Best Places to Swap Laptop for Maximum Money
Ready to upgrade your old PC? Several sites will allow you to exchange your laptop for cash or gift cards, and even pay for shipping in order to send it to them. I’ve researched some of the more popular places where you can trade your laptop to see which ones work best.
Before we start, it’s worth noting that trading a laptop is not the most profitable option. You will probably make more money selling your used laptop on sites like Craigslist or eBay , depending on your particular machine. However, this is more than some people would like to do, and if you don’t have a popular laptop, chances are it won’t sell. Trading your laptop is the quickest and easiest way to go if you just want to get rid of your old thing and get a few dollars back.
I received online offers for about a dozen laptop models from seven exchange sites. Most people just keep their laptops for a few years before replacing them, so I used laptops from 2011 to 2014. Laptops are also available in a variety of models, from budget PCs to gaming laptops. For every offer on the internet, I chose “like new” or “impeccable” when asked about the condition, with all accessories included. Here are the results:
Surprised?
I expected Amazon to have the best swap rates, but with the exception of the Razer Blade, Gadget Salvation offered the best trade for Windows laptops and Mac All Trades , by far the best MacBook deals. These sites offer double or even triple the amount that other sites have quoted. There are some caveats, though, so let’s see.
Sell Your Laptop at Gadget Salvation
If you’ve never heard of Gadget Salvation before, you’re not alone. I didn’t hear about this until I searched laptop sharing sites. You may be wary of sending your laptop to an unknown company, but Gadget Salvation is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and has an A rating. ResellerRatings users (42 reviews) also give the company an average rating of 8.87 out of 10, and the site gets 4 out of 5 stars based on 55 reviews. on Trustpilot .
Like other sites, Gadget Salvation will send you a prepaid label to ship your laptop and pay you by check or PayPal for your device (excluding Amazon, Best Buy, and Apple, which will provide you with a store gift card).
However, Gadget Salvation has two tricks. First, finding the brand and model of your laptop can be frustrating. Sometimes I found duplicate lists of notebooks and wasn’t sure which match was correct. When you select a laptop model, Gadget Salvation does not show you a list of specifications, so you can make sure the quote is right for a suitable laptop. When I searched for, for example, HP Pavilion G6, it found “HP Pavilion g6, gx, gt” in the list, but this series offers different processor options. Therefore, I was not sure if my laptop with an AMD processor instead of Intel would give the same rating. In cases like this, or when your laptop cannot be found at all, I would contact Gadget Salvation and provide the laptop data to make sure the estimate is accurate. If you ship your laptop but the model or condition does not fit, Gadget Salvation will offer you a revised proposal.
Second problem: to make a lot of money, your device needs to be as good as new. It’s the same with other exchange sites, but Gadget Salvation’s warning that only 1 in 10 items are in “perfect” condition makes me think they are pretty strict about keeping your laptop in perfect condition. Most laptops in use are likely to only have a “good” rating. As an example of possible price differentials: The site listed a Flawless 2011 MacBook Air at $ 223.30; when switching to “good”, the estimate is reduced to $ 182.70.
That said, Gadget Salvation’s quotes are much higher than other companies, so you’ll probably come out ahead even if your laptop doesn’t look like it just came out of the box.
Sell your MacBook on Mac for all trades
Technically, this is the Mac Me an Offer site, but it’s a Jack of all trades division of the Mac. The price difference between their MacBook offerings and other sites is so great that you might think it’s a scam or too good to be true. But the company is rated A + by the Better Business Bureau, and by selling them my iMac recently, I can vouch that the company is legitimate. (Apple offered me $ 0 for a 2010 iMac because the hard drive was broken, Gazelle offered $ 50, and Mac All Trades sent me $ 205.)
If your Mac is not working as well as mine, or there are any cosmetic issues, you will need to fill out the details on the online form and wait for a quote email from them. It took me a couple of days. When you accept the offer, they give you a few days to ship the computer, and then pay you about three days after they take out the computer. When I didn’t receive my PayPal payment the day after I was told it was coming, I emailed the company and the payment appeared on my account the same day.
While I have had a positive experience, the company has some negative reseller ratings , but they are from customers who bought refurbished Macs from them. Reviews of users who sell their Macs to them all seem positive.
Why You Can Sell Your Laptop On Other Sites
None of this means that you shouldn’t consider other sites. For example, Amazon might not offer the highest bidder, but if Amazon rejects your laptop for some reason, they will ship it to you for free. Other sites, including Gadget Salvation, may charge return shipping fees if you decline their revised offer.
If you have an old laptop that doesn’t work with Gadget Salvation or Amazon, try Best Buy or Apple trade-in. You can get a quote for a standard Windows laptop (i.e. you don’t need to list a specific brand or model). It looks like they really care the most about the type of processor in your system and whether or not the laptop is in working order.
Finally, the sites I’ve tested aren’t the only places where you can trade with your laptop. There may be other lesser known sites that pay more. For all the questions that you face, be sure to look for reviews about the company. Cash for Laptops is one of the top ranked sites on Google that promises great deals for your laptop, but I found tons of negative reviews so I decided not to use them in this article. Better safe than sorry – and actually get paid.