Good Refurbs

[Anniemoose98]

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!

[ajkula66]

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.

[ThinkRob]

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...)