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John123 · Aug 15, 2004, 07:17 PM

Does anyone have suggestions of good sites to determine fair market value for used PowerBooks? I've looked around eBay, but things seem to very so much that it's difficult to make any concrete determination on pricing.

I have a PowerBook G4/1GHz (Titanium) with 1GB RAM, 60GB HD, SuperDrive, AppleCare warranty through 12/05, a brand new outer bezel, a battery and AC adapter that are new as of February 2004, and no dead pixels, just for reference...so if anyone would like to tell me what they think a "fair" price is, I'd love to hear.

Thanks!

shatten22 · Aug 15, 2004, 10:57 PM

well, I thought I saw someplace selling your powerbook NEW/REFURBISHED for $1499.00 It could have been the Apple Store. Since you've got more memory I think you could ask for a bit more....

Hope that helps.

-g

wuzup101 · Aug 15, 2004, 11:53 PM

The extra ram/new battery/applecare will of course give it some extra value. From what I'm looking at on e-bay and such I'd say around $1500 would be a fair price.

John123 · Aug 18, 2004, 11:34 PM

Good grief, that cheap? Even without the extra memory and AppleCare? I've seen people selling 500 Mhz 1st generation models for $800 or so. I figured $1700 or so was really fair. Am I off my rocker?

iREZ · Aug 19, 2004, 10:52 AM

1700 is a bit much seeing how the computer is a year old and doesn't have some of the perks that come with the new Alu's. I'd put it up on ebay and have a set reserve price for it (minimum you'd sell it for) and see what comes up. You might get what your asking for but I think more then likely you'll be able to get around 1550 to 1650 tops.

Anubis IV · Aug 19, 2004, 04:04 PM

Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a new outer bezel?

John123 · Aug 20, 2004, 12:46 AM

Originally posted by Anubis IV:
Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a new outer bezel?

AppleCare repair

Anubis IV · Aug 20, 2004, 01:36 AM

Yeah, how did you convince them to replace it? Mine is all worn down with the paint chipped off like you can't believe, as well as some minor damage on one corner, and they dismissed it as "cosmetic" when I sent it in under AppleCare. They were gonna try and charge me $625 to have all the cosmetic damages fixed...so I'm just a bit curious what tack you took with them since I was planning on trying to send my laptop in once more before the AppleCare expires about a year from now.

John123 · Aug 20, 2004, 02:03 AM

Originally posted by Anubis IV:
Yeah, how did you convince them to replace it? Mine is all worn down with the paint chipped off like you can't believe, as well as some minor damage on one corner, and they dismissed it as "cosmetic" when I sent it in under AppleCare. They were gonna try and charge me $625 to have all the cosmetic damages fixed...so I'm just a bit curious what tack you took with them since I was planning on trying to send my laptop in once more before the AppleCare expires about a year from now.

Eh, I don't know. I've had them do it on 2 laptops actually. They never argued with me really. I've had to battle on some things before, but not on that.

Actually, they did a great job, I have to say...they replaced the outer bezel, the top lid, and the top of the main chassis too. Top notch repair all the way around. Makes me feel like I have a brand new PowerBook.

Anubis IV · Aug 20, 2004, 02:17 AM

Lucky...

Yeah, I was trying to get them to replace the upper part that surrounds the keyboard and the outer bezel. The upper part had separated from the outer bezel on the bottom right corner and was causing some jiggle since the pieces were all loose rather than fixed in place. Apple did fix another problem I had, but all of those "cosmetic" issues got left behind. Well, maybe I'll have more success next time. Just want to get my money's worth on this AppleCare...

webb3201 · Aug 20, 2004, 10:05 AM

The numbers above sound correct. That said, make a really nice featured ad with good pictures showing the condition. highlight the new case pieces and the applecare. Throw it on with reserve around 1500.00 and make it a 10 day auction. Spend the 20.00 to become a featured auction and you should be able to get your 1700.00 number. Note, end the auction on a weekend night, many bidders will fight with a bit of weekend drinking under a belt.

Note, one frustrating thing about Powerbooks on ebay is that you will get lots of fraudulant bidders trying to screw up the auction. Don't use "buyitnow" and don't allow no feedback bidders unless they contact you first. Make sure and cancel no feedback bidders each night.

Good luck, k