Need advice on value of craigslist toughbook lot find

On my local craigslist I found a bulk lot of toughbook laptops, 6 toughbooks as follows
1 cf18mk1
1 cf19mk1
1 cf19mk2hazmat
3 cf19mk2
I texted the guy he said they all work, but all have 1 missing or damaged dust cover, 1 is missing the ram cover, no chargers included,
Which brings up a couple of questions,
(1)On previous toughbooks i have had, I had to have an oem charger to actually charge the battery similar to dells, are these models the same need an oem charger to charge the batteries (or would a universal serve me well to see these work)
(2)The seller has $500 firm on the ad, is this a fair price for these?

 

Great find on CL, IMHO for 6 Toughbooks. Concerning the chargers, this aftermarket one would work: HQRP AC Adapter Charger Fits Panasonic Toughbook CF 08 CF 19 CF 29 CF 30 | eBay
I think that's a great price for what you posted, but make sure the hard drives and caddy's are included- I would also boot them up in person and make sure that "they work" as advertised.
Best regards

 

Thank you for the advice as well as the link, I thought seemed like a good deal as well just wasnt sure, thinking depending on what covers are missing/broken i should be able to make 3-4 full machines out of the lot, unless they are all same cover of course.

 

Well maybe, as long as you can get into the BIOS. If you can't get into the BIOS then I would stay far away from them. My guess all the Toughbooks are missing the ac/dc port covers. Try to stay away from them cheap China covers. They are cheap for a reason...not water proof. They don't have the rubber seal on them. I think they are only 2 of us selling Panasonic OEM covers on ebay with the rest being knock-offs.

 

Also depends alot on physical condition. Some guys fix & sell the nicer ones individually, then dump the rougher parts donors as a lot. Just be sure to inspect them before making a commitment.

 

Thanks for all the great advice guys, Thought I would give an update...I went and checked them out saw 5 out of 6 work(he had a charger cable to show me they worked but would not include in sale...believe me i tried), boot to unlocked bios, 1 had been updated to win 8(almost liked it with the touchscreen, still dont like the lack of the finger motions im used to with my phone), 2 had windows 7 installed, other 2 no os present but hdd and caddies present and testing ok, the sixth is the donor machine or had been at one time he said he never even tested it, it was missing ram cover as well as ram, and hdd and caddy and he just assumed was the parts machine. 4 out of 6 it was the ac port cover missing. physically they are all in very good condition other than the missing covers, which i suspect were removed because brackets and screws are present but no piece of the cover remains like on other torn ones i have had.
Overall It seemed like an ok deal I got 2 full machines out of the pile plus 3 working but still missing few covers and 1 parts machine for $500, figure i should be able to get my money back out of these fairly easily they are just a slow sell compared to other less rugged laptops

 

FWIW, these will run on "old-school" IBM ThinkPad adapters - be it 56W or 72W - which are quite inexpensive nowadays, unlike the original Panasonic ones.

Good luck with your newly acquired herd.

 

Ok guys giving another update, I have gotten a charger to get me started, all 6 work including the one missing the ram cover, the hours are varying so again i turn to the group looking for a valuation on the best of the lot, cf-19mk2 cf-19fhgaxam all covers intact, great physical condition, 310hrs on machine. what would be a fair asking price for this one when i post it? I have noticed the really low hour machines command a premium i am just unsure of how the pricing curve works on the toughbooks, as they hold value alot better than other laptops.

 

It really is hard to put a price on them...maybe $250.00 . The thing is a seller that sells Toughbooks like this seller safn1949 | eBay can get better prices than you. Why ...because he is known Toughbook seller that stands behind them. He knows his Toughbooks inside and out.

I have seen the below 19's sell for these prices...sometimes even lower.
CF-19MK1 sell for $150.00 with GPS
CF-19MK2 sell for $225.00 with GPS
CF-19MK3 sell for $300.00 with GPS
CF-19MK4 sell for $375.00 with GPS
CF-19MK5 sell for $360.00 with GPS...yes that low and yes I bought it

 

If you are trying to optimize your return, and sell one or two of the low hours units, you will want to make them realy, really desirable. What I mean is, you will want to put a factory image on them and make sure everything works. Or...you will want to take the time and upgrade them to Windows 7 and make sure Everything works. Just pick a few ads out on Ebay and save them to watch, and see what they sell for. You can also explore the option of "ToughBucks"....this is where you trade someone for what you have that they want, with something that they have that you want....Best regards...