Has the demand for Envy 14 w/Radiance died off?

After the month of frenzy over the "January madness" of Envys w/Radiance for the lucky few, cancellations for everyone else, scrambling to purchase someone's good fortune w/o getting too gouged etc, it seems like the issue is dead and all people are focused on is the hoped-for refresh.

I did get one of those Jaunary Radiance deals, but it came defective, so I ended up with a pristine refurb from the HP outlet, Core i5-520, brand new 256 GB SSD. Now money troubles, plus HP's bizarre but generous replacement of my DOA Envy w/Radiance in January with an 8540w with Dream Color 2 and other great specs (ETA 3/22) , lead me to need to sell the Envy or the 8540w.

I'd thought the Envy w/Radiance would be a slam dunk to sell, but now not so sure. Seems like there is no further interest in obtaining a cherry Envy 14, Radiance, SSD for which people were salivating just a few weeks ago.

So, should I keep my Envy and sell the 8540w, or do you think I could get around $1,350 for the Envy with the new 256 GB SSD, $200 or so less with a new 640 GB HDD?

I truly adore this machine; just have more superb notebooks than I can afford to keep right now, and want to sell the most easily sold ones. I will not suffer, lol, left with whatever I dont sell. Also, every thing I own is so freakin fast that for my needs, SB would be overkill, so I'll probably go back in the mkt with the next cpu upgrade, early 2013.

Any advice appreciated. Send me a customer (for any of my rigs) and ye shall be rewarded, PM for details

 

I don't know about the 8540w but as far as envy w/ radiance is concerned, I agree that people (like me) are waiting for SB refresh but I don't think HP will include radiance display ( HP Envy 14 Radiance displays sold out... forever -- Engadget ) so after their new announcement (hopefully monday!) you might be better off selling w/radiance. (Again, i have no clue about 8540w!)

Although, ultimately its upto you, keep the one you are more comfortable with.

 

One problem is you are selling a refurb, not a brand new slightly used one. 90 day warranty and the fact that its a refurb wouldn't inspire me to pay top dollar for it.

 

well since the radiance screens don't have a warranty anyway and it's a brand new SSD (as in didn't come with the refurb) it's not exactly far from a slightly used envy. It's actually a pretty darn good deal.

Plus, if you are buying a used envy w/ radiance chances are it was from around last august (when there were only 1 year warranties) which means basically buying a used one gives you an extra 90 days vs the refurb but at a higher price. Can't you buy an extended warranty for a refurb as well?

 

Either I could buy a 1 yr hp wtty for $99 or the buyer could. That would settle that, I would hope. The refurb I got has almost no use on it - been booted up 190 times total. Looks brand new. SSD IS brand new. I would not be asking a fortune, Just something like $1.100 for the Envy w/Radiance, 8GB, Core i5-520 and a new 640 GB HDD, maybe $250 more with the brand new Samsung SSD. They sold for $1,350-$1,600 w/o an SSD on eBay a few weeks ago.

I do like the idea someone had to put it on the market when the E 14 refreshes are announced and there is no Radiance or similar display. Though, I would be a bit shocked if they were so dumb not to offer something more than BV, I don't care how much they charged for the option.

Yes, as stated above, I can (sounds like I should) buy a 1 yr wtty from HP. The brand new SSD has a 1 yr wtty, with HP performing the svce (or Samsung, if you wanted to send it in to them.)

 

well just last week, I sold my Envy 14 with radiance, i5 580m, 8GB RAM, 500gb hard drive, and a slice battery for $1600 on eBay. So I'd say theres's still a demand..I had over 60 watchers after the first day. I had bought it brand new btw..and a lot of people had messaged me asking if it was a refurb or not, so I guess that could make a difference

 

Thank you. eBay here I come (unless someone wants to get in now, before they start bidding )
From your experience, do you think having a new 256 GB SSD and a 1 yr wtty would put my machine, a refurb but not a scratch on it, in the running, or if you were me, would you not bother spending the $100 on a wtty and swap the SSD out for an HDD, or would I come out ahead selling it with the HP refurb wtty and a substituted 500GB HDD like yours, saving the $100 on the wtty and selling the SSD separately for about $300?

 

Damn. Mine was bought in July 2010. Has a dent and a few scratches. 8gb, 120gb X-25M SSD, i5-520M, 3-year Square Trade Warranty.. Wonder how much it'd sell for.

 

I wouldn't bother. If someone wants to spend the extra $100 they will but i'd leave the price cheaper and the option out there. That is a mean setup for the price. I wish i was in a position to ba able to buy it right now.

Oh and just a little advice, be sure to make sure it hasn't sold on ebay before you promise it to someone here for 2 days and have them put a down payment on it on to say sorry it sold on ebay but you told the ebay guy it was broken to cancel the transaction and then never update the person you promised it to because the ebay guy offered more money, like someone i know on here that starts with a W.

 

I would just list it as it is, but then say in the listing "upgrade to SSD for $300 more" something like that. Same with the warranty. Make you sure you state that it's in perfect condition because I think that could make a huge difference. Anyways if you list it as an auction, you can always cancel the listing if it's over 24 hours so if you see that the bids didn't go over our expectations, you can just cancel it right there. But you also have to remember that most people bid within the last hour..so I would just keep track of how many watchers you have. Lastly, I would start the auction at $0.99 with no reserve, u get wayyyy more watchers that way, and way more bids which is better because if you bid on an item, eBay will keep messaging you about it if you get outbid.

Well if you're looking to sell, I would do it now before they release a new Envy 14..does it have radiance?

lol it wasn't about the money, with the $70 eBay fees I would've got the same amount you offered..and I explained the situation and refunded your down payment only hours aftr you paid..the thing was that the guy got real upset and I didn't wanna risk a negative feedback because I had used my friends eBay account to sell it since he had wayyy more feedback than me so I figured that could boost the sale...he wouldn't have been too happy if I cost him his first negative feedback. Also I'm pretty sure I PMed you about this.

 

What goes around comes around in the end. I deleted my response to waleed as this is highjacking lovelaptops thread (a guy i highly respect). Sorry bud.

I would definitely get that awesome laptop on ebay ASAP and get yourself some money. I put my other envy on there as well. Don't forget to include the ebay fees in the price if you start with a set amount. And consider whether you want to ship out of the country or not. Things i din't consider when listing mine the first time.

 

Why dont you just try and see what you can get? Dont use Ebay and use forums and craigslist such as Anandtech, HardOCP, and here?

 

Not knocking your advice but my envy has sat on this forum (marketplace) for a while with only 2 people asking about it. I put it on ebay for 3 days and it sold. Unfortunately i had to cancel the transaction because paypal screwed up big time but they fixed it asap and i relisted.

 

I can see how Anandtech and other forums might net a few potential buyers, but I'd still say go with eBay. You're looking at a much larger pool of potential bidders which still includes people who surf those other tech forums. And yes, eBay and Paypal fees suck balls. Can't do much about it for now as the alternatives out there aren't well-established.

 

Ebay no doubt about it 99cents no reserve will get you the most watchers.

Watchers get emailed when it's nearing end of auction (i forget time), and bidders get spammed if they get outbid even by 10 cents.

 

Ive sold over 100 things on HardOCP and Anandtech. Big items, obscure items. If you're willing to wait so you dont have to eat those crazy fees, its the best option.

 

(ebay) auction style w/ a reserve price of $999.99 equaled $50 in fees for mine. It isn't too bad considering that i need the money now. You can always add the fee in to the reserve price or buy it now when creating the auction.

 

Thanks for the advice, Spencer. No worries about "hijacking" my thread - their all our threads! Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

Whoa! I was looking at the page unrefreshed from a day ago and didn't realize there were so many more posts! Thanks all for your great advice. I've actually never sold something on eBay (but just sold my 7th computer in 4 months via forums.) Spencer, I might need you to do some noob hand-holding for an eBay sale - unless you are still in the market to be my buyer

BTW, any consensus on whether I should sell now, before the refresh comes out, or afterwards, when the refresh comes out lacking Radiance? I've had both pieces of advice. Also, anyone have decent intel on the timing of the 14 refresh?

BTW2: nice commission to anyone who brings me a buyer, furreal.

 

I would say sell it before the refresh. I think the new model will have enough new features to make the radiance less worth the premium. It's a nice screen and all but I would definitely get a new SB refreshed Envy sans radiance.

 

If you've never sold on eBay, I wouldn't recommend starting with a laptop. If you don't have any previous sales, a lot of people will be tentative about buying a laptop from you. If you've got an account with a good rating from a bunch of purchases, that will help, but never having sold anything will still potentially bite you.

Besides, seven computer sales on forums in four months? If you're getting good prices for them and avoiding sellers' fees from eBay and Paypal, you're probably better off avoiding eBay and going with what you know. If you want to eventually sell computers via eBay instead of forums, I would recommend selling other stuff in the meantime to build up a good seller rating, one thing that helped mine in college was buying used video game consoles bundled with games and accessories that I wanted to use for a while, and then sold them piece by piece when I was done with them, and since I did my research ahead of time, I knew which bundled games were worth moving on and which weren't, so I invariably made a profit in the end as well as playing the games I wanted to play and improving my eBay seller rating.

 

I think the majority of buyers would agree w/you - though I would not, but I will heed your advice. Thanks.

I may try the forums first, but all but one of my recent sales have been tablet PCs, and they have a specialized market that's easier to reach. I had the realization of what you are saying about eBay a short while before seeing your post. I've asked someone with more sales and a good track record to "front" me. Thanks for the excellent advice on both counts.