It seems that everyone has made eBay their first
stop for used equipment these days.
Does this frenzy of bidding mean that you can no longer get a
great deal on a preowned Mac?
In early 2001, I needed a PowerBook for Web access when
traveling. I really liked the PowerBook
1400 models, which had been out for more than a few of years,
but they were still quite pricey on the used market.
Fortunately for my meager bankroll, I didn't need anything that
fancy.
The 68040-based 500 series
PowerBooks could run Mac OS 8.1, Eudora for email, Fetch for
FTP uploads, and iCab for browsing. I could easily plug in a serial
cable and make AppleTalk data transfers to my home Mac. (At the
time, this was a PowerPC 601-accelerated Quadra 950.)
I knew I couldn't spring for a good working PowerBook, so I
started bidding on the "for parts" ones, knowing that I had the
time and skill to repair them. I ended up with two 520c PowerBooks and a 540c, all in broken or non-working condition,
purchased for US$17 to $50 each.
As it turned out, there was nothing seriously wrong with any of
them, and I was able to repair them all with just a few more
dollars worth of parts. When I upgraded to a 1400c/166 late in
2003, I sold all three of these 'Books on eBay at a surprising
profit.
A repaired $50 "parts" PowerBook 540c. It sold for US$125, after
nearly three years of use.
My 1400c started out as two eBay "parts" PowerBooks. I bought a
third "parts" 1400 later and fixed it for my wife to use. None of
these were purchased for more than US$85 with shipping.
The PowerBook 1400s were serviceable for a few years, even after
I moved to OS X on my desktop Macs. It was still fairly easy
to import Eudora messages into Mail, but there were other programs
that weren't compatible.
The old batteries had lost their capacity, and I couldn't see
spending the money to rebuild batteries for PowerBooks that really
weren't serving us that well anymore.
My eBay System Crashes
Recently, the inevitability of needing an OS X 'Book drove me
back to eBay. This time I was after bargain broken PowerBook "Pismo" G3s. I was in for an
eye-opener.
I was shocked to see beat up, non-working Pismos with important
parts missing going for well over US$100! I followed the auctions
for three wasted weeks. I had bid on only one broken Pismo, and it
went for more than twice what I thought was fair for the horrible
condition it was in.
Were these buyers crazy?
There really didn't appear to be much, if any, savings in
building a working Pismo from the parts of non-working ones. The
same appeared to be true for the G3 iBooks.
Buying from a Retailer Can Be an Attractive Option
I hadn't even considered buying a Mac from an alternate online
source until a timely link on Low End Mac grabbed my attention. It
lead to a short piece about
a quantity of used G3 iBooks being sold inexpensively by Other
World Computing.
I have purchased memory, drives, and other odds and ends from
OWC in the past. I went to the site, logged in, and purchased a
basic 12" 500 MHz G3 iBook with some extra memory installed for
just over US$202 including shipping. This was more than I wanted to
spend, but the iBook came with clean OS 9 and OS X 10.2.8
installations, a useful applications package, all parts intact and
working - plus a 60 day guarantee.
I couldn't come close to that price for a comparable working
iBook on eBay.
Not a Buyers's Market
I got curious about other used Mac prices on eBay. Has it truly
become a seller's marketplace? A quick look at some completed
auctions for iMacs and G4 iBooks seemed to bear this out.
Compared to the prices on the Low End
Mac's Best Deals pages, you can still save around $30 to $80 on
working used Macs that normally retail in the $300 to $700 range by
buying them on eBay. That doesn't include shipping, which is often
over-inflated, and rarely does it include a meaningful guarantee
("not DOA" isn't a guarantee). In addition, you may still have to
replace dead batteries or missing parts.
For the auctions that specifically describe a like-new working
Mac with all parts and applicable peripherals, the savings are
considerably less.
Your time is also worth something. Factor in the time spent
searching and watching auctions and placing bids. I know I don't
find these activities nearly as enjoyable as I used to, especially
when hours are spent that yield nothing.
When you have added in some or all of these factors, your
apparent eBay savings may be only an illusion.
Beyond eBay
Online retail prices for used Macs have gotten much better in
recent years. eBay prices have undoubtedly contributed to this.
Consider that when you choose to buy from a used Mac source such
as OWC, Small
Dog, or Operator
Headgap, just to name a few, the item has probably been put
through a testing program and any faulty or borderline parts have
been expertly replaced.
If a guarantee is provided, the retailer really doesn't want the
item to come back for free repairs, so it's likely to be in pretty
good condition when you get it.
Will the eBay Feeding Frenzy Ever Subside?
Barring mass buyer boycotts (maybe in an alternate universe),
the pendulum probably won't swing back any time soon. eBay's
successful TV ad campaigning in past few years may be one reason
for this trend, but the days of cheap low-end Macs on eBay appear
to be drawing to a close.
The good news is that you may actually be able to make some real
money from your old Mac collection. 
Further Reading: Alternatives
to eBay When Buying Low-end Macs
