Closing a Business? How to Sell the Company Macs

To sell the company Macs when closing a business, first confirm who is allowed to sell them, then list every machine by serial number, recover staff data, clear Activation Lock and Apple Business Manager enrolment, and erase. Sell while the company bank account is still open, keep a director's sign-off and the VAT invoice, and hand everything to your accountant.

If you are reading this, closing the business is probably the harder part of your week, and the Macs are one more item on a long list. This guide is meant to take that item off it cleanly. It is general information, not legal or tax advice; your accountant or insolvency practitioner has the final word on anything specific to your company.

Who is allowed to sell the Macs?

This depends on how the business is closing, and it is the one step worth getting right before anything else.

Sole traders and partnerships. The equipment belongs to you, or to the partners jointly. You can sell it; agree it between partners and keep a note.

A solvent limited company closing voluntarily. The directors normally handle the sale of company assets, provided it is at a fair value and properly recorded. A board minute approving the disposal, signed by a director, is the simplest evidence that the sale was authorised.

A company in liquidation. Once a liquidator is appointed, GOV.UK is clear that directors no longer have control of the company or anything it owns, and must hand over its assets and records. The Macs then belong in the liquidator's inventory, and the liquidator decides how they are sold. Selling them yourself at that point is not an option, however well meant.

Why does timing matter so much?

Two dates matter: the day the bank account closes, and the day the company is dissolved.

When a company is struck off, GOV.UK notes that you lose access to its bank accounts and cannot send or receive money. And anything the company still owns when it is dissolved passes to the Crown as ownerless property, known as bona vacantia. A MacBook left in a drawer at that point is, strictly speaking, no longer the company's to sell.

The strike-off rules also look at recent activity, such as trading or selling stock in the three months before you apply. Office equipment is not usually trading stock, but ask your accountant where the sale fits in your timetable. In practice the answer is almost always the same: sell the Macs early in the closure, not as the last job.

Step one: list every Mac

Before any machine is wiped, build a simple list: model, year, chip, serial number, who used it and where it is now. The serial number is under the Apple menu, About This Mac, or printed on the underside of a MacBook.

The list does three jobs. It is your asset register for the accountant, it is the basis of an accurate itemised quote, and it shows up the machines that have wandered home with staff. Chase those now, while people still reply to email.

Step two: look after the people and their data

Company Macs hold more than company files. Staff often have personal photos, saved passwords and their own Apple ID signed in. Give everyone a clear date to copy off anything personal and sign out, and back up any company records you are required to keep, such as accounts, contracts and payroll data, before any erase.

Then ask each user to sign out of iCloud and turn off Find My. A Mac with Activation Lock still on cannot be set up by anyone else, so it cannot be sold. If someone has already left and cannot be reached, the machine may need Apple's proof-of-purchase route, which is where the original invoices showing serial numbers become valuable.

Step three: release device management

If the business used an IT provider or a device management service, check whether the Macs are enrolled in Apple Business Manager (now called Apple Business). Enrolled Macs re-enrol themselves after an erase, so they must be released by whoever runs the account, in the right order: clear Activation Lock, unassign from the MDM server, release from the organisation, then erase. Our guide to selling an MDM-enrolled MacBook walks through the checks and the admin steps.

Do this before your IT contract ends. An outsourced provider that has already been paid off is much slower to log in and release forty serial numbers than one that is still on the books.

Step four: erase, and keep your own record

Erase each Mac once it is signed out and released. On current macOS that is System Settings, General, Transfer or Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings; the full walkthrough is in how to wipe a MacBook before selling.

Keep your own record of what was erased and when, alongside the asset list: a line per serial number is enough, and if you use an MDM, its erase log helps. For our part, every Mac we buy is erased again to NIST 800-88 standards during inspection, so nothing survives even if a machine slipped through without a wipe.

What paperwork should a director keep?

A tidy file makes the closure easier to explain later, whether to a co-director, the accountant or a liquidator.

How the proceeds are treated for VAT and tax, including any capital allowances on equipment the company claimed for, is a question for your accountant. What matters from the sale side is that every figure on your file is itemised and traceable.

What about older Intel Macs in the office?

Many small offices run a mix. We buy Apple Silicon Macs only, M1 generation and newer, so Intel machines need a different route. Our Intel MacBook value guide explains what they are worth on the open market and where to sell them. Keep them on your asset list either way, and record what happened to each one, including responsible recycling if that is the honest answer for the oldest.

What does a closing-down sale look like with us?

For two or more Macs, it runs as a company sale. You send the list, ideally with serial numbers, and receive an itemised quote per device, locked for 14 days. We work with a VAT invoice for the sale and accept purchase orders. Our page for firms that want to sell company MacBooks sets out the process, and larger batches can use our bulk Mac buyback service with insured courier collection. Payment arrives as one bank transfer for the batch, with the per-machine figures to match your list.

Machines that are damaged still count. A cracked screen or a dead battery is quoted at faulty grade rather than left behind, because every Apple Silicon Mac has value in its parts. The only units we cannot take are ones still locked or still enrolled, and we check both on arrival.

A calm order of operations

Confirm who can sell. List every Mac. Give staff a date to save and sign out. Release device management. Erase. Sell while the bank account is open, and file the paperwork. None of it is complicated, it only needs doing in order, and early.

When the list is ready, request a quote and put the models and serial numbers in the message box; the itemised quote comes back by email, and the money lands in the company account, not a drawer.