Sell Your Used MacBook — 0% Fees

A used MacBook typically sells for £200 to £900, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. MacBooks hold value better than almost any laptop, but buyers know exactly which model years to avoid — so identify yours precisely rather than calling it a MacBook Pro.

The short version

Typical range: £200 – £900 — see the full MacBook value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Electronics

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Find the exact model from → About This Mac: the year, screen size and chip. A 2020 M1 and a 2019 Intel are very different products at very different prices.
Check Battery Health under System Settings and note the cycle count and whether it says Normal or Service Recommended.
Sign out of iCloud, iMessage and Find My, then erase all content and settings so Activation Lock is cleared.

The photographs that sell a MacBook

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

Open and powered on, showing the About This Mac window with model and chip visible
The lid and base corners, where MacBooks scuff and dent first
The keyboard and trackpad straight on, plus the screen off-angle to reveal any staining or delamination
The battery health and cycle count screen

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Year, size and chip, in that order: “MacBook Air M1 2020, 13-inch, 8GB 256GB”. The chip generation is the single biggest price driver — Apple Silicon commands a large premium over Intel — so never leave it out. Add the cycle count if it is low, because buyers of used Macs genuinely look for it.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Model year, screen size, and whether it is Intel, M1, M2 or later
RAM and storage, both of which are soldered and cannot be upgraded later
Battery cycle count and health status
Whether the charger is included and whether it is the original Apple one

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a MacBook. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“Which chip does it have?”

State it exactly. Apple Silicon models are worth substantially more than Intel ones of the same year, and buyers know this well.

“What is the cycle count?”

It is in System Information under Power. Photograph it. Under 300 cycles is a strong selling point on any MacBook.

“Is it still getting macOS updates?”

Check Apple’s supported-models list for your year and answer honestly. An unsupported Mac still sells, but to a buyer who knows what they are accepting.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The MacBook value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £550 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a MacBook — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£550
Poshmark	−£110	£440
eBay	−£75	£475
Mercari	−£55	£495
Etsy	−£36	£514

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Sells quickly year round, with a lift each September when students buy and again when Apple announces new models and owners upgrade. Well-described Apple Silicon machines often sell within days.

High value in a small parcel, so treat payment carefully: confirm cleared funds before it leaves you. Local handover with a live demonstration works particularly well, because buyers paying several hundred pounds want to see it boot.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a used MacBook worth?

Roughly £200 to £900, driven mainly by chip generation and year. M-series machines command a clear premium over Intel models. See the MacBook value guide for the condition breakdown.

Do I need to remove my Apple ID before selling?

Yes, and it is essential. Sign out of iCloud and Find My, then erase all content and settings. A MacBook still linked to your Apple ID is locked to you and cannot be set up by the buyer.

What battery cycle count is too high?

Most modern MacBook batteries are rated to around 1,000 cycles. Under 300 is excellent and worth stating in the title; above 800 expect the buyer to price in a replacement, and say so yourself rather than waiting to be asked.