Want to share your experience selling old hardware with us? Then post a comment below. I’ll comment on all responses. 1. First, quickly check whether it is at all sellable. The first thing you should do is to see if your old hardware has any value at all so that you don’t waste valuable time selling old hardware. The old hardware buyers in the country are really not crazy and really won’t bid on old and dated equipment. We all know the urban legends about how much gold and precious metals are in old computers, but if you have a pile of old computer junk, no one will give you anything. So better check first if you have something that has sale value. On our website we have a handy little overview. Look at: https://it-recycling.nl/hardware-opkopen/. If your old hardware is listed as “NOT for sale” then you are wasting your time. Not sure if your batch of old hardware is still worth anything? If you call IT Recycling you will get an immediate answer. 2. If it is a single piece of equipment, you can put it on Marketplace Do you have a laptop, are you an individual or are we talking about a single printer? Do you have the time to go to all that trouble for a few pennies? No. Then it might still be better to give it away with the other computer garbage and spend no time on it. A lot of work for little money. Still, my best advice for a single piece of equipment and/or if you are private: put it up for sale on Marktplaats. My experience with Marktplaats is actually very good IF you don’t ask for too much because then nothing really happens. If you can’t get it sold on Marktplaats, then it really is unsellable or the price was too high.
3.
NOOIT aan eigen personeel verkopen Well very nice to help your colleagues of course, but I know from experience that there are few colleagues who are shy about the discards of their work. Developments are rapid, and professional equipment from companies is often not very sought after in the home. Furthermore, you must warranty it, as this is required by law. Of course, the data must be disposed of properly. All in all, selling to in-house staff is far too labor intensive. Don’t do it, I would say. What does work fine is selling the equipment to a professional buyer. With the proceeds, you then either pad the staff barbecue pot or give it to charity. 4. Consider proper data destruction Of course, there is still confidential data on those old computers. Now any experienced IT person can really wipe a hard drive but we must realize that data destruction has now become a profession in its own right. If your own IT department does it then they spend a lot of time doing it. And then it remains to be seen whether it is done properly and safely. For between 5 and 8 euros per computer you can have your data professionally destroyed. The best buyers often offer the service to destroy the data on location with a shredder. On-site data destruction by means of a software wipe I would not recommend. This is a huge hassle and just as (un)secure as an on-site software wipe from the buyer. Not sure what to choose: on-site data destruction or still prefer to have it taken away to be destroyed later? I wrote a blog about this question: https://it-recycling.nl/blog/wanneer-data-vernietigen-op-locatie-en-wanneer-op-locatie/5. Make an overview – take pictures
I regularly get customers on the phone who don’t know more about their old computers than the brand and that they are black. Of course, I can’t tell then how much they are still worth. My advice: make a survey first. The buyer will want to know at least the following in order to give you a price: Make – Model – estimated quantity. Exact specifications are really not necessary but it is helpful if you know what processor is inside. Taking a picture with the phone is a good idea. Through our website it-recycling.co.uk you can send the pictures directly via WhatsApp! 6. Never cash – no all-in-one deals – no need to invite people The time when we went past the door with a bundle of cash is decades ago. Buying up IT equipment is serious business. We have to deal with legal frameworks and the responsibility to destroy data. In my opinion, if a buyer comes to your door and wants to pay cash it is time to question the reliability of this buyer. You are better off doing business with a good company that determines the value afterwards based on a survey. Then you will almost always get more for it.
7. Don’t fall for it: they pick the cherry and leave you with the mess! Of course, it is very annoying if the buyer comes to take only the valuable hardware only to leave you with the junk. Then you still have a problem. It is more convenient to demand that they take everything away immediately. If a buyer does not want this, you may wonder how professional the buyer is. We at IT Recycling clean up all computer waste with every buyout deal. 8. Don’t go lugging hardware yourself Everyone’s trade – the professional buyer knows how to dispose of your company’s old hardware. If you make a deal with a buyer, demand that they come and pick up all the stuff themselves and also pack it on site and stack it on pallets or carts.
9. Demand a decent quotation Don’t do business without a quotation.
The quote should state exactly what was agreed upon.
What about data destruction and who is responsible for what.
It should also state what happens if equipment doesn’t work or deviates from what was agreed.
Clear agreements – good friends.
It also happens that one sends a quotation of 35 or more pages.
On the first page you see a very nice price, but as you read on, it suddenly appears that there are extra charges for all sorts of things, too good to be true.
Good reading is the motto. 10. The last tip is the best tip: only do business with WEEELABEX certified companies. The best buyers in the country have WEEELABEX certification.
This is a LEGALLY required certification that companies must have in order to buy up old hardware or destroy data.
However, there is widespread abuse of this, as many buyers do not have WEEELABEX certification.
WEEELABEX sets high standards for environmental protection – transparency – quality – data destruction and fair trade.
If a company is WEEELABEX certified, it is listed on their website, but you can also check the overview below:
http://www.weeelabex.org/conformity-verification/operators/#weeelabex_operator_list