whats the best way to get cash for an old pc base unit?

Question

student needs cash + is selling old but working (slow) amd pc base unit.don't really want to use ebay if poss

Answer 1

as long as its in working order..a base unit like yours will be ideal for a 1st time user wanting to experience the internet for the 1st time
a basic p.c for internet usage should have at least 128mb ram and a 10gb hard drive,but i presume yours meet that specs
one tip is to clean the outaide of the case with warm soapy water,making sure you wring out any cloth you use,this will bring up your case like new,and then clean your optical drives(cd-roms) with a cd lens cleaner,this will bring some new life into the drives
next step is a re-instalation of your windows xp.you can use a copy of xp if you can get ho;d of one or your own copy if avalible,the base unit may even have a recovery cd that came with it when you bought it,use this if possible as this will set up the p.c to its factory defualts,so the new owner will see a new p.c in theory
also make sure all the drivers for the hardware are installed as a new user will find these tasks impossible to do and by doing all these yourself adds to the asking price
if you can mange to buy some 2nd hand ram for the base unit,add it as this will make the p.c run smoother and will impress any buyer
as for advertising,there are a few simple rules,do not use o.n.o(or nearest offer) as this will give the buyer a chance to knock 10 or 20 pounds off the asking price
as you havent listed the specs i cant give you a estimated selling price but i sell pentium 3 p.cs with monitor and mouse/keyboard and i sell them for £100 btu thats for a pentium 3
look up the price of your processor new and half the price,and so on for the rest of the components,and that will give you a rough guide,but dont be too greedy as you can buy new p.cs with tft monitors for less than £400,but you should get a decent price,its all down to the quality of your p.c
advertise in your local paper if you can and say that you can deliver if possible,as all these help sell a p.c
again first impressions count,so make sure the p.c is clean as this can make you a few quid just by doing a few minutes cleaning,
why not advertise in the campus grounds at your college or university as i am sure there will be a new student who needs a p.c(and with a fresh student loan)
good luck and i hope you manage to sell the p.c

Answer 2

Retail - I would go for DELL. The build quality exceeds most other makes and they're quite inexpensive. The components are standardised across most of the range. Just don't get the very cheapest model. If I were you I would re-build a PC from second-hand spares or repair/reformat your existing one. The reason is that PC hardware hasn't really moved on that much in the past 5 years. Processor clock speeds have almost hit the wall at 3-4GHz, hard disk speeds haven't increased at all, and most machines still have a low ceiling on the amount of RAM (4GB). If the new machine you're thinking of buying doesn't overcome these limits, then you might as well wait for the new generation. I'd strongly recommend finding a friend who will look at your PC for you and sort it out. It could save you a couple of hundred pounds.

Answer 3

The question is how old? How much would you pay for it? If it is out of date then probably no one. Don't know how big your school is. Maybe post it around where the foreign students live because they are not that picky and will use it. If you use eBay you run the risk of paying listing fees for something that you hope sell but are not sure that it will. I sell new computers on eBay quite a bit and not all of them sell. But I still have to pay that listing fee whether it sells or not. Yahoo Auctions allows you to list items for no fee at all. Try your school newspaper.

Answer 4

You must have a student friend in need? You always require access to a PC?

Answer 5

Fill the hard-drive full of hardcore porn....

You may think that's sick but I bet it will make a damn site more on eBay!!!

Answer 6

List it for free on your local section of www.craigslist.com