According to Apple your MBP is worth $0 after 3 years

[velocityg4]

How do you ensure you’re not scammed on those sites? Apple’s trade-in values are too cheap.

Sell it for cash locally. Bring a UV flashlight to check the money. Sell in front of a police station or in a public place. It's not perfect. But there have been plenty of complaints here about Apple's trade in partner. That I don't see it as any more of a sure thing. The only sure bet price wise with Apple is if you trade in at the store.

As for eBay I wouldn't risk it on any highly sought after electronics over $100 as a seller unless I was a power seller. It's too easy for buyers to scam you. Other items are fine or electronics which aren't highly sought after. Like I wouldn't expect there are too many scam buyers for a vintage Commodore PET as for a three year old Macbook or year old iPhone. They want something they can easily flip.

Still by and large there aren't many scammers on eBay. It's probably overblown. I'd just hate to lose $1,000 laptop that way.

 

[kucharsk]

Tell that to my mid-2012 Pro. ? I installed a SSD and changed the battery. Still my only computer.

But won't run Big Sur.

It all depends upon what you want/need from your system.

I have an old MBP I use as a digital audio recorder that is stuck on El Capitan and a MacPro 5,1 stuck forever on Mojave and they are perfectly usable for the tasks I use them for, but I cant pretend they will have the performance or utility of my 16" MBP that will be installed with Big Sur tomorrow.

However if I want to run FCP7 or DVD Studio Pro, neither the Mac Pro running Mojave nor the MBP 16 will do me any good.

 

[yoak]

My MBA 11" 2012 was valued at $90, checked just for fun

 

[tommiy]

So for clarity, 6 weeks ago Apple showed my trade in value was $950. After yesterdays announcements it is now 0. Appears that the launch of Arm Macs has resulted in complete loss of any trade in value for an Intel Mac. Now Apple are still selling Intel Macs and given this behaviour of complete write off why would you ever consider buying a new intel from Apple. Obviously the intent here is at some point they may make an Arm machine that goes more than 16G RAM...maybe...but until then you can purchase a high end intel Mac that is considered 'recyclable' in 3 years.

 

[deeddawg]

With the new announcement, I thought I would look at trading in my mid 2017 maxed out MBP. It cost just short of $4000AUD just that short time ago. Imagine my amazement at filling in the Apple trade-in calculator to be informed that the trade-in value is now $0 but I can freely send it in to be recycled and that they would send me an envelope to provide the machine to them.

Glad I don't live in Australia I guess. Apple's offer on my 2018 MBP15 was $1160 - pretty decent for a wholesaler offer.

Sounds like you need to explore alternate options for resale, or figure out if you either inadvertently gave wrong info on the trade in page or if Apple's site futzed up.

 

[Apple_Robert]

With the new announcement, I thought I would look at trading in my mid 2017 maxed out MBP. It cost just short of $4000AUD just that short time ago. Imagine my amazement at filling in the Apple trade-in calculator to be informed that the trade-in value is now $0 but I can freely send it in to be recycled and that they would send me an envelope to provide the machine to them. I'm not sure why I would now invest in a new machine that obviously holds such little value in retention after a short 3 years. It feels like I'm supposed to be impressed that Apple is happy to take this obvious clunker off my hands at their cost.

Apple has always lowballed trade-ins. More than likely, Apple has more than they can deal with right now.

If you are a seasoned Mac buyer, you already knew about the lowballing. Don‘t know why you would be surprised.

Sell your Mac elsewhere or hang onto it. Macs are not an investment.

 

[tommiy]

Just to answer the previous questions. The MAC is in perfect condition. I answered the questions of there is no swelling, i will give the power brick back etc. Right at the end where it used to provide a value it now says "Congratulations your computer is capable of being recycled. Click below and we will provide you an envelop so you can return it to us for recycling", or some thing very similar. I clicked the recycle button and they wanted my address to send the envelop to. So, Mid 2017, 1TB SSD, 4 ports maxed out mem, just out of apple care is 0 and they just want to recycle it because its apparently useless according to apple. I'm suspicous that recycle means they will clean it and then resell it. Obviously 3 years old does not means it is useless so whats Apples view of requesting things for free are they crushing and shredding it or trying to resell it?

 

[deeddawg]

Just to answer the previous questions. The MAC is in perfect condition. I answered the questions of there is no swelling, i will give the power brick back etc. Right at the end where it used to provide a value it now says "Congratulations your computer is capable of being recycled. Click below and we will provide you an envelop so you can return it to us for recycling", or some thing very similar. I clicked the recycle button and they wanted my address to send the envelop to. So, Mid 2017, 1TB SSD, 4 ports maxed out mem, just out of apple care is 0 and they just want to recycle it because its apparently useless according to apple. I'm suspicous that recycle means they will clean it and then resell it. Obviously 3 years old does not means it is useless so whats Apples view of requesting things for free are they crushing and shredding it or trying to resell it?

I find it improbable that the numbers you're being provided are accurate. Something's messed up somewhere. I'd suggest contacting Apple support and see if they have any ideas.

Meanwhile check with other resellers / wholesalers in your country. Here in the US there are others that often (not always) will be higher than Apple's offer, and can thus provide a sanity check.

In any event, Apple is clearly not your only avenue for resale, so if they're not able to sort out the error and come up with an offer that you're willing to take, simply move on to your other options.

 

[Saturn007]

That's fine, but I certainly wouldn't buy a used computer that old.

LOL!

“That old”!!

It's a nice “maxed out” 2017 MacBook Pro, after all...

The battery is likely still good... and even if not, then it could be replaced!

Still, I understand wanting a new device — and especially a different keyboard!

 

[Mojo1019]

Just to check I have tried to evaluate my MacBook Pro 16" 2019 (i9 2.4Ghz, 5500M, 32GB RAM, 2TBSSD) with the Apple trade in program. I live in Italy and they have just evaluated it 1150€, the original cost was 4139,7€ on November 22 with Edu discount. Well, this is nothing! I am sure I can get more of the double of their evaluation on the private market.

p.s. the Mac is in perfect condition on every aspect and the charger is included

 

[deeddawg]

I am sure I can get more of the double of their evaluation on the private market.

Of course you can.

I don't know why folks keep being surprised that selling the computer to a wholesaler isn't going to get them the big $$$ they might expect from a private party buyer.

The convenience of selling to a wholesaler comes at a cost -- that middleman is gonna get paid.