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Good Refurbs

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Anniemoose98
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2010 8:05 am
Location: T60-Land

Good Refurbs

#1 Post by Anniemoose98 » Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:42 pm

Hi All,

I am looking for a nice project to save up for a shiny newer Thinkpad. My T60 is finally showing its age. So, I want to buy some old Thinkpads on ebay that are in need of TLC, fix them up, and sell them for a profit. What models are people looking for that I could make a profit on when selling them? Also, how much should I buy these models for and what should I sell them for when they are refurbished?

Also, in case of confusion fix them up usually, in the case of many ebay sellers that don't understand that is wrong with computers, put a new HDD in and put linux on it.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Anniemoose98

ajkula66
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SuperUserGeorge
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Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:28 am
Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Re: Good Refurbs

#2 Post by ajkula66 » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:33 pm

My advice to you would be to forget the entire idea, unless you have access to corporate write-offs as the "big boys" on eBay do.

There is no money to be made on refurbishing (what an abused term) ThinkPads unless you have such a source. Buying them on eBay and attemtping to re-sell at a decent profit margin is next to impossible. Take it from someone who's been re-selling ThinkPads for a decade.

Good luck.
...Knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules...(King Crimson)

Cheers,

George (your grouchy retired FlexView farmer)

One FlexView to rule them all: A31p

Abused daily: T520, X200s


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ThinkRob
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Re: Good Refurbs

#3 Post by ThinkRob » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:55 pm

ajkula66 wrote: There is no money to be made on refurbishing (what an abused term) ThinkPads unless you have such a source. Buying them on eBay and attemtping to re-sell at a decent profit margin is next to impossible. Take it from someone who's been re-selling ThinkPads for a decade.
George is correct on this.

I do refurbish systems, but very, very few of them come from eBay. Occasionally I find the odd mis-listed system which I can get a good deal on, but that's exceptionally rare.

Most of my source machines come from Craigslist; between the RTP providing tons of ex-corporate machines and the universities providing plenty of computer-illiterate, recently-graduated sellers there are quite a few deals to be had here. Even then I wouldn't recommend it unless you also enjoy tinkering with hardware. (I do, and I tend to use my refurb sales to allow me to change my laptops out regularly. It's definitely not a major profit source...)
Need help with Linux or FreeBSD? PM or catch me on IRC: I'm ThinkRob on FreeNode and EFnet.
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