Strategies for trading in old machine and buying up to new?

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  • Reply 21 of 30
    The best place I have all ways found is the local free ads paper or the ad's in the local paper. This way most of the people looking at your ad don't really know about the fact that there may be something better just around the corner. They are just looking for a Portable Mac and a brand new system is out of there price range. If someone is searching e-bay they are more likely to be a pro, and more knowledgeable about the Mac scene.
  • Reply 22 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Hey Kestral! Long time no see buddy! I went back to MacNN a few days ago and took a look around.... and came back here. As much as I appreciated that place as an alternative to AI when it was down, I just can't get into MacNN. It's the members that make a forum, and frankly, we have much better members.





    Some quick thoughts for you CosmoNut:





    1. I am not certain about this, because I had a buyer tell me different during one of my auctions... but I don't think you can actually say in your ad that the buyer has to pay your 2.9% PayPal fee. I know that an auction of mine was ended by eBay earlier in the year for this reason, but it may have changed. I haven't looked into it.



    What I do is say that I do not accept PayPal, only money orders, certified cheques, and wire transfers. I've had Canadian buyers go to the same branch of bank I deal with and deposit cash into my account as well after I gave them my banking info - instant payment! Put a line in there saying anyone who really wants to use PayPal has to contact you before bidding on your auction. Then tell them in your reply email that you will accept it if they pay the 2.9% fee (or you may split it with them - whatever you want).



    Just tell people that "the buyer will pay all actual shipping costs through the carrier of their choice". Most people email me during an auction, and I will go to <a href="http://www.canadapost.ca"; target="_blank">www.canadapost.ca</a> or <a href="http://www.fedex.ca"; target="_blank">www.fedex.ca</a> and get a quick quote for them, since I already have the box dimensions and weight. If not, just do it afterwards and add it to the total.



    2. I have seen some really nice ads done up like this, I guess it's up to you if you know what you're doing. Personally, I just write a nice little ad up and include some good photos of the product. That alone makes it stand out from lots of auctions. I can't believe the number of auction descriptions that have no spaces in them! (throw a &lt;p&gt; where you want to add a space between lines)



    3. Make it one of the first things you mention in the ad. Use the date : "Covered by Apple Care until August 2003" - makes it sound sooo far away. The new owner registers the PowerBook with Apple - it's automatically transferred. I've never had to bother with this.



    4. I try to put them up in the evening, when people are likely to be surfing then net. I never do more than a 3 day auction personally. Most people don't bid on things until the last or second to last day anyway. I just know that when I'm looking at auctions, if I see one that is interesting and it's not ending for 8 days, I just keep looking. I won't even bother to add it to My Auctions, because I won't want to wait around for 8 freakin days to see it end. Just MHO.



    5. If you've never sold anything there before, you won't have to worry about Buy It Now. You need a feedback rating of at least 10 before you can use it. I do use it - I will set a reasonable reserve, but not too low, and have a pretty high Buy It Now price. It stays up there until the reserve is met, which is why you don't want a really low reserve - keep that BIT option up there as long as you can to give the right person the chance to see it.



    And make sure you check your email lots during the auction. People appreciate a quick response.



    Oh, and Mediaman, I wouldn't say most people browsing eBay are likely to be a pro, and more knowledgeable... just the opposite in fact!



    I sold an iBook not too long ago on eBay. I pulled the auction because of some errors in my listing, and I got an email right away from an orthodontist in Maine. He asked if the iBook was still for sale, and I said yes. It was a combo drive, 600 MHz, 20 GB HD. It had a huge Buy It Now price at the time, one of the reasons I was pulling it off. The guy sent me $2150 US for the sucker! (with PayPal mind you - that included the extra I charged him for that) Anyway, not bad for an iBook that cost me $1875 (with tax and extra RAM) He asked me on the phone after I got the payment and had shipped it out "So I got a good deal, didn't I? I mean aren't these things like $2500?"



    :eek:



    Me: "Well, um, I don't know exactly what they charge down in the states, I always get messed up with the exchange rate... it might actually be closer to $2000, but you still got a pretty good deal with the extra RAM." (that's it - play dumb) heh heh Yeah I made pretty good on that one.



    As for other brainiacs... I just sold a year old set of SoundSticks for (I am converting these figures to US...) $147.50, after having bought them a year ago for $160 from my local reseller. And they paid shipping to New York!



    I think eBay is the best place to sell Mac hardware, bar none. It's like a game to some people "That bastard thinks he's going to get MY PowerBook? HA HA!" click. bid. click. bid. ....







    Gotta love eBay.



    [ 12-22-2001: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
  • Reply 23 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I think that PayPal thing is OK actually... I just checked a recent auction of mine and I actually had that bit about the buyer paying the fee in there...
  • Reply 24 of 30
    Murbot, I have three questions:



    1. I was curious to know, has it been mostly Americans that have purchased your machines on eBay?



    2. Is there any special things you have to do to send over the machines across the border? I take it you use Fedex to do so.



    3. What machine do you currently have right now? (And if you have pictures, all the better)
  • Reply 25 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Yes, most buyers are from the US. I've actually been sending a fair bit of stuff through Canada Post's Xpresspost service. It's much cheaper than FedEx, and they take care of all the paperwork with regards to customs, etc. They only insure up to $1000 CDN though, so that's a big knock against it. I've sent Macs all over the US with them though and never had any trouble.



    With FedEx you have to have 3 copies of a Commercial Invoice made up, and an FCC form... not a big deal though. You have to ship it by air if you want to insure it though. International Economy (2 day air) is what most things I send go by with FedEx.



    I broke down and grabbed a combo drive iBook (600 MHz). I just couldn't stand to wait until after MWSF to get a new Mac. Plus I just got an iPod, so the new Mac was a necessity.



    I will probably hang onto this until a week after MWSF, after I order my top of the line iMac, and try to break even moving it on eBay.



    Haven't got the digital camera handy right now, but the setup is pretty cool. I've got it on a white Podium CoolPad from RoadTools, and have a pro keyboard and mouse hooked up. I LOVE it with the external keyboard and mouse.



    It's a bit of a mess right now anyway, I've got 3 stacks of CDs here on the desk, probably 100 or so, and I'm ripping them all to MP3 and archiving them on CD-R. And of course loading them on my iPod... actually, I should get a shot of this - the iPod beside these big stacks of CDs. Amazing that they'll all fit on this little thing!
  • Reply 26 of 30
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    Hey Murbot:



    If you are making profit with your iBook. Could you buy us Canucks some drink?
  • Reply 27 of 30
    Leonis, now that you're working again, you're the one that's buying us drinks!! And when I get a job, drinks are on me!!



    Murbot, thanks for the answers - I was curious, how do you break even on the Macs you buy? I know that you buy them in Canada, do you pay provincial tax in Calgary? I have a feeling you don't so your hurdle is only a 7% tax. But here in Ontario, I have to pay 15% tax. Also, are you getting deals on top of regular retail price? I was on a chat channel recently and someone mentioned a good way to get a Mac for cheap is to join the Apple Developer thingy, there's a membership for $100 US which allows you to them buy one Mac of your choice at developer pricing. I don't know it was just someone blowing smoke though (can anyone here confirm this?)



    At this point, I'm very happy with my iBook when I'm running OS 9. With OS X, I really think it needs a bigger screen, a G4 (preferably dual processor) to run more comfortably. I'm thinknig at some point I might attempt to go desktop again (but I don't want to), or if the TiBook ever gets a higher resolution screen, I may make that jump, but otherwise, I'm holding onto this little white beauty. First on my list when I get employment again is a digital camera, and perhaps a scanner, and I've always liked the Soundsticks. But for the most part I'm pretty happy with what I have, what I want more than anything at this point is to just get on with my life - work, travel, meet people, my aspirations at this point are less computer-oriented (though I'm working on learning some stuff like C, SQL).
  • Reply 28 of 30
    leonisleonis Posts: 3,427member
    In BC we have to pay 14% total (GST + PST)



    But on food related stuff and eating in restaurant we just need to pay GST. No PST....that's why I always yelled when I was in the east.....cause I have to pay BOTH taxes in there!!!!!!



    BTW....my DVD 600 iBook runs just fine with OSX. Cinema 4D 7, Photoshop 7B, Illustator 10, Office X, no problem....



    I will later try to install Maya on this machine



    [ 12-25-2001: Message edited by: Leonis ]</p>
  • Reply 29 of 30
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I just pay the 7% GST here - none of that damn provincial sales tax in Alberta.



    I do get really good pricing from the reseller here, I buy all my Macs from them, so obviously they want to keep me happy.



    I am happy with my iBook's performance in OSX as well. (600 MHz Combo) I booted into X after reading the 9 vs. X thread here the other day, and I'm actually really happy with it.



    One thing I did was buy an Apple Pro Keyboard and Pro Mouse to use with it, and it's on a White Podium CoolPad. It's basically like having an LCD iMac...



    I don't always break even or make a few bucks on them though - I've lost money just as often. Usually if the machine is current, and there is no imminent changes coming, I do pretty good.
  • Reply 30 of 30
    ybotybot Posts: 329member
    Here in sucky frozen Winnipeg we have the lovely 14% tax. Makes the most reasonable purchases get expensive so fast.



    Nice to see so many Canadians here!



    -Y
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