Sell Your Used Desktop PC — 0% Fees

A used desktop PC typically sells for £100 to £500, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Desktop PCs are priced by their components, so list every part — buyers add them up, and a vague specification always gets a low offer.

The short version

Typical range: £100 – £500 — see the full desktop PC 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.

List the processor, RAM, storage type and size, motherboard and any graphics card.
Boot it, run something demanding, and check the fans and temperatures.
Back up, factory reset or reinstall the operating system, and clean the dust from the case and filters.

The photographs that sell a desktop PC

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.

The tower from the front and side
The interior with components visible
The system information screen showing processor and RAM
The rear I/O, plus any included keyboard, mouse or cables

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Processor, RAM and storage: “Desktop PC — i5-10400, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11”. Buyers search component names. Say whether it has a dedicated graphics card or integrated graphics, since that decides whether it games at all.

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

Processor model, RAM amount and speed, storage type and size
Motherboard, power supply wattage and case size
Whether it has a dedicated graphics card, and which
Whether Windows is installed and activated, and what peripherals are included

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a desktop PC. 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.

“What are the full specs?”

List every component by model. Buyers price a PC by summing the parts, so vagueness costs you money directly.

“Does it have a graphics card?”

Say dedicated or integrated and name the card. It is the difference between an office machine and a gaming one.

“Is Windows activated?”

Check and say. A genuine activated licence saves the buyer a real cost and is worth stating.

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 desktop PC 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 £300 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a desktop PC — 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	£300
Poshmark	−£60	£240
eBay	−£41	£259
Mercari	−£30	£270
Etsy	−£20	£280

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

Steady with lifts in September and before Christmas. Machines with recent processors and an SSD sell quickly; older mechanical-drive systems sit.

Heavy and vulnerable in transit — components shift and coolers break loose. Collection with a live boot is preferable, and buyers usually want it.

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

What is a used desktop PC worth?

Typically £100 to £500 depending on components and age. See the desktop PC value guide.

Should I wipe the drive before selling?

Yes, always. Back up, then do a full reset or clean reinstall. Never hand over a machine still signed into your accounts or holding your files.

Is it better to sell the parts separately?

Parting out often totals more, particularly for a graphics card, but it means many sales and leftover components. Selling whole is faster and suits buyers who want a working machine today.