Notebook 'Trade In' idea

Would it work?

Because technology advances so fast, a notebook that is top of the line one day is outdated in a few months. Not everyone can afford a new one, but trade in's are an idea. I was thinking that it may work with ASUS themselves, but because ASUS does not deal directly with consumers, perhaps the fine ASUS dealers or retailers may do a better job.

Lets say this, Person A buys an ASUS G1s today for $1900(2.2 C2D, 2gb, 8600GT, 160gb) and a year later, finds that that it doesn't move around too often around, just in the house as a media machine. The ASUS W2w(Assumed specs: 2.4 C2D Penryn, 4gb, 8700GT, Blu-Ray, 17" WUXGA, HDMI) catches his eye, it costs $2500. He can either do 2 things.

1. Sell G1s to someone(can be risky or may take time to sell, worry about shipping, etc.) and uses funds towards the W2w. Say it can sell for up to $1000, if he can find a buyer.
2. Trade in the G1s for a 'discount credit' on the W2w at an ASUS dealer/retailer, which is faster and more secure. However, its 'trade in value' is only $800. Here's the murky part, dealers may give further discounts or 'freebies'(Stuff that is bought indirectly ), so the buyer only has to pay, lets say $1600.

Of course, without gouging the dealers, depending on the dealer, they can 'recertify' the unit(clean it, maintenance it, etc.) and sell it for a bit more, like $900, while adding their own warranty to it(since ASUS warranty is near expiry), for a used notebook, but one that still works and does it well. In the end, everyone may be happy, Person A has a new laptop while saving money from trading in the notebook, Dealer gets a happy customer and possibly a small profit, and Person B buys an awesome, though older, notebook for a good price.

Again, will this work? Or anything similar? Is there too many unknown variables? I'm not too knowledged in how some businesses work, though I know the basics. Just something that popped into my head while waiting for the bus

 

Dell already sort of does that with Complete Care.

 

so basically the way used cars and dealerships work except retailers don't sell used laptops, the market for used laptop is not the same as it is for used cars

 

This idea sounds great for consumers since it's already hard enough to sell used Asus laptops as it is now. However, I don't believe resellers would bite.

 

That would be cool to see more things like that.
EVGA has something similar with thier step-up program already, so its at least somewhat feasable... sorta.
For those that don't know about the step-up program... EVGA gives you 90 days to send in your old card for credit on a new one. So lets say I buy a 7900gs for $150, then 75 days later the 8800gts comes out. I can send in my 7900gs for a $150 credit off of that 8800gts. (so far i believe evga does it with video cards and newer motherboards)
Its similar, but not the same to what cori was saying, just giving kind of an example of it already sorta being implimented.

 

I have to agree with the others, Great idea but I dont think to many retailers would bother for such a small profit.

 

It is essentially the same idea as with used cars, however the key thing is, with notebooks, to go from used to new in the same model, or even an updated model, is at absolute MAX, $1000 (the example Cori is using G1s-> W2W is extreme since the next G1 will also cost under 2k, and the W2 is much more expensive) however, with cars, the same percentage depreciation comes out to over 10k. For example, a new 2007 BMW 530i retails for 53k new (approx), whereas a used lease return, certified preowned (essentially the same reseller warranty thing with the notebooks) 2006 530i with the same equipment and 12k miles goes for 36k. This is a lesser percentage of depreciation than with the notebooks, but it amounts to 17,000. My dad used this same logic a few years back and saved 16,000 on a 325i by getting a lease return car with 8300 miles on it. Thats significant money, so buying a used car makes a lot of sense. But with notebooks, a few hundred, even a thousand, dollars isn't enough to overcome the stigma of getting a used product.

Its great for the guy who is trading it in, but its not worth it for the resellers since the demand for things like this are very low.

I must say though, that with discontinued models its a different story. The only used laptops I am considering are the W3J, V6-anything, Acer Ferrari 4000, and Sony S460. Note that all of those are old, discontinued models, so this kind of thing may make sense for those older notebooks that everyone loves (V6 and W3 mainly).

 

Hey Asus Taiwan, are you listening?

 

Asus does not need your used notebooks. they have absolutely no use for them. you get more money selling it on ebay then trading it in,
Most dealer would not need them as they dont provide warranty
we do provide warranty but we will not pay more then ebay. Also we stock and buy parts not the whole notebook. it is a good idea but i doubt dealers will oblige. you guys have too hi expectations. 1000$ for a 2000$ 1yr used notebook? that is too much!

 

Thats how much they sell for on the used market right now....Cori is saying that you will give $800, then do some cleaning and stuff, and sell it with a 1 year dealer warranty for $1000 or so.

 

Or less, the amount is just a rough idea. I know how fast technology depreciates, so $1000 or so may be pushing it.

 

Unfortunately so. One year old laptops are going to pretty much be the "best" of the pre-owned laptops. With ones older than that not really looked for at all. Which kinda sucks, with cars you can get a pre-owned one and it will actually go up in worth... like what happened with my Mazda RX-7
I think its still a coolish idea, just can't be with things that get older. More or less like EVGA's 90 Step-Up thing.

 

A $1500 one year (dell at that) laptop sold for 1100...

 

i get the idea and sure it may work but do any of you guys who no doubt have an ebay account with ratings want to loose 20% or more to a dealer? i doubt it. I am not a penny pincher but if such a thing exiusted i rather sell it my self anyhow if i had a good eaby account which i do

 

The thing about trading in a notebook would be, like you said, the technology gets outdated so quickly that a traded in notebook becomes unsellable after 2 years, max, with any profit margin at all. If you then imagine the number of people who would want to trade-in compared to the number who are even thinking of buying used, the dealer would be devoting almost all of their efforts into getting rid of the older computers before they became unprofitable, which would then impact their new notebook sales, and so on. It isn't so similar to the car analogy simply because you may buy a new BMW or a 10 or 20 year old one, and never have to worry about it being compatible with the newest roads and stop signs. Basically, the profit margin on a used car decreases much much slower with time than a laptop's does (percentage wise). Long story short, almost all laptops become practically obsolete within 5 years of their production (this meaning, some retain value and usefulness for a while as a collector's item or for people who need only the most basic computing functions), cars (since about 1940) only become obsolete when they absolutely suck (AMC anything).
I would like the idea as a trade-in customer, but if I were a dealer I would have no part of it... =/
Never say never though!

 

To much work, to little profit. Why would reseller sell you a used laptop if they can "force" you to buy a new one?

It would be a good thing to have tho - but selling your stuff on ebay or to a friend/family is probably the best bet you got today.

You could make a very very low offer for the used laptop and sell it to a developing country where people have low budgets or offer laptops in "packs" for schools etc.

 

In Germany notebook.de is already doing something like this. You can sell them your used notebooks (even broken ones) and they fix them up and resell them. When I bought my macbook pro they offered to buy my old notebook as a trade in but it was still running good so I gave it to my mom. The price they pay are ok. Little less then you would get on ebay but less trouble too.

notebook.de then fix up the notebook and resell them with 12 month warranty. Some of them are also available for rent. Like if you only need a notebook for a week or a few months to write an important paper or something they give you pretty good deals. You get an older notebook for about 75€ per month. There are a few places doing this in Germany and notebook.de is just an example I know.

 

actually there is more money in used laptops and used cars then new laptops and new cars. alot more profit. youre talking about an average 500-1000$ profit split by dealer, seller and financier in the new car industry (depending on a car, to 3% profit on a new laptop. When we had restocking fees of 10% we used to make 3 times more on a returned laptop then we did on a sale. Usually dealers make about 50-100% on a used laptop/computer under 300$. I have been in that game for a bit but it consumes all your time if you specialize in used sales. To make ends meet you have to buy used laptops by the container full. For that you need a huge warehouse and the garbage it creates is by the ton.

 

If you proposed that to companies, they would dismiss it as total nonsense. The industry is mostly driven by *NEW* sales, not by used ones. Unless you're getting a constant supply, constant demand and you're getting them for rock-bottom prices, you probably won't be turning a profit fast enough to stay in business. I'm guessing that LCD panel replacement guy in TX is just getting by, though it's a great idea.

If you ask most consumers, in the words of one of our customers after getting a refurb as a service replacement to a monitor they had for a year, "You're not giving me a refurb. I don't want someone else's problem." Even though it was a certified service replacement direct from the manufacturer that we got directly from the RMA process of the customer's unit, the customer would hear nothing of it. If you look at some places, they sell factory-refurbished units with a 90 day warranty.

The trouble is the mentality -- if it's not new or not at a good price, they don't want it.

Then there's the fact that keeping the units takes up space. Storage costs money, and parts that might not even be used for two or three years eating up functional space is a definite no-no in any business unless you're a warehouse or a service center/depot.

And if they aren't functional, you have to salvage and mix/match the parts to get something usable. If you're the entrepreneur and you do it yourself, it's your time and money. If you pay someone else to do it and pay them more than minimum wage, unless business is booming or you do this on the side, as a reseller you're going to be in financial difficulty real quick...

As far as a 10% restocking fee, I think people won't bother buying from you. With big box stores taking them back in < 30 days, and the everso large pile of returned "pre-tested" laptops at BestBuy, it's a glaring indication of this fact.

If they REALLY wanted these units to keep their value and if they were REALLY environmentally responsible, companies would've made these units much more upgradable from the start. It's all about pennies that they try to save in production. These units have so little upgrade value it's ridiculous. I'm guessing this is one of the things that ASUS has come to realize, despite the fact that most other companies aren't even doing this.

The only idea that flies is if a company were to take them back and RENT/LEASE them to companies which didn't have particularly extravagent requirements. I can name a few instances where it would've been useful as an organization to have a few cheap rental laptops as data-entry terminals.

 

Exactly. If an Mercedez SLR will get you from A to B in X amount of time, but a 1974 Chevy will get you from Point A to Point B in X amount of time.

This is not true for laptops or computers (or any electronic equipment)

 

man.. if they buy it back from you.. it's gonna be DARN CHEAP ... just like car dealers.

I'd rather spend some time or some friends who need a notebook and sell back to them.

 

it's a good idea, but you won't be able to get much back for your notebook.

 

I feel the best thing you can do with an older laptop/desktop or any electronics you feel are outdated is give them to charity. It's a win-win situation, because the good always comes back around.
Find an organization that will make sure these kind of donations go to the people that will benefit the most. That's what I do,, just a thought.