Electronics Trade-In and Resale Markets
SellMac, founded by Jonathan Brax, buys devices directly from consumers and businesses, and Techable resells refurbished hardware. That puts him on both sides of the trade-in transaction: quoting devices sight unseen, verifying them on arrival, and then carrying the resale risk. Since 2008 he has worked through the full downstream path, so he can explain how offers are constructed and where the economics actually sit.
For media inquiries: jon@techable.com
Why this topic matters in practice
A trade-in offer is a forecast, not a valuation
The number quoted reflects what the buyer expects to resell the device for later, minus testing, repair risk, handling and the chance that the condition described does not match what arrives. It is priced against a future sale, which is why offers move when the resale market moves.
Condition is where the friction happens
Where a program quotes from self-reported condition and then inspects the device, a revised offer is a moment where trust is either confirmed or lost. How clearly the original condition questions were written has a lot to do with which one happens.
Business and consumer supply arrive differently
Consumer devices come in one at a time, in varied condition, sometimes with accounts still attached. Business lots can arrive as batches of near-identical configuration and are priced as a lot, then evaluated case by case on arrival.
One lot can split into several outcomes
A single purchase can separate into units resold as-is, units repaired first, units held for parts and a remainder recycled. The economics of the transaction depend on that mix rather than on any individual device.
Questions Jonathan can help with
- How is a trade-in offer for a used device actually calculated?
- Why do trade-in values differ so much between programs for the same device?
- What happens to a device after someone trades it in?
- How do businesses dispose of technology at the end of a refresh cycle?
- Why do quoted offers change after a device is inspected?
- What determines whether a purchased lot is profitable?
Working on something along these lines? jon@techable.com
Current observations
What Jonathan is seeing in day-to-day operations at Techable and SellMac. These are his observations from that work, not measured data or a claim about the market as a whole.
Offers follow resale prices with a lag
When used prices move, trade-in offers follow, but not instantly. That gap is one of the places risk sits when buying in volume.
Locked devices are a recurring surprise
An account left attached can turn a straightforward purchase into one that cannot be completed until the original owner acts.
Bulk buying is a mix problem
A lot can contain a wide range of conditions. The units that cannot be sold whole are what decide whether the rest were priced correctly.
Related work
- Techable News · May 2026Apple Pulled the Cheapest Mac mini. The Real Story is Demand.
Jonathan's analysis of Mac mini pricing, supply, demand and what the change means for the refurbished market.
Written by Jonathan
Background
Jonathan Brax is the founder of Techable, an electronics e-commerce business, and SellMac, a device trade-in business. He has worked in the secondary electronics market since 2008, across acquisition, evaluation, testing, repair, refurbishment, trade-in, resale, reuse and parts recovery. Most of that work involves Apple hardware, including Macs bought from consumers, businesses and liquidations, then tested, graded, repaired where it makes sense, and resold or parted out. He is based in the Chicago area and speaks from day-to-day operating experience rather than research.