15th December 2020 | GuidesHow To Sell Your Mac OnlinePerhaps you’re thinking of selling your old Mac so that you can buy a new one? Or maybe you no longer use it? Whatever the reason, there comes a time in every Mac’s life where it’s time to say goodbye and move on. Knowing where to start when it comes to selling your Mac can often be quite difficult and with Christmas just around the corner, now might be the perfect time to list your Mac for sale. Hopefully, our guide will be able to answer all of those questions that you may have when it comes to selling your Mac online.BackupIf you’re selling your Mac and you plan on buying a new one, it’s probably a good idea to backup your data ready for you to migrate to your new Mac. In fact, even if you don’t plan on getting a new Mac, it’s still a good idea to backup anyway, just to make sure that all of your old data is secure. If you are planning to backup and migrate to a new Mac, then you should definitely check out the guides below.The Ultimate Guide To Backing Up Your MacHow To Data Migrate To Your New MacSign OutIf you plan on selling your Mac privately, using eBay or Facebook Marketplace, for example, you’re going to want to make sure that your Apple ID is signed out of everything. You need to make sure that you’re signed out of Apple Music or iTunes, iMessage and also iCloud, otherwise whoever you sell your Mac to will have access to all of these services at your expense. Thankfully, signing out of everything is a straightforward process and shouldn’t take you long at all.To sign out of Apple Music or iTunes, simply launch the application, head on up to the menu bar, click Account > Authorisations > Deauthorise This Computer, you’ll be prompted for your Apple ID and password and then hit Deauthorise.To sign out of iMessage is a similar process. Once in the iMessage application, go to the menu bar and click Messages > Preferences > iMessage and then click Sign Out.Lastly, you need to sign out of iCloud. If you are planning on backing up your Mac with iCloud, it’s probably a good idea to wait for the backup to complete before signing out. When signing out, you will be asked if you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data on the Mac. You can either choose to delete it now but it will be removed regardless once the factory reset has taken place, it is entirely your choice. Anyway, to sign out of iCloud, navigate to System Preferences and click your Apple ID. In the sidebar, click Overview and then Sign Out. Reset Your MacThe final step you need to take before listing your Mac up for sale is to return it to its factory settings. You’ll need to factory reset the computer and re-install the latest version of macOS. Follow the steps below to do so:1. Restart your Mac and as it begins to restart hold down the Command + R keys to boot into recovery mode2. Once in the recovery mode menu, select Disk Utility3. Make sure that you select your main harddrive, this is usually named Macintosh HD, once highlighted, hit Erase4. Once complete, you can close Disk Utility and then select Reinstall macOSAfter the new macOS has installed, your Mac has been successfully reset and you’re now ready to decide how you want to go about selling it.eBay or GumtreeSelling your old Mac on second-hand commerce sites such as eBay or Gumtree definitely have their positives but also quite a few drawbacks. eBay and Gumtree are typically everyone’s first point of call for when it comes to buying secondhand tech online. A quick search on eBay for a MacBook Pro reveals hundreds of options that not only can give you an idea of how to price your Mac but also some reassurance that demand out there is pretty high (as well as competition). While it does take a bit more work than selling on Facebook or trading it in, a private sale is likely to result in you fetching a higher price for your Mac, which is definitely the standout benefit of using eBay to secure a private sale. But keep in mind that eBay does charge a final value fee, which currently sits at 10%.Gumtree is a great way to sell your Mac locally, to people that are prepared to drive to your house to inspect the Mac and potentially pay for it there and then, in cash. While this will save you a great deal of hassle as you won’t have to sort out any shipping, be prepared to haggle! Facebook Marketplace Facebook Marketplace is a relatively new service that Facebook themselves have been heavily pushing over recent years. Similar to Gumtree, it is a great way to advertise to people in your local area that want to get their hands on a second-hand Mac. Facebook makes it really easy to create a listing, punch in the details, add some photos and you’re pretty much good to go. The great thing about Facebook Marketplace is that there are no fees, so you get to take home 100% of the profits.But Facebook Marketplace is often not the easiest or most reliable place to sell your goods. Be prepared for a number of people to try and haggle you down or ask questions that you’ve probably already answered a thousand times over. It is, therefore, important that you provide as much information in the listing to avoid any disagreements or disputes when you do come to hand over your Mac. Similar to Gumtree, if the buyer is local, they will probably be willing to come to your house to pick the device up but given the current coronavirus pandemic, in-person transactions may not be the safest option right now.Mac ResellersThere are plenty of third-party Mac resellers out there that will happily take your old Mac off your hands and pay you a good price for it. You’re probably not going to get as much for your old Mac as you could if you were to sell it privately but the stress, hassle and risk is simply not there.At MacFinder, we make it as easy as possible for you to sell your old Mac. Once you’ve submitted some details, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible with a quote. If you are happy with the quote and want to go ahead, we will send you over a box and arrange a time for collection. If the Mac checks out with the quote you provided, the funds will be transferred straight into your account.Selling your Mac to us is also a great way to get money off one of our refurbished Macs although you will initially have to pay for the refurbished Mac in full. Once it has arrived you can transfer the data from your old Mac over to your new one. Then, once the trade-in quote has been accepted, ship us your old Mac using the box provided and we will transfer you the funds.Check out our Sell My Mac page to find out just how easy it can be to sell your Mac. Apple Recycling ProgrammeIf you feel that you have exhausted all options and you still can’t find what’s right for you, you can always sell your Mac straight back to Apple. The Apple Trade-In programme allows you to trade in pretty much any old or new Apple device for you to then receive either credit towards your next Apple purchase or an Apple Store Gift Card. But if it’s money that you’re after, this is probably not the best option to go with as Apple certainly doesn’t pay the highest rates, even if your Mac is almost brand new and in perfect cosmetic condition. If Apple deems your Mac to hold little to no value, they will help you recycle it for free.
