Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

TexasMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2005
45
0
Texas
I was considering eBay. Do you have any tips for selling a computer that way? I have never sold anything on eBay before.
 

khisayruou

macrumors 6502a
Aug 21, 2004
539
0
Its good if you have lots of positive feedback so people are more confident in bidding. Take good pictures of what your selling and its nice to have your screename written on paper in the photo just so people know you have it.

Becareful with people with 0 feedback or negative feedback bidding. They might drive prices up but if they win, they may never pay!

Ebay charges quite a bit in fees, so you may want look at free alternatives in selling it...use this forum or craigslist. Most people prefer to pay by paypal, so have an account ready to go...people also like to use credit cards through paypal, so you are going to take another hit in fees there.

Hope that helps a bit, Im sure other can give you even more tips!
Good luck and have fun selling your stuff!
 

TexasMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2005
45
0
Texas
khisayruou said:
Its good if you have lots of positive feedback so people are more confident in bidding. Take good pictures of what your selling and its nice to have your screename written on paper in the photo just so people know you have it.

Becareful with people with 0 feedback or negative feedback bidding. They might drive prices up but if they win, they may never pay!

Ebay charges quite a bit in fees, so you may want look at free alternatives in selling it...use this forum or craigslist. Most people prefer to pay by paypal, so have an account ready to go...people also like to use credit cards through paypal, so you are going to take another hit in fees there.

Hope that helps a bit, Im sure other can give you even more tips!
Good luck and have fun selling your stuff!

Thanks for the tips. I have bought some things on eBay before so I have the Paypal set up and ready to go. I only have like 15 positive feedbacks, but I have never gotten a negative one. I would try to sell on this forum, but I don't have enough posts to start a thread in the marketplace. I'm not trying to break rules so I won't try to sell it on here. :)

Anyone else with good advice please help.
 

Jschultz

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2005
880
13
Chicago, IL
One thing you'll notice is that on the forums, people are looking for a bargain basement deal.

I've since sold my powerbook, iBook on eBay. and now my mini is on eBay. People pay rediculous amounts on there sometimes.

I got close to $600 for a G3 700 mhz iBook back in May. People are paying close to $600 for mini's with BT and mouse/keyboard now. You'd be surprised.

So, my vote goes to eBay. Just be sure to only sell to those within your country.
 

AJ Muni

macrumors 65816
Aug 4, 2005
1,153
24
Miami
sell i sold my ibook on ebay for 875, after fees from ebay, it came down to around 850, and remember PAYPAL charges you a fee if the winning bidder pays you with a credit card, i think in the neighborhood of around 4%, so i lost about $50, and i pocketted around $820 in total....so dont forget about that....thats why some people only want money orders....but it should sell....

and also what i did so ebay wouldnt charge me for picture fees, i created a free 60 day trial of a .mac membership, and made a homepage with around 10-15 pictures of my ibook, and i put the link in the ebay auction...that would help you...
 

TexasMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2005
45
0
Texas
What would a good starting bid be? I don't want to make it too high. $50 for a three year old machine? I will not set a reserve because those auctions never seem to do well.
 

Jschultz

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2005
880
13
Chicago, IL
TexasMac said:
What would a good starting bid be? I don't want to make it too high. $50 for a three year old machine? I will not set a reserve because those auctions never seem to do well.

Well, if you have good faith, start at .99 cents. I did this with my iBook, and that thing got lots of bids and exposure, which got alot of people to bid, and a high ending price.
 

4Mac

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2005
17
0
Jschultz said:
Well, if you have good faith, start at .99 cents. I did this with my iBook, and that thing got lots of bids and exposure, which got alot of people to bid, and a high ending price.

I agree. If you look at completed auctions that have a "Buy Now" only bid or a very high starting bid (even other items besides computers), you will notice that many of those items do not have bids.

A high starting bid does not motivate me to bid at all. It's all psychological.

Start at $0.99 and watch it grow!
 

TexasMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2005
45
0
Texas
Thanks for all of the advice y'all.

One more question. Do you think it would be better to sell before Christmas when people are looking for presents or after Christmas when people have gift money to blow?
 

Ryan T.

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2005
599
27
Rochester, NY
TexasMac said:
Thanks for all of the advice y'all.

One more question. Do you think it would be better to sell before Christmas when people are looking for presents or after Christmas when people have gift money to blow?
prices on eBay are usually very consistent. I'd sell now, the older the mac gets the less it's worth.
 

wPod

macrumors 68000
Aug 19, 2003
1,654
0
Denver, CO
TexasMac said:
Thanks for all of the advice y'all.

One more question. Do you think it would be better to sell before Christmas when people are looking for presents or after Christmas when people have gift money to blow?

sell before christmas. people are more likely to bid up a little bit b/c they want it in time for christmas. after christmas people have time to shop around, no Dec 25th deadline anymore!

also, someone else mentioned this, but i will agree. the ending time of the auction is VERY important. end on a weekend evening. that way everyone is home and has time to sit by their computer and bid every 2 minutes. if you end the auction at 3 am on wednesday then no one will be watching their computers, except bargain hunters such as myself. i always buy from the late night ending auctions b/c i usually have very little competition.

im going to be selling my PB on e-bay soon. i would prefer to sell it here b/c i like the community better, but lets face it, everyone here is very educated in how much the price should be on a given computer, but on e-bay people get into bidding wars that can drive the price up!!!!
 

Smallville

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2004
147
0
Well, to avoid lots of fees and shipping costs/hassles, you could always take out a classified ad in a local paper. I did that and found out that my paper was looking to snatch up "pre-owned" Macs for the smaller weekly papers that we own in the outlying counties. I got a check for my old Mac that day and all I had to do was bring it to work. So ya never know, you could luck out locally and save a lot of work.
 

TexasMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2005
45
0
Texas
Smallville said:
Well, to avoid lots of fees and shipping costs/hassles, you could always take out a classified ad in a local paper. I did that and found out that my paper was looking to snatch up "pre-owned" Macs for the smaller weekly papers that we own in the outlying counties. I got a check for my old Mac that day and all I had to do was bring it to work. So ya never know, you could luck out locally and save a lot of work.

I sort of did that. I posted it on craigslist to see if I could sell it locally. I have received three responses in one day. We will see what happens.
 

adk

macrumors 68000
Nov 11, 2005
1,937
21
Stuck in the middle with you
ebay is pretty simple for selling. just browse some similar items to see how they sell them and what they go for. About the only thing you need to know is basic HTML to create a nice description.
 

JDOG_

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2003
786
0
Oakland
Craigslist with 4 good pictures and a 1-time Gmail account for correspondance with buyers.

Set a fair price and wait for somebody to bite.
I'd avoid eBay only because you're locked into selling it unless you bid somebody at the last moment or set the price to "Buy Now" (which requires a certain seller qualification & adds some shadiness).

Give it a go.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.