Is it worth selling a broken laptop and where should I sell it?

trrk

I have an old laptop (standard Toshiba of the sort that sold for £1000 5 years ago) which I can't turn on anymore (may be a problem with the power supply or maybe something else) and was wondering if old laptops are worth selling for parts etc (I would have to remove the hard-drive to stop anyone accessing the data that is on it at the moment)?

If it is worth something would it be better to sell on Ebay (considering the postage cost would be quite high) or locally like Gumtree? At the moment I'd be happy with even a small amount of money from it. Otherwise I guess I just chuck it out or look for some company that will recycle it without charging me anything.

Hintza

I sold an old digital phone a few year ago and ended up making a loss. Just ensure you set you P+P rate high enough to cover that +. Then start the auctiuon at £4.99/£9.99 to cover your costs.

Give a good description but sell as "Spare or repairs" in big and bold and say there will be no returns on it.

You might be surprised especially if someone say needs a screen. Don't expect a lot for it but you never know.

mrcol1000

I sold my tower PC on Ebay and put collection only. It was actually just the shell. All the good bits had been put in a new tower. Anyway guy offered to buy the tower but only wanted a few bits from it. Some wires and some kind of plastic caddy So paid for it and over the top postage for the bits. The rest of it I just dumped in the bin. So its worth giving it a go on Ebay as you never know what will sell.

cyberbob

Put it up on ebay for spares and repairs. You can get good prices for them, Make sure in your description you describe all problems that you know off. Personally i would not advise doing collection only as that will limit your market. Have a look on ebay on both completed sales and current listings for your laptop and see if any are/have recently been sold. I recently got £80 for a 5 year old broken laptop. So it can be worth doing.

~~Diane~~

I recently sold my broken laptop and got £85 for it. I had dropped it down the stairs, the screen was all twisted and bashed, the disk drive shot and was all buckled, but it did power up ok when I attached a monitor to it. Has it turned out the bloke who bought it lived around the corner and paid cash for it so saved on the paypal fees.

I was very happy coz I was just going to bin it until I had a look through ebay.

sequence

There is huge market for broken laptops on ebay. Get it on there you will get a good few quid for it.

trrk

Thanks everyone! I will give it a go once I work out how to remove the hard drive.

Any ideas on what sort of packing materials would be suitable? It is a full size 12 inch screen laptop.

NotQuiteNorbert

Lot of bubblewrap, and try to get a box to fit it. Make sure it's not rattling about in the box either, as if it's handled roughly in transit that could result in more damage.

Rebel

Just to add to thi9s, i recntly bought a broken laptop for spare parts as mine was broken at the time, I paid 140 and was happy to win (Toshiba 3.2 Ghz P4)

melliott1963

trrk wrote: »

It is a full size 12 inch screen laptop.

What do you mean by a 'full size' 12 inch screen? Is it a 12 inch screen, or have you just measured it horizontally instead of diagonally? (although I know that Toshiba have and do sell 12" laptops).

I only ask because you must make sure that you acurately describe the laptop. Even if it doesn't work and is only being sold for spares, you may have a problem if you say it has a 12 inch screen when it's actually a 14 or 15 inch screen.

trrk

Of course I'll check the specifications before selling. Luckily I still have all the original manuals. I just meant it is quite a big laptop and probably realatively heavy as far as laptops go. I've never sold anything like this before so wsn't sure how to go about packaging it (for smaller items I usually use bubble wrap envelopes or recycled packaging if I have something appropriate).