Selling old computers

D

dBTelos

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 17, 2006
Messages
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Me and a friend has access to a good amount of old computers. If they are ours, or other friends that have them tacked up in their basements. If I could fix them, wipe the HDDs clean, and sell them. How much do you think I would get on eBay? Pretty old computers I would say, ranging from 150MHz to 600MHz, around 128MB of RAM a piece. But each computer varies. I realize that they could be good for web browsing, instant messaging, coding HTML, or other mildly intensive tasks. So I figure at least someone would want them. We were hoping around $100 a piece. Some have old 15" CRT monitors, some don't. I suppose that we could throw in a crappy keyboard and mouse that we have lieing around. Think $100 is a good expectation?
 
I've been down this path, and it can be a hit or miss on selling them, especially when you're talking about sub-1ghz processors. 15" crt's are very cheap, you can find them for next to nothing or sometimes nothing, included in the package of a whole computer does add value though. I would be apprehensive about selling them online, but I'm sure you'll be able to get a few bucks out of them by advertising them in the paper.

If you find the road as bumpy as I did, I ended up donating anything that could actually get some use, preloaded with linux, and one still had OEM Win 98... anything under 500mhz got recycled.

It's coming to the point where these computers can hardly run a current OS, a lot of the ones I had couldn't, the ones that could ran like shit. I felt bad trying to ask money for something that didn't have a hole lot of use outside of surfing the internet on an old unsupported OS.
 
A quick look at craigslist and people are just about giving them away ... $30-$40. I've even seen some for free - "Pick it up and it's yours."

And so it goes.
 
I doubt you'll see them for more than 30-40. Just donate them and take it as a tax write off.
 
I don't think you'd get anywhere close to $100 for those. Probably closer to $20-30, if anything at all. It hardly seems worth the time to get them working, list them/take pictures, and ship them. You might be better off parting them all out and selling things in lots. You still won't get much that way, but it might be less work that way.
 
No one will pay for the shipping on really old computers. If I were you, I'd give them to a charity or to some hard-luck schools as you like and do a tax write-off.
 
Niksa said:
No one will pay for the shipping on really old computers. If I were you, I'd give them to a charity or to some hard-luck schools as you like and do a tax write-off.
Click to expand...

When I get ahold of one, I just clean it up and find someone who can't afford a computer and just give it to them. Sub-1ghz PCs are quite capable of surfing and office tasks ;) Make someones day....they'll be happy and you'll be making a difference, one home at a time :cool: Not a bad deal at all.
 
I've had a real hard time even giving away sub-500Mhz machines. I guess it depends on your area, but in and around high-tech cities (where surplus computers are plenty), just leave these old machines to the recyclers or large established liquidators. I don't think a liquidator will even touch a Pentium or P2 anymore.
 
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