How to Sell an iMac in the UK (Free Collection)

Selling an iMac in the UK takes three steps with us: request a fixed quote online (emailed within 2 working hours, 7 days a week), book the free insured courier collection we arrange from your door, then receive a bank transfer within 24 hours of the iMac passing inspection. No Post Office trip, no listing fees, no meeting strangers.

That is the short version. Below is exactly what happens at each stage, what you need to prepare, and why a courier-collected desktop sale is genuinely less hassle than eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or a trade-in kiosk that only wants laptops.

Why is selling an iMac different from selling a MacBook?

Weight and glass. A 24-inch iMac weighs around 4.5 kg; a 27-inch Intel model is closer to 9 kg before you add packaging. Carrying one across town to a Post Office counter is impractical, and most marketplace buyers will not travel for a desktop either. That is why our desktop process swaps the usual drop-off for collection: a courier comes to your home or office on a date you pick, takes the boxed machine, and the shipment is insured for the full quoted value while it is in transit. If anything happened on the road, that loss would be ours, not yours - some buyback firms quietly push transit risk onto the seller, which we think is indefensible.

The other difference is data. An iMac often holds years of family photos, tax records and saved passwords, so wiping it properly matters even more than with a secondary laptop. Every Mac we purchase is erased to NIST 800-88 standards after inspection, but you should still sign out and wipe before the courier arrives - more on that below.

Step 1: How do you get a quote for your iMac?

Head to our quote form and select your model. If you are not sure which iMac you own, click the Apple menu, choose About This Mac, and note the model name, year and chip (for example, "iMac 24-inch, M1, 2021" or "iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, 2019"). Tell us the storage size, the amount of memory, and an honest condition grade.

Honesty is the whole game here. Our quote is fixed for 14 days, so if you describe the machine accurately, the figure you see is the figure you get paid. Faulty machines are welcome too - a dead display, failed Fusion Drive or non-booting logic board just means you pick the faulty option and get an instant price on screen, with no photographs demanded and no "send it in and we'll see" vagueness. The single hard exclusion is Activation Lock: we cannot legally resell an iCloud-locked Mac, so check Find My is switched off before you request a price.

Within 2 working hours you will have a fixed offer in your inbox, seven days a week. Compare it against a marketplace listing if you like - just remember to subtract eBay's final-value fee, PayPal costs and the very real chance of a buyer "not turning up" before you compare like for like.

Step 2: What happens when you accept the offer?

Reply to accept and we schedule your courier collection at your door, on a working day that suits you. You will receive shipping documentation by email along with packing guidance. All you need to do is have the iMac boxed and ready when the driver arrives; they will scan it, take it, and tracking updates follow automatically.

Do not worry if the original Apple box went to the tip years ago. A double-walled box with 5 cm or more of soft padding on every side does the job, and we have written a full walkthrough in our guide to packaging a desktop Mac for courier collection, including where to buy suitable boxes for under £15.

What should you do before the courier arrives?

Give yourself twenty minutes the evening before collection to close everything down properly:

1. Back up. Run a final Time Machine backup to an external drive, or confirm your iCloud sync is current.
2. Sign out of Apple services. System Settings, your name, then sign out of iCloud. This releases Activation Lock - the step that matters most.
3. Erase the Mac. On Apple Silicon and T2 iMacs, use Erase All Content and Settings. Older Intel machines need a Recovery Mode reinstall; our walkthrough on how to wipe a Mac before selling covers both routes screen by screen.
4. Unplug and gather accessories. Include the power cable. A matching Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse can add a little to the price of Apple Silicon models, so mention them when you request your quote.
5. Box it up. Screen padded first, machine upright, nothing loose rattling inside.

Skip the wipe and the sale does not fail - we erase everything anyway - but an iCloud-locked machine will be returned, so signing out is non-negotiable.

Step 3: How and when do you get paid?

Your iMac usually reaches us within one to two working days of collection. On arrival, a technician checks that the machine matches your description: chip, storage, screen condition, ports, and whether any declared faults line up with what we find. If everything matches, your bank transfer is triggered straight away. Many of the big buyback names sit on your money for 48 hours to five days; we consider that your cash, not our float.

If the inspection turns up something you did not mention - say, a cracked panel hidden under reflections - we email a revised offer with photos and an explanation. You are free to decline, and if you do, we ship the iMac back to you free and fully insured. No return fee, no restocking charge, no hostage situations.

How much is an iMac worth right now?

As a rough sense of the market in mid-2026, a 24-inch iMac M1 in good condition fetches around £450 with us, while faulty examples of the same model still bring roughly £200 (both indicative). Newer M3 and M4 iMacs sit well above that. We buy Apple Silicon iMacs only, so ageing 27-inch Intel machines are outside our window, though they remain surprisingly saleable elsewhere thanks to their 5K panels. We keep a full model-by-model breakdown in our iMac values guide if you want to see where yours lands before requesting a price.

Is selling privately ever the better option?

Occasionally, yes - if you own a top-spec recent iMac, have the original box, live somewhere with plenty of local buyers, and do not mind the friction. Be realistic about that friction, though: marketplace fees of around 10 to 13 per cent, no-show viewings, lowball offers on the doorstep, and the risk of a payment dispute weeks later. For a desktop, add the near-impossibility of posting it safely to a distant auction winner without professional-grade packing.

A fixed quote, a courier at your door and guaranteed payment inside a day is the trade most sellers happily make for the sake of a small difference in headline price. When you are ready, you can sell your iMac in about two minutes - the quote is free, fixed for 14 days, and carries no obligation whatsoever.

What if you have more than one Mac to sell?

Clearing out a home office or a small studio? Quote each machine separately - an iMac, an old MacBook and a Mac mini can all travel in the same collection provided each is boxed individually. Businesses upgrading multiple desktops can email us for a combined offer; we regularly handle five-to-fifty unit clearances with a single collection date and one consolidated payment, which beats listing them one by one on anybody's marketplace.