12.9 brand new.

As for the 6S+ selling for $850, I'm surprised it sold for that high. I believe the 6S+ 128GB was averaging around $700 on Swappa back in July.
 
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cc00lltt00nn said:
As many have seen, iPad resale values are and have been in the toilet. I was looking at moving my 12.9" WiFi 128GB Pro, Smart Keyboard, and Apple Pencil. On eBay these bundles are going for roughly $800. This would be my first time reselling a newish iPad. Given the retail price (excl tax) this is roughly a 33% drop in value. Is that pretty standard?

My experience has been with reselling my iPhones. For example, I sold my 128GB 6S+ for $850, shortly before the 7 was announced. That's only a 10%* drop.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

What's to puzzle out?

That resale differs between iPhones and iPads? That resales for iPads are low?

Yes to both. And it's been that way for awhile.
 
rui no onna said:
I'd reckon this is mostly due to low demand. Also, $800 is a relatively high price point for used tablets. More likely than not, people willing to pay close to a grand on a tablet are less price sensitive and have already bought their iPad Pro 12.9 brand new.

As for the 6S+ selling for $850, I'm surprised it sold for that high. I believe the 6S+ 128GB was averaging around $700 on Swappa back in July.
Click to expand...


I agree, $800 is a high price point for a used tablet. Most people are going to just buy new if they are going to pay that much anyway (or refurb). Right now, the 12.9 Pro is going for $869 (128gb +cellular) from Apple (refurb with warranty).

As far as the iPhones go, $850 is very high for a resell price (at least in my area), even before the 7 was announced. I'm glad you got a good price for it, but around my area the 6S+ have been selling anywhere from $160-$500. And, $500 was for BNIB unlocked.

25%-35% drop in resale is pretty standard from what I've seen.
 
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rui no onna said:
I'd reckon this is mostly due to low demand. Also, $800 is a relatively high price point for used tablets. More likely than not, people willing to pay close to a grand on a tablet are less price sensitive and have already bought their iPad Pro 12.9 brand new.

As for the 6S+ selling for $850, I'm surprised it sold for that high. I believe the 6S+ 128GB was averaging around $700 on Swappa back in July.
Click to expand...


vince_ross said:
I agree, $800 is a high price point for a used tablet. Most people are going to just buy new if they are going to pay that much anyway (or refurb). Right now, the 12.9 Pro is going for $869 (128gb +cellular) from Apple (refurb with warranty).

As far as the iPhones go, $850 is very high for a resell price (at least in my area), even before the 7 was announced. I'm glad you got a good price for it, but around my area the 6S+ have been selling anywhere from $160-$500. And, $500 was for BNIB unlocked.

25%-35% drop in resale is pretty standard from what I've seen.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments! The $800 was for the iPad, Smart Keyboard, and Apple Pencil, not just the iPad :) I feel like to say "$800 is a lot for a used tablet" doesn't really stand on its own. For example, if I said, "$50,000 is a lot to spend on a used car" it's obviously dependent upon the car. $50k for a used Tesla isn't bad, relative to its retail price. So, I would say $800 wouldn't be considered high for a bundle of products, that if purchased new today would be $1,100 + tax or refurbished $950-$1,000. + tax.

I sold it on eBay, where you can sometimes find crazy people overseas that will pay basically anything for what they want. Perhaps I just lucky ;)
 
I've actually been watching prices going up, rather dramatically, for 12.9" iPad Pro 128GB LTE:

Sep 13: $520 Best Buy refurb
Sep 16: $630 Ebay refurb (I bought here)
Oct 18: $750 Ebay refurb (same seller as the one I bought)

The Ebay refurb from that seller is high quality. Not even the slightest blemish anywhere, plastic sheeting on it identical to a new one from Apple, and brand new cable and charger also with the sheeting. Generic brown box, no sticker or manual.

I doubt the Best Buy refurb was as good. Some people in that thread randomly got the wrong used charger (an iPhone one) which doesn't charge as fast. I suspect Best Buy just has a Geek Squad member check out a used return item and then they call it a refurb.
 
cc00lltt00nn said:
Thanks for your comments! The $800 was for the iPad, Smart Keyboard, and Apple Pencil, not just the iPad :) I feel like to say "$800 is a lot for a used tablet" doesn't really stand on its own. For example, if I said, "$50,000 is a lot to spend on a used car" it's obviously dependent upon the car. $50k for a used Tesla isn't bad, relative to its retail price. So, I would say $800 wouldn't be considered high for a bundle of products, that if purchased new today would be $1,100 + tax or refurbished $950-$1,000. + tax.
Click to expand...
Doesn't really matter that you're bundling accessories. I reckon most buyers of used tech just want the tablet for cheap and don't care about the accessories. You might be better off selling the stuff separately. If you look at the used car market, you'll notice that the price difference between entry level trim and fully loaded isn't anywhere near the price premium you would have paid on new vehicles. It's a similar concept.

Personally, if I'm merely saving 10-20% for used tech, I'd rather just buy new or certified refurbished with full warranty and have peace of mind that I won't be getting something that I consider just "Fair" to "Good" condition but was advertised as "Like New".
 
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It's best to buy an iPad and hold onto it for a few years. It generally works ok since the iPad is usually faster than the rest of the iOS devices, especially in the past couple years. I've noticed the resale value isn't that great, and you especially don't get crap for having a higher capacity. I think Apple eats up a lot of the used market with good prices on the older models which they still sell. Most people going for a device either want one that is really cheap, decent as in new but older tech, or the fastest brand new thing. There aren't a lot of people looking for the current model used, or even the last model used since you can get an iPad Air 2 for what—$399 for 32GB? That's not bad at all. That is still a heck of a machine—I own the 128GB model from release day—and for what most people need it's more than capable. I'll have better luck selling it when it's the third model back after the new models come out, or perhaps just before.

It also doesn't help that, IMO, the iPad Pro is a bit overpriced. They came out with what would be a normal standard upgrade to the existing iPad, but charged more for it. You can't really do anything more with it without spending hundreds of dollars on additional accessories. The software is the same. This is especially true for the 9.7" model. At least the 12.9" model gives you more screen real estate—well, except in those apps that haven't updated for it or only expanded the viewport so there's huge areas of underutilized space. If the software was better distinguished and more advanced than what was found on the iPhone so people could better accomplish a wider variety of "real" work on the platform beyond simple creative endeavors, then it might hold it's resale value better like Macs tend to do.
 
I've sold two IPPs. Broke even on one, made $20 on the other.

How? Smart shopping at the start. Sold on Swappa.

As for 6s+ models, I've had a few and sold them. Most I paid was $640 for a 128GB, and have sold 3 128GB models for $650ish.
 
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rowspaxe said:
Why would anyone pay more than 50% for resale electronics? Its a hassle, and there are no returns (without a hassle).
Click to expand...

this really. when I buy used stuff like this I lowball. Mainly because I lose out on warranties and such. When your deal is 50 to 100 less than the store on a 700 item....I can save the extra weeks to buy new.

That and IPP wasn't rush off the shelves sales.

Nor are they technological leaps and bounds over recent non pro ipads. Inb4 apple hater. I have the 9.7 pro. Like it but its not the greatness marketing at apple thinks it is.

Apps I use see no real difference from performance on the 2015 mini 4. haven't benchmarked but if time differences in executions...its minimal and not noticeable omg this so much faster. hardware wise yes some improvement. Application wise...SSDD really.

its an ecosystem....hardware and software. In iOS' eco system you get devs who make apps that run on old gear and new gear similarly. With the twist many also need to run on phones (again new and old). this gets the devs more sales. And reduces development time and costs as they don't specialize.

Its not like say M$ who can sell applications that need and require major hardware and OS (server product line). Then makes applications that install of even lower end PC's (consumer product lines).

reason for 9.7 buy was the hand me down shift. My son's older mini needed to be retired or given a break at least. I got the 9.7, shifted the 15 mini 4 to him and the wife got his old mini that just has to play videos and surf (so EOL -end of life- not a deal breaker there, run it till it dies basically).
 
Mr_Killjoy said:
I've sold two IPPs. Broke even on one, made $20 on the other.

How? Smart shopping at the start. Sold on Swappa.

As for 6s+ models, I've had a few and sold them. Most I paid was $640 for a 128GB, and have sold 3 128GB models for $650ish.
Click to expand...
don't quit your day job
 
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Times have changed. It's not 2012 anymore.

Back in the days you never saw 'deals' on Apple products. Now there's always sales, especially on iPads and especially as it's now 1 month away from Black Friday.
 
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maflynn said:
Supply and demand.

Perhaps many people just don't have a need for them (the demand), or that so many people are selling them that there's an over abundance.
Click to expand...
Yeah. My iPad runs like a champ and does all I need so, no need to sell it, no need to buy another.
 
maflynn said:
I hardly use my iPad at this point, kind of sad. Most of my needs are met with my iPhone, kindle and Surface Book
Click to expand...

pretty much and thats why values are tanking. Its buyer's market but at the same time that memo hasn't reached the sellers yet which still think that its worth same as brand new :)
 
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Main reason, I think, is market saturation. Even the iPad 1 is still going for some, they just do not seem to die. Love mine and would replace my 9.7 is a second if something happened to it, but plan on it lasting me a few more years.
 
maflynn said:
I hardly use my iPad at this point, kind of sad. Most of my needs are met with my iPhone, kindle and Surface Book
Click to expand...
I use mine quite a bit, granted it is a 2012 iPad 4 on iOS 6, it is still an incredible tablet!

image.jpg
 
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