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bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 05:37 PM

I want to sell my powerpook 17" that I bought 6 months ago.
I am wonder what is the reasonable cost to sell it
and also I don't have the box
I just got the stuff that is in the box
please give me some suggestion
and how I should sell my powerbook.
I am totally new to selling second hand stuff so help out please

mania · Sep 25, 2003, 05:43 PM

oh just send it to me and i will have someone get back to you...

seriously tho take a look on ebay and see what they are selling for. ebay is a sellers paradise. i have actually witnessed some stupid buyers pay more than the price of a new item for a used item. its amazing.

bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 05:49 PM

but there is so many fraud going on there
some one in Ebay even selling this 17" and a 23" display for 1300!!
or even 2000
and that make it so hard for me to put it on ebay
and the word fraud really freak me out
I am really afraid that I send the stuff
and I don't get my money

can someone explain to me what I should do
educate me please
thanks

KeriVit · Sep 25, 2003, 06:03 PM

I saw used 17" PBs going for anywhere from $2500 to $2900 (U.S.) As for the fraud, that is generally the seller not the buyer.
Actually, if you have sold before, some people may not even bid on your laptop because they may not trust you. But, if you insist on money order or certified check and say that you will not ship the item until it is received, you should be ok.

bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 06:09 PM

Will anybody send me the money first then wait for their shipping?
I mean wouldn't they be worry that I will not send them the stuff once I recieve the money?

thanks

bcaslis · Sep 25, 2003, 06:19 PM

That is usually the case, but as a seller you have to be careful too. I sold a PowerMac almost a year ago. Everything seemed OK and the buyers responses all made sense. I sold it COD via Fedex (up until that time I usually sold COD since it seemed like the fairest for both sides). The buyer paid with a Wells Fargo cashiers check.

However... it turned out the check was a professional forgery. Within a week after I sold, dozens of complaints showed up about the same buyer. I reported it to eBay, Fedex, FBI, etc..

eBay and Fedex both refused any obligations (even though it was sent Fedex insured, they said it only covered damage, not that their employee accepted a phoney check for payment). I finally got some money back from homeowners insurance (I was amazed that they actually covered this) but I still lost money. A seller needs to be at least as careful as a buyer.

Originally posted by KeriVit:
I saw used 17" PBs going for anywhere from $2500 to $2900 (U.S.) As for the fraud, that is generally the seller not the buyer.
Actually, if you have sold before, some people may not even bid on your laptop because they may not trust you. But, if you insist on money order or certified check and say that you will not ship the item until it is received, you should be ok.

bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 06:35 PM

tell me the safest way to sell my powerbook 17"
like what should I do
so it is fair to both the buyer and the seller

geekwagon · Sep 25, 2003, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by bananastylez:
tell me the safest way to sell my powerbook 17"
like what should I do
so it is fair to both the buyer and the seller

The only way to absolutely avoid risk is to do business in person, Powerbook and cash in hand. Any other method is going to have some risk. That said, you can always use an escrow service (they hold the Powerbook, buyer sends the money to them, they release the money to you and ship the Powerbook to the buyer.) This costs a little money and may not cover issues like the MO fraud noted above (depends on the service.)

bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 06:42 PM

could you name me a good escrow service?
and how much do you think it will cost?

thanks

Jbroad572 · Sep 25, 2003, 06:44 PM

Hey banana, I just sold my 17" PB on Ebay. Here's the link
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...14909&rd=1

I had 3 people who were really interested, one from Italy, one somewhere in the states, and Canada. They emailed me before they placed a bid. I made sure that I built some kind of trust with them by offering a phone number to get in touch with me and email, as well as pictures of whatever angles or sides they may have wanted. I also faxed a copy of the receipt to the guy who ended up buying from me before he considered placing a bid. Most of these guys wanted to do an escrow payment, which I had no objections to, just as long as they paid for shipping before hand. Most people out there who are really going to drop $2,000+ on an Apple are smart enough to contact you before actually placing such a large bid. I would say give it a shot, be honest in your auction, and you shouldn't have much to lose.

Jbroad572 · Sep 25, 2003, 06:45 PM

www.escrow.com is the only one I know of. This is the recommended escrow service from Ebay.

stotan · Sep 25, 2003, 06:53 PM

There is something called paypal.

Usually a seller has a paypal account where the buyer sends the money to the sellers paypal account (the seller can redeem their money by wire transfer to their normal bank account for something like a buck).

The only problem is that if you have never sold an item on ebay before, there is a very likely chance that no one will bid on your item (cuz they are scared of fraud).

Also, it seems to me that ebay seems to charge a lot sell an item. I don't know how people on ebay really make money! I've tried to sell a laptop on ebay and they charged around 5 dollars to list the item, then an extra 15 dollars for the reserve price that i set (i think its like 1% of your reserve price). The reserve price is so that you dont have to sell your laptop if the bids do not meet the reserve price. If the reserve price is met, they give you back the 15 bucks you paid for the reserve price, but then charge you something like 3% of how much you sold the item for... which will probably add up to about 30 bucks just to sell your laptop!

How I eventually sold my laptop was I set a rather high reserve (but not too high since they charge your for your reserve price) but something where no one would actually buy it for that price. Then lots of people emailed me (people from the same city I live in) and I just told them we could arrange to sell it outside of ebay. Some guy came to my place, took a look at the computer, and bought it.

So it ended up costing me 20 dollars to list it on ebay, but I didnt have to pay the extra percentage they charge you when you actually sell it, since I didnt actually sell it on ebay.

Boy that was a long post

bananastylez · Sep 25, 2003, 06:56 PM

THANKS
I am going to try that
I am going to get my web cam ready
and hope they got a msn messenger!
but the only problem with selling is that
I don't have the box
and also
i don't have the recipt
is that a huge problem?

and about escrow payment
how do I do that?
I don't even know the word escrow mean
can you explain what I should do when using the escorw payment?

romeosc · Sep 25, 2003, 08:33 PM

Go to escrow.com

They explain it all.

The smart thing is its safe for a fee of course!

Seller & Buyer agree on price and inspection period.(I sugguest 2 days)

The buyer pays money by credit card, etc.

the Seller is notified to ship to known addreess insured.

Buyer checks out merchandise and says it is what was agreed on and Seller then gets money less fee

OR

Buyer says there is a problem and returns it to seller and then escrow.com returns money to buyer less fee!

REALLY EASY & SAFE!