Something I've been wondering.

Hey guys.

I think I heard this somewhere.. Or I might not have, this might be absolute crazy or something. But I'm just making sure.

Say you buy a MBP 13 inch. When Apple upgrade their current MBP 13 inch's, is there a way to kinda trade in your old model for the new one? Maybe so you only pay a little bit and they take the old one off your hands or something like that?

Thanks,
-DreadAlert.-

 

Not unless it's within your return window.

 

What's that?

 

I don't quite recall the date but it's within a month of purchase and I'm pretty sure if you return you have to pay a restocking fee of 15%

 

Oh right. No worries then. I just thought I heard it somewhere, guess not.

And it doesn't apply to me, but it might've done in the future so I was just making sure. ^^

 

If not, you can sell it to someone else. You'll be surprised how much you'll get for it.

 

if you are trying to sell it like 1.5-2 years down the road, you would be surprised the deals you can get provided that you are patient.

i was able to sell my summer 07 laptop and just got a new *refurbished* model for the same price.

 

It's 14 days in the UK if I'm not mistaken. And despite what the enthusiasts say I wouldn't look for stratospheric resale, especially with entry-level models.

 

you'll actually have to advertise and wait for a buyer who wants to pay at the price you set. i used craigslist to avoid ebay/paypal fees, and was able to have quite a bit of success. to be fair, i don't know anything about the entry level models and have no experience with them.

 

but what model you have? the 2.53Ghz one??

 

I don't have any YET.
I'm getting the 2.26GHz and I'm gonna upgrade it to 4gb ram and 250 HDD.

 

Same here. I found the Mac secondhand market to be very brisk. But I've learnt five things that help a lot.

One, timing is everything. If you try to sell what you have just after a product announcement it'll fetch far less. Ideally, sell about a month before a rumoured announcement. Of course, it's hard to pin point product refreshes but you'd be surprised how close you get if you keep up with the rumour sites.

Second, be patient. Early interest generally comes from low-ballers. But after a week or so you start getting some serious buyers willing to pay the asking price.

Third, advertise it well. If it's got no scratches and zero dead/stuck pixels, make sure to say that in the ad. People are sticklers about condition and if you're anything like me who takes care of his equipment well, mention it.

Forth, try to sell locally (within 150KM) and do it all in-person. It takes away a lot of buyers' concerns and saves a lot on shipping and money transfers.

And finally, it helps tremendously if you have AppleCare, which is part of the reason why I always get it (not directly from Apple though).

I joke around with friends and family about the "Apple trade-in program", which is just the Apple second hand market. To date, I've never really lost any money on any of my Macs.

 

Yeah, you'll be shocked at how bad the Mac resale value is.

 

you have to have stamina.

i easily got 25+ offers at way below what i wanted to sell it for every 1 offer that was on target

then it took about 5 legitimate offers to get one that didn't fall through.

but in the end, only one person needs to buy.

 

It's not like I'm desperate. I waited & waited & slowly decrease my asking price until someone was even willing to talk. Still the price is so low, it is laughable. The difference between you & me is that at least you easily get 25+ offers. For all the 3 unibody MBs that I've sold, I've only got an average offer through PM of about 3. 6 offers for the first, 2 offers each for the 2nd & 3rd. Needless to say all 3 unibody MBs I sold within 3 months (or less) of ownership saw me loose at least 40% of my purchase price. This is the reason I'm saying that one will be shocked at the poor resale value of Macs.

I agree that Macs used to have excellent resale value. Unfortunately, as the prices of Macs have come down & it has recently gained a huge surge in sales & popularity, the notion that Macs have way superior resale value when compared to a PC is becoming more & more a myth.

Of course, I would have wished that I could have gotten more money but sadly most people who visit the MarketPlace section of this forum are expecting some sort of giveaways. It's like they will take stuff from your hands if you, the seller, pay for shipping & give it to them for free. Maybe those s**kers really think I'm that STUPID since my sig says so. When I think about this, I find it funny. No offense to everybody & I sincerely apologize if I offend anyone. Is anyone of you naive/stupid enough to think that a really stupid person will advertise in his/her sig that he/she is stupid?!?!?

Anyway, sorry for the off-topic. Back to the OP's question.

There is no trade-in program from Apple themselves. The only way is to return the Mac within 14 days (I believe that's their return policy allowance date, although I could be very wrong) of purchase & swap it for the latest one. However, as a few members have mentioned, it is "usually" at a cost of 15% restocking fee. However, you may get lucky & have this restocking fee waived. If you're out of the return policy, then you'll obviously have to sell the current Mac you have & then purchase the latest Mac release. Good luck.

 

I have disagree, lately I put my Macbook Pro 15" up for sale on ebay, I started bidding at a laughable price of 99 cents and it got well close to 1800 with 2 days left on bidding.

Aiming for a $2K target, I could see it easily reaching that and over. Seriously, it's just like what apple does, market your product well.

I advertised the speck case, keyboard protector, palmrest protector etc, and take the picture with a good background that shows you are of someone of some class, and the serious bidders will be more than happy to join in.

=D Took it off ebay because I decided to keep it, really nothing as awesome looking out there with what I want. Spoiled by the apple aesthetics =X

 

you are trying to sell it here?!!

I was using craigslist all the way.

 

Yes, all my sales are done here at the MarketPlace & at notebookforums.com. I avoid craigslist & ebay because I've had really bad experiences & got scammed once out of $1,500 for the notebook I sold just a few years ago.

 

Haha, you're hilarious. xD

I'll agree with you about the scamming, I've seen many reposts of previous sales because the sale fell through.

 

Not to sound like a commercial here, but have you ever visited www.powermax.com? They are a large authorized Apple reseller on the west coast and offer a lucrative Mac (and PC) trade-in program.

They even allow you to get a pre-determined value on the Mac you're trading in, given its in good shape, and to buy ahead of the trade-in, bearing that you risk any value loss if the machine isn't in great shape.

i traded a Late 2007 BlackBook in for my 13" MBP along with a PC and some other gadgets in the closet using their partnership with DealTree, and I just about broke even. Turned my trash into a unibody treasure.