Best Way to Sell a Laptop?
3
Due to my ongoing upgrades of all these laptops I have…you know…the main one…the back-up one…the back-up to the back-up…I have found I have an extra Compaq Presario CQ61-313US. It’s been fully upgraded with a fresh, legitimate Win 10 Home edition and works great. The 250 gig hard drive has been treated with Darik’s Boot and Nuke, has no errors whatsoever, and it has a fresh, brand new battery and power supply. I’ve got ~$18 in the new bat and power supply. I can put a SSD into it for another $20 but I since I don’t plan on keeping it that would be a waste.
Here’s the manufacturer specs: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01888944
Under any foreseen situation I just don’t think I’ll need it any more.
Being from last decade, it’s heavy and I don’t want to ship it. So that leaves eBay out.
Do people have success selling laptops on Craig’s list? It seems most of them I see for Tulsa are about $80…shit…I’ll take $50…maybe less.
What say you, crowd?
I guess I could donate it too, I just don’t know where.
- 4 comments, 8 replies
- Comment
CL, Facebook, Letgo or a similar app would be the most popular ways to go.
Craigslist is so full of scammers it’s likely a hassle, but it may be easy. It’s at least the easiest to list with.
Facebook requires you to of course use Facebook, but you have at least some idea of who the person is.
One of the local selling apps like Letgo could be easy but you have to sign up to a new app for that.
You ought to have pretty good luck selling a laptop with Windows 10 for $50-80 fairly quickly.
@djslack Those are all the ways I would go. If it doesn’t sell, just give it to someone that is less fortunate - you’ll be doing something good and feel great.
@djslack @zinimusprime Oh yeah, if I knew somebody I sure would. I considered a freecycle post, but with no way to verify they are needy…pfft. If I went to church I could maybe just give it to them. I’ll be keeping an eye out though! Even though it’s a decade old, it is working great and isn’t scratched up because it just sat on my desk.
@therealjrn OfferUp is another option. I’ve had better luck with it versus Craigslist.
As @msklzannie noted, meeting up at a police station is a great idea. Folks tend to be less stupid when law enforcement is just a few yards away.
@narfcake OfferUp was one of the ones I was trying to think of and blanking on the name. Thanks. There was one more as well, but those two will lead to the third.
I think the choice of those apps stems from what is already popular locally.
@djslack CL tip - make it clear what your terms are - “local meet/pickup only”. You should also say “cash only”. If someone can’t figure out how to get $50 cash before they meet you then not worth your hassle. And don’t fall for “wait until …” or “hold it for me” BS. First come, first serve, no regrets. A-holes and scammers will troll you.
Be careful with “text me back” scams or direct email with buyers because you give away your mobile phone number and email to a stranger.
Another option - give it to a local school for a teacher or STEM lab to hack on or give to a student to use (though policy might not allow that for liability reasons). Most schools have gone to Chromebooks for manageability, though.
Whatever you decide to go with, meet up with the buyer at the police station and check the bills they give you. There are markers that test the paper (technically cloth) and markers that test the ink. Personally I’ve found holding the money up to a light and checking for the watermark and strip is the easiest and most accurate way to check. That doesn’t work on ones though. Or you could just let the police check the money.
In all my years of “playing with money” (I’m a cashier) I only know of 2 counterfeit bills that came to me… 1 of which I’m still not sure if I accepted it or if it came from the bank as part of a bundle of ones. The top of each side were flipped opposite of each other. The other was a not very well “washed” dollar bill but printed as if it was a twenty. It still had the original name of the secretary of treasury from the 1 visible in addition to the name of the secretary of treasury of the copied 20. The names were different. I didn’t accept that bill.
What are the dimensions of the laptop and charger? Check out the USPS Flat Rate boxes:
Medium
14" x 12" x 3 1/2"
under $15
Large
24 1/16" x 11 7/8" x 3 1/8"
Under $20
@medz hm…I didn’t know they came that big…the laptop is 14.89" (L) x 9.93" (D) x 1.62" (H) and the weight is 5.90 lbs. So essentially 15x10x2 inches. Plus I’d have to allow for bubble wrap.
The power supply brick is 4.25x2x1.25
@therealjrn Yeah, you’ll probably have to use the large board game box which will likely cost you $19.95 to ship. You can order the boxes for free, though.
https://store.usps.com/store/product/shipping-supplies/priority-mail-large-flat-rate-board-game-box---gbfrb-P_GB_FRB
If you’re interested in donating the laptop, see if iFixit is interested in it: https://www.ifixit.com/Info/Device_Donations
If so, you’ll get a free shipping label and eventually guides get made from the device.
@dashcloud Interesting! Kind of like donating the body to science!
I’ve been poking around trying to find comparable laptops and all I’m finding are pieces for sale. It appears that mine might be one of the last remaining ones in working order. And it’s just not “any” kind of working order and condition–it is practically “near new” condition. I carried it a few times, but it mostly just sat undisturbed. I didn’t even use it that much. I used it for a couple of classes but essentially it’s the laptop version of “little old lady just drove it on Sundays” used car.
So I don’t know if I want to send it off to be dismantled. But thanks for the idea!