How to Trade in Your MacBook — The Ultimate Guide

Is your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro starting to show signs of age? Time for an upgrade? Whether it’s a newer butterfly-keyboard-wielding MacBook Pro that you’re tired of or a dying plastic MacBook of yesteryear, we’ll show you all the options for trading in your trusty laptop right here. You can sell it on an online marketplace like eBay or Swappa, send it off to a recycling site, or trade it in with our trusted partner to get quick cash for your old gear in just a couple clicks. Follow along for a look at these options and more…

Prepare your MacBook for Trade In

The first couple things you need to do before looking into the various trade in options for your MacBook is back it up and factory reset it. Macs don’t have built in iCloud backups, so you’re going to have to figure out an alternative. The easiest and cheapest option is to create a Time Machine backup which can then be restored when setting up your new computer. There are plenty of other options, too.

Finally, you need to work your way through the factory reset process, and you can check out Michael’s article on How to factory reset your MacBook Pro before selling or giving it away to do so.

Trade in your iPhone at Decluttr – 9to5Mac’s official trade-in Partner

Our favorite partner is Decluttr — the company behind our trade-in portal. In many if not all cases, Decluttr has the best balance of generous trade in values, seamless experience, and customer service you’ll find on the web.

The experience using our trade-in site is probably familiar to you. Simply head to the site, choose the device, and get your quote. From there, Decluttr will ship you a box with a pre-paid shipping label and some instructions, and you can just pop your device in the mail. From there, assuming everything checks out, you should receive your money shortly after they receive your device.

Decluttr is a great destination for trading in your iPhone, and they tend to offer some of the best trade in values on the market. Decluttr has great reviews on Trustpilot, and we’ve work with them as a partner in the past — so they’re definitely one of the sites we would use ourselves.

Other Great MacBook Trade in Sites

Trade in your MacBook, Air, or Pro at Apple Trade In

As you’re likely already aware, one compelling option for offloading your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro is to simply send it to Apple directly through their Trade In program. With Apple Trade In, you’ll get credit in the form of an Apple Store gift card to put toward any future Apple purchase — iPad, iPhone, whatever you want. You can get started on Apple’s website by choosing MacBook and entering your serial number (head to  → About This Mac).

Apple Trade In isn’t the most generous trade-in option when it comes to trading in your MacBook Pro, but it is very easy and dealing with Apple comes with a peace of mind you won’t find elsewhere — you can be absolutely sure that the price you’re quoted for your old MacBook (which, honestly, won’t be much) is going to be yours — unless you send in something other what you said you would.

Trade In also isn’t limited to just taking old MacBooks. Apple will take your iPhone or smartphone from a variety of OEMs, MacBook, iPad, and even iMac. They’ll also recycle anything that they won’t buy. Head over to Apple Trade In to get started.

Trade in your MacBook at MyPhones Unlimited

MyPhones Unlimited is our MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro trade in spot of choice — as mentioned, we’ve partnered with them for our own 9to5Mac trade-in portal. At MyPhones Unlimited, you’ll find an excellent combination of trade in values, seamless experience, and customer service.

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Trading in your MacBook using our trade-in site is about as simple as it gets. Just choose the correct MacBook model, and MyPhones will present you with a quote. Like what you see? Click through and MyPhones will send you a box and pre-paid shipping label to send in your MacBook. You’ll then get a check in the mail for the total value of your trade assuming everything checks out.

Trade in your MacBook at Decluttr

Decluttr is a great destination for trading in your iPhone, and they tend to offer some of the best trade in values on the market. Decluttr has great reviews on Trustpilot, and we’ve work with them as a partner in the past — so they’re definitely one of the sites we would use ourselves.

Trade in your MacBook at Gazelle

MacBook, Air, or Pro owners also have the option of trading in their old laptop through Gazelle. In my experience, their trade in values are a bit lower than the rest of the options on this page, but they’re a popular and reliable destination nonetheless. The process of trading in your MacBook with Gazelle works about the same as the rest of the other device trade-in sites.

Trade in your MacBook at Best Buy

You can also trade in your MacBook, Air, or Pro at select electronics retailers around the world. In the US, the most popular destination is Best Buy, which takes iPhones, iPads, gaming hardware, MacBook Pro, streaming media, and more.

Even more sites: Trademore, Igotoffer, Itsworthmore, BuyBackWorld

Gazelle, MyPhones, and Apple Trade In aren’t the only destinations for trading in your MacBook. Some sites, if you’re willing to give them a chance, might even offer more. Be aware, though, that depending on the site you might run into issues not actually get those extra dollars. Some sites have rough Trustpilot ratings with reported issues with receiving payments for devices, for example.

That said, these sites aren’t all bad — many of them have enough positive reviews and reputation that it’s pretty unlikely you’ll get straight up scammed. Check out Trademore, Igotoffer, Itsworthmore, and BuyBackWorld if you want to dig around to find an alternative destination to trade in your MacBook Pro.

Best Online Marketplaces to trade in/sell your MacBook

Swappa

When it comes to selling your MacBook, Air, or Pro yourself, Swappa is one of the best sites on the web with a quickly growing community. The things that make Swappa stand out from the crowd is that it’s a marketplace dedicated to selling consumer electronics like the MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad, Android phones, and more. they also have pretty low flat fees and they’re transparent throughout the process.

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If you’re serious about getting the max value out of your MacBook while also resting on the comforts of a proven and well-moderated community of buyers, Swappa is the place to be. All transactions go through PayPal and come with the protections that provides, and the Swappa team has done a great job of making sure first-time sellers feel confident and secure fishing for a good buyer for their lightly-used goods.

eBay

eBay is undoubtedly the most popular place to sell used anything on the web, and it should come as no surprise that a fair volume of MacBooks are swapped there indeed. It might not be the easiest or most secure of destinations to sell your MacBook Pro, but it does have the largest pool of potential buyers. And unlike Swappa, you can hold auctions to potentially juice that MacBook, Air, or Pro for every dime it’s worth.

It goes without saying that eBay is a pretty good place to get a fair price for your device, but it also comes with a few downsides. It’s going to take way more work to list, watch, and monitor an eBay listing than it will to just send in your device through a trade-in site, and you’re also putting yourself at slightly higher risk of ending up with an undesirable buyer. eBay’s fees are also higher than many other sites. Check out eBay.

More trade in guides on 9to5Mac:

Latest trade in deals below…

Special deals and trade-in coupon codes for 9to5Mac readers

For a limited time, get 10% extra through Decluttr (max $30) w/ code 9TO5MAC (valid til 12/31/21)

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