Sell Your Used Chromebook — 0% Fees

A used chromebook typically sells for £60 to £250, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Chromebooks are bought cheap for school and browsing, and the one fact that decides the sale is the auto-update expiry date, because after it the machine stops receiving security updates.

The short version

Typical range: £60 – £250 — see the full chromebook 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 auto-update expiry date in Settings under About ChromeOS. This is the single most important detail.
Note the processor, RAM, storage and screen size, and whether the screen is touch.
Powerwash the device to remove your account, and charge it to test real battery life.

The photographs that sell a chromebook

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 desktop
The About ChromeOS screen with the update expiry date visible
The keyboard and lid, showing wear
The charger and ports, plus any crack or scuff

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Brand, size and update date: “Acer Chromebook 314, 14in, 4GB/64GB, Updates to 2029”. Putting the auto-update expiry in the title is unusual and immediately credible — buyers who know Chromebooks look for it first.

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

Brand, model, screen size and whether the screen is touch
Processor, RAM and storage
Auto-update expiry date from ChromeOS settings
Real battery life, and whether the original charger is included

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a chromebook. 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.

“When do updates expire?”

Read it from About ChromeOS and state the date. After expiry the machine stops receiving security updates, and this is what a knowledgeable buyer checks first.

“Have you removed your account?”

Powerwash the device before listing and confirm. A Chromebook still tied to your Google account is a problem for the buyer.

“Will it run Android apps?”

Check the model’s support and say. It matters for buyers wanting more than a browser.

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 chromebook 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 £155 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a chromebook — 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	£155
Poshmark	−£31	£124
eBay	−£21	£134
Mercari	−£16	£139
Etsy	−£10	£145

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

Strong lift in August and September for the school year, and before Christmas. Machines with years of updates left sell within days.

Light and easy to post double-boxed. Confirm the powerwash is done before it leaves you.

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 Chromebook worth?

Typically £60 to £250 depending on specification and remaining update life. See the Chromebook value guide.

What is the auto-update expiry date?

It is the date after which Google stops issuing ChromeOS updates for that model, including security patches. Find it in Settings under About ChromeOS. A machine with years left is worth substantially more.

Are Chromebooks worth buying used?

For browsing, schoolwork and video they are excellent value, provided the update date is still some way off. State that date and the machine sells itself to the right buyer.