So question 1 if I was to sell the laptop am I best off going on Ebay? Or is there better sites for selling? What price should I be looking for?
Her's a current ROG Strix Scar 17 on eBay but with an RTX4090 instead of a 4080 and an asking price of almost £2,200.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22681526...jsAfZ3t0MLEJKJGRBx1HhfTic=|tkp:Bk9SR-r40r7uZQ
What price should I be looking for?
You need to spend some time watching eBay (two to three weeks). Check a few similar auctions all the way through to completion, then price your laptop accordingly. Don't be too optimistic.
Some people ask ridiculous prices, close to what they paid new. Ask too much and it'll remain unsold. Consider the depreciation on some luxury cars, which may lose half their value in two years.
At a very rough guess, you might get two thirds the price you paid new, or as little as half. It all depends on the age of the laptop and who's in the market, during the 7 to 10 day auction window.
You can set a high "Buy It Now" and dispense with an auction. Alternatively you can set a lower price, in the hope more than one person bids. If there's only one bidder, you'll wish you'd priced it higher.
Don't expect multiple bidders working against each other, throughout the entire auction period. It's common for nothing to happen until the last two days. If bidders are experienced, they'll "snipe" with their maximum bid, 10 seconds before the auction ends.
It's a lottery, because the highest bid still wins, but sniping can keep the selling price down. Good news for the buyer, bad news for the seller. When inexperienced bidders hike the price too much, snipers just wait for the next similar auction.
I'm not sure if eBay's new fee structure for sellers means you still have to pay listing fees if the item isn't sold (even after you voluntarily reduce the price and try again).
I sometimes buy old laptops on eBay for under £100, but I don't expect them to come with any remaining manufacturer's warranty. If I'm not in any great rush, I'll spend weeks until I get lucky with a £50 maximum bid for something that often sells for £75. No point wasting money.
When spending £2,000+ on a fairly common item, I prefer to buy new for a full guarantee. A few hundred quid off the list price isn't going to tempt me.
If something goes wrong with an eBay purchase, you might have difficulty getting the manufacturer or shop to honour the original buyer's warranty. The seller might not pass on the sales receipt so you won't know the date of purchase. The initial guarantee is normally with the shop, who may pass the item on to the manufacturer for testing. This may reduce the number of bidders, if they're concerned about continuation of any remaining warranty.
Provided you've described the item accurately as a seller and not hidden any known faults, if the buyer accepts your "No returns" terms and conditions, you're normally off-the-hook if something goes wrong at a later date. Professional sellers often give a 3 month warrany on second hand goods, to persuade more people to buy.
If there are any scuff marks or dents on the laptop case, photograph them in detail and mention them in the text. If a USB port is intermittent or broken, mention it. Be honest about even the slightest defect. For a £20 laptop you expect a few dings, but for a £2,000 laptop it's a different matter. It needs to be pristine.
If an eBay purchase is DOA and described as fully working, eBay will go out of its way to make sure the buyer gets a rapid refund. On rare occasions when I've complained to eBay about false descriptions, my money was returned almost immediately.
There's also the fact that eBay no longer pass the buyer's fee on to the seller immediately, but wait until the item has been delivered. This normally takes a few days, during which time you're out of pocket.
If the package is left unattended on the doorstep and stolen, you'd better hope you've got good insurance if you're the seller. Make sure the insurance covers laptops and the full sale price. It could be expensive if you get it wrong.
The way to avoid "lost" items is to mark the auction "Collection in person". That way, the buyer has to pick up the item and confirm receipt electronically in front of you, using a smart phone. I buy quite a few fragile/expensive items collect only.
With local collection you're severely restricting the number of prospective bidders to those prepared to drive some distance from home. This tends to result in a lower selling price.
For most collect items I set a 15 mile radius around home, but the furthest I've driven was 300-mile round trip, for a rare scanner costing £1,750. With a £2,000 laptop, you might find a similarly mad buyer, but don't count on it.
You can also offer to deliver the laptop yourself if you have transport and specify the maximum radius of catchment area around home (or work), e.g 25 miles. You'll probably increase the number of bidders slightly, depending on where you live, provided it's not Orkney.