Thinkpads Forum

Regarding selling on thinkpads.com...

Pro
No fees
People appreciate ThinkPads
Lots of support
Lots of honest people

Cons
Lots of tire kickers
You have to answer many questions
People waffle quite a bit
You don't know how long it will take to sell (vs. eBay, when the auction is over, usually, the item is gone!)

I prefer here

P.S. Nice machine, nice price, it will sell...

underclocker wrote:Regarding selling on thinkpads.com...

Pro
No fees
People appreciate ThinkPads
Lots of support
Lots of honest people

Cons
Lots of tire kickers
You have to answer many questions
People waffle quite a bit
You don't know how long it will take to sell (vs. eBay, when the auction is over, usually, the item is gone!)

I prefer here

P.S. Nice machine, nice price, it will sell...

Sure, but the machine has been listed here for FIVE WEEKS. During this time the marketability and going price for any T4x laptop has fallen. During the 2 days I had my T42 listed here, I received a lot of PMs and (excuse me but the term is correct) WASTED a lot of my time answering them. During the 3 days that my T42 was on ebay I had 2 "best offers" that I considered (I set the ebay filters to automatically reject really lowball offers and bids from people with poor feedback records). The amount of time I spent on the ebay sale other than half an hour to list it was maybe 5 minutes.

It all comes down to how much you value your time. My listing and sale fees ended up being $30; Paypal dinged me for around 3% in addition but the odds are that had I sold it here, the payment would have been via Paypal so that fee would have been the same.

When I listed my laptop here I looked at recent completed ebay auctions and taking all factors into consideration tried to price the machine on TP.com for 10% or so less than I thought I'd sell for on ebay. My estimate was pretty close to being spot on, however the "extra" money on the sale at ebay mostly accrued to ebay in the form of fees.

I did get a serious offer from a TP.com regular after the machine was listed on ebay and at the same time as I received the initial offer from the person who ended up buying the T42 off ebay, so quite possibly I could have sold it here.

Granted, we are all enthusiastic about Thinkpads or we wouldn't hang out here. Nonetheless, when we sell a laptop it is probably being replaced by another and we'd rather spend our precious time buffing up the new machine than on endless PM and email exchanges about the one we are trying to unload

My favorite way to sell laptops is Craigslist. Answering people's questions can take a lot of time, but usually not more than the time required to mail laptops. Everyone pays cash, so I never need to pay any PayPal fees. But the biggest advantage is the buyers can inspect the laptop before purchasing. Because of this advantage, many people are willing to pay slightly more than the going prices on eBay.

I've spent a couple thousand here buying stuff. What really gets to me is the people who post unsolicted opinions, diatribes, price comparisons with the biggest sellers on the internet, thread craps, anyalysis of unsolcited opinions, etc. Just let people post their gear and let it run on it's own merit.

Kyocera wrote:I've spent a couple thousand here buying stuff. What really gets to me is the people who post unsolicted opinions, diatribes, price comparisons with the biggest sellers on the internet, thread craps, anyalysis of unsolcited opinions, etc. Just let people post their gear and let it run on it's own merit.

Huh. Like a diatribe about diatribes in a for sale posting? Like maybe this very thread?

Unimaginable.

Yes, exactly, hint hint

Kyocera wrote:I've spent a couple thousand here buying stuff. What really gets to me is the people who post unsolicted opinions, diatribes, price comparisons with the biggest sellers on the internet, thread craps, anyalysis of unsolcited opinions, etc. Just let people post their gear and let it run on it's own merit.

An item that has been listed for FIVE WEEKS is going to sink down to page 8 if people stop posting their opinions, diatribes, and whatever.

If this were MY sales posting, I'd be eating up all these comments, because they are the only thing (other than "bump bump bump") that gives this seller any hope of selling his laptop.

If the sales postings here are going to be as dry as it appears you would like, a lot less people would even bother going into this forum, because unless one is actively seeking to buy something, reading classified ads is about as interesting as those disclaimer pamphlets that IBM/Lenovo put in the box with everything they sell.

Kyocera wrote:I've spent a couple thousand here buying stuff. What really gets to me is the people who post unsolicted opinions,

Including opinions like "This is a fantastic deal!"?

KenFox wrote:Kyocera wrote:
I've spent a couple thousand here buying stuff. What really gets to me is the people who post unsolicted opinions, diatribes, price comparisons with the biggest sellers on the internet, thread craps, anyalysis of unsolcited opinions, etc. Just let people post their gear and let it run on it's own merit.


An item that has been listed for FIVE WEEKS is going to sink down to page 8 if people stop posting their opinions, diatribes, and whatever.

If this were MY sales posting, I'd be eating up all these comments, because they are the only thing (other than "bump bump bump") that gives this seller any hope of selling his laptop.

If the sales postings here are going to be as dry as it appears you would like, a lot less people would even bother going into this forum, because unless one is actively seeking to buy something, reading classified ads is about as interesting as those disclaimer pamphlets that IBM/Lenovo put in the box with everything they sell.
_________________
Ken Fox


Current: X32 1.8ghz 2.0gb RAM, 7K100 100gb drive
T43 2.0ghz 14" SXGA+, 2gb RAM, 7K100 100gb drive
X60 1.83ghz Core Duo; 7K100 100gb, 2gb RAM
Z61t 2.0ghz Core Duo; 7K100 100gb, 2gb RAM

OK Ken Fox it's obvious you are going to slam me at every available opportunity. So have at it. Or move past it. But don't waste to much time with it.

last bumps b4 i keep it

Kyocera wrote:
OK Ken Fox it's obvious you are going to slam me at every available opportunity. So have at it. Or move past it. But don't waste to much time with it.

It's not slamming to point out that this thread has remained near the top of the sales forum for a long period of time, something that would not have happened were it not receiving posts, regardless of their content. On ebay you have to pay a lot to have your listing appear near the top of page 1!

Temetka:

Just an FYI, you should be a little wary of that MACK warranty. I have never heard good things about it. From what I hear, at best, it takes them weeks to get things fixed. Just a little heads up.

CJ

Temetka wrote:Well based on the lack of paypal, it looks like I am going to have to pass. I have enough in my account to cover the purchase of a laptop and yours was extremely tempting. However for slightly more I can get a T41p with all the trimmings plus everything it originally shipped with, 6-month IBM warranty and 3 year Mack warranty.

I do appreciate everything that has been done on my behalf in oder to see if we could make a deal. I have been hemming and hawing all day about which machine to buy. I truly do wish you the best in selling this machine. It is an excellent laptop and will serve it's new owner very well.

That being said, might I suggest that you fire up R&R and make a set of restore discs? That would be very helpful to a new buyer and might increase the value of your laptop a little bit.

Again, thank you for the wonderful opportunity to consider your laptop. I sincerely hope you don't take anything about this personally. I just need to buy the best machine for my buck, and you got beaten. I wish you and yours all the best. Oh and one more thing:

Have a Happy New Year!

Should bought this one. I am still going back and forth with the seller about the hard drive issue. I was supposed to get a 60gb 7200rpm drive. I received a 40gb 5400 rpm drive.

Re: mack warranty

uh, yeah. I gathered all that after a bit of research.

Temetka wrote:Should bought this one. I am still going back and forth with the seller about the hard drive issue. I was supposed to get a 60gb 7200rpm drive. I received a 40gb 5400 rpm drive.

Re: mack warranty

uh, yeah. I gathered all that after a bit of research.

it was not as advertised. Send it back and demand that they refund your initial shipping as well as return shipping. If need be, threaten to file a complaint with ebay, and by all means leave negative feedback when this is over with.

As an alternative, get a refund sufficient to pay for a 7K100 100gb PATA drive from Newegg (currently ~$130 delivered). Ghost the original drive and replace it with the new one. Then you would be better off than if they had sent you the right machine in the first place.

Oh trust me, the seller is going to fix the situation.

price + pics updated

Sold to a lucky guy from the forums