How much should i sell my computer for?

June 8, 2006 11:22 AM

Sellingmycomputerfilter: Im selling my computer and im trying to come up with a fair asking price. Can you help? Here's the specs: Dell Poweredge 400sc P4 2.4ghz 768Mb RAM Two hard Drives - 40gb & 20gb 1901fp monitor *No OS Im thinking around $700, what do you think?
posted by flipmiester99 to computers & internet (22 comments total)

Forgot to add that its a Dell 1901fp monitor.
posted by flipmiester99 at 11:25 AM on June 8, 2006

Expensive -- you could get a new system for not that much more that beats the pants off that.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 11:27 AM on June 8, 2006

Your price seems very, very high. A fair price would be more like $300-400. The machine has very little memory, two tiny hard drives, and a slow CPU. The most valuable thing you have in the package is the display -- the computer isn't worth much at all.
posted by majick at 11:30 AM on June 8, 2006

No OS knocks the value down even more. Why not include the OS?
posted by LarryC at 11:32 AM on June 8, 2006

Why don't you search on eBay to see what similar systems have gone for. It does sound very high though. The resale value of PCs is not very good.

Also, if you're in the US, remember that you can donate a computer and a monitor to a charity and get a $250 write off for each on your taxes.
posted by k8t at 11:32 AM on June 8, 2006

I'm with k8t, I think the tax write-off is probably worth more than you'll get from it. It IS a server, for whatever that's worth, and the Dell website could give you a decent idea what a new low-level server would run someone. Looks like the poweredge line starts at $399. But unless you're selling to a business, most people will not care if it's a "server" at all.
posted by griffey at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2006

$700 is way too much. If someone were in the market for a lower-end Dell, they could get 2.53Ghz and a 160GB hard drive - with an OS and a warranty - for well under $600. I'd say try around $300.
posted by youarenothere at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2006

I read a review that claimed this machine was available new from Dell for $300 after $100 rebate as of late 2004.

It is actually a server but many people bought it for use as a desktop because it *is* a desktop, really, and it was the cheapest system Dell sold.

I would say that ~$200 would probably be your maximum for this computer not including the monitor.

BTW, this is basically identical to a Dell dimension 8300.

Preliminary ebay searching reveals that you can get a 400sc for anywhere from $100-$300 (the $300 auction I found is likely overpriced)and the 8300's start at around $100.
posted by utsutsu at 12:16 PM on June 8, 2006

Give it to a charitable organization to use for word processing and training. They'll give you a better valuation than anything you can find to buy, and you can take a tax deduction.
posted by KRS at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2006

BTW, regarding the OS. That computer probably came with an OEM version of windows, so technically, you can't transfer the license to another machine.

I agree that the price sounds pretty high, if you are talking US dollars.
posted by Good Brain at 12:41 PM on June 8, 2006

You can get a computer twice that good on Craigslist for the same price; sorry to burst yer bubble.

Computers are getting to be like diamonds and cars; huge depriciation as soon as ya walk off the lot.
posted by Cycloptichorn at 1:17 PM on June 8, 2006

Actually, IIRC Dell sold those without an OS. I would sell the monitor separately and donate the rest.
posted by exogenous at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2006

Sorry but there's no way that's worth $700. Right now you can get a Dell Dimension 5150 (dual core 2.8GHz pentium D, 1GB RAM, 80GB SATA hard drive, XP Home, 1 year warranty) with a E196FP 19" LCD for $549 with free shipping.

The sad fact is that they used computer market is just not that good, when you consider the price of new PCs. I'd say you'd be very lucky to get $200 for such a used system with no operating system and no support.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:30 PM on June 8, 2006

Just to chime in with another agreement that the price is way, way too high. Also, it appears your ' key is busted.

$150, probably.
posted by unixrat at 1:55 PM on June 8, 2006

Also, if you're in the US, remember that you can donate a computer and a monitor to a charity and get a $250 write off for each on your taxes.

Why $250? The tax write-off should be equivilent to the value of the goods. Of course, you'll only get that amount times your marginal tax rate. And, bigger of course, you can only take the actual value of the parts, which as others have pointed out, is well below $700.
posted by gregoryc at 2:09 PM on June 8, 2006

$150 for the computer, maybe, and whatever else you can get for the monitor, which might be $100, since new, fast 19" monitors sell for about $200.

Compusmart's ad this morning in Canadian markets listed a much faster machine with three times the HD space, WinXP and printer (but only 256MB RAM and no monitor) new for $300 Cdn.
posted by solid-one-love at 2:18 PM on June 8, 2006

I agree that the monitor has the most value, and the actual computer has little to no value. If it was a 1U or 2U rackmount machine, that *might* be something, but a plain minitower is just a plain minitower.

You might get more value out of it by stuffing in a large hard drive and using it as a fileserver for your photos, but that machine probably doesn't even have gigabit ethernet.
posted by b1tr0t at 2:19 PM on June 8, 2006

Way too high. US$200, including the monitor is the most I'd consider giving for it.

Trade it to a geek for tech support? Toss Linux on it for playing? KnoppMyth, and turn it into a PVR (would need bigger hard drive)?
posted by QIbHom at 2:57 PM on June 8, 2006

In Vermont $250 per item was standard.
posted by k8t at 5:31 PM on June 8, 2006

In Vermont $250 per item was standard.

That will be fine right up until the IRS audits you.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:08 PM on June 8, 2006

I bought a very similar refurbished system from a computer store for $349 CDN, but mine came with a windows 2000 licence.
posted by rinkjustice at 8:59 PM on June 8, 2006

You may be asking in the wrong place (too many computer savvy people). I'm sure someone like my mother would pay at least $500 for that without thinking it unreasonable, though only if it came with an OS. It's a reasonable price compared to store-bought. (Which is still quite a big market). I actually paid about $500 CND a few years ago for a much worse system - used/entirely rebuilt from a local computer shop, and I felt like I paid a good price. (It helps that they are an excellent shop who support their computers and have been very good to my family).

Not everyone knows where to buy computers online. In fact, selling online you will probably make less. I would try to sell to someone in your family -- offer free tech support with it or something. Basically, sell to people who will not scan the internet looking for the absolutely cheapest deal.

Also, someone like me would happily pay $500 for your system, even if I could get a better system for $600 -- because that $100 is worth a lot more than the extra speed or memory. Basically, a lot or people don't need a CPU faster than 1.5 Ghz, the rest is all decoration. The harddrive is not large, but it's not tiny either. And if you could deliver it to my house and set it up, maybe with some good software (copies on CD, even if it's just OpenOffice), that would be good.

But you really need to put on an OS, probably Windows, especially if you are not selling to a computer geek. It's useless without it. Win2000 doesn't need to be authenticated.

Or you could try to sell it to my brother, who has stolen my old computer (1.2 Ghz, 40GB hard drive, 256 MB ram) -- he says it's worth $2000 (his justification for taking it from my mum, who I had lent it to). It isn't, but that's just to show that there are people out there who have no sense of what computers are worth.
posted by jb at 1:47 AM on June 9, 2006