Sell Your MacBook in Reading - Free Insured Post, Paid in 24 Hours
We pay cash for MacBooks from Reading in every state of health - boxed and barely used, or refusing to take charge at all. A fixed quote arrives by email within two working hours any day of the week; you post with our free insured label from any Post Office counter in the RG postcodes and receive a bank transfer within 24 hours of passing inspection.
There is no photo-emailing ritual for faulty machines either: the online quote tool prices cracked screens, worn batteries and liquid damage on the spot, before you have committed to anything. Activation-Locked devices are the single exception - nobody can lawfully resell them, so remove the iCloud lock before requesting a label.
Once boxed, the laptop can go over the counter at the central branches near Broad Street or at the smaller offices in Caversham, Tilehurst, Woodley and Earley, and Reading's position on the main line means it is normally with our technicians the next working day.
- Free insured shipping
- Paid within 24h of inspection
- Data wiped to NIST standards
- Free returns if you decline
Select device
Get your Reading quote
See an indicative price before you give us any contact details. Apple Silicon only (M1 and newer). Your fixed quote is emailed within 2 working hours and locked for 14 days.
Step 1 of 5 - Your Mac
Free · No obligation · Fixed quote in 2 working hours
Step 1 of 5: Your Mac
We buy Apple Silicon Macs only - M1-generation and newer (2020 onward), working or broken. We do not buy Intel Macs.
Today's money
What we pay - indicative prices
Indicative - your emailed quote is the price we pay. Quotes are locked for 14 days.
Prices reviewed
| Model | Good condition | Faulty / broken |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | Sell yours | |
| MacBook Pro 14" M5 | up to £1,300 | up to £600 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M5 Pro | up to £1,700 | up to £770 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M5 Max | up to £1,900 | up to £860 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M5 Max (128GB) | up to £3,000 | up to £1,350 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M4 Max (128GB) | up to £2,600 | up to £1,170 |
| MacBook Pro 14" M4 | up to £1,100 | up to £500 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M4 Pro | up to £1,450 | up to £650 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M4 Max | up to £1,600 | up to £720 |
| MacBook Pro 14" M3 | up to £900 | up to £400 |
| MacBook Pro 16" M3 Pro | up to £1,150 | up to £520 |
| MacBook Pro 13" M2 | up to £550 | up to £250 |
| MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro | up to £600 | up to £280 |
| MacBook Air | Sell yours | |
| MacBook Air 13" M5 | up to £850 | up to £390 |
| MacBook Air 15" M5 | up to £950 | up to £430 |
| MacBook Air 13" M4 | up to £720 | up to £330 |
| MacBook Air 15" M4 | up to £820 | up to £380 |
| MacBook Air 15" M3 | up to £650 | up to £300 |
| MacBook Air 13" M2 | up to £480 | up to £220 |
| MacBook Air 13" M1 | up to £320 | up to £140 |
| iMac | Sell yours | |
| iMac 24" M4 | up to £850 | up to £380 |
| iMac 24" M3 | up to £680 | up to £300 |
| iMac 24" M1 | up to £450 | up to £200 |
| Mac mini | Sell yours | |
| Mac mini M6 | up to £450 | up to £200 |
| Mac mini M5 Pro | up to £650 | up to £290 |
| Mac mini M4 Pro | up to £550 | up to £250 |
| Mac mini M4 | up to £380 | up to £170 |
| Mac mini M2 | up to £280 | up to £120 |
| Mac mini M1 | up to £180 | up to £80 |
| Mac Studio | Sell yours | |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra (512GB) | up to £5,000 | up to £2,250 |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra (256GB) | up to £4,200 | up to £1,900 |
| Mac Studio M5 Ultra (96GB) | up to £2,800 | up to £1,260 |
| Mac Studio M5 Max | up to £1,800 | up to £810 |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra (512GB) | up to £4,500 | up to £2,050 |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra (256GB) | up to £3,800 | up to £1,700 |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) | up to £2,500 | up to £1,150 |
| Mac Studio M4 Max | up to £1,500 | up to £680 |
| Mac Studio M2 Max | up to £1,000 | up to £450 |
| Mac Studio M1 Max | up to £700 | up to £320 |
| Mac Pro | Sell yours | |
| Mac Pro M2 Ultra (2023) | up to £2,400 | up to £1,100 |
Different spec or model? It takes two minutes:
Get My Exact QuoteSimple, fast, insured
How it works
Three steps from quote to cash: free insured post, no fees at any point.
Get your quote
Tell us your Mac's model, spec and condition in the two-minute form. We email a fixed quote within 2 working hours, 7 days a week, locked for 14 days.
Post it free
We email a prepaid, fully insured shipping label. Box your Mac, drop it at any Post Office, and we carry the transit risk, not you. Desktops are collected by courier.
Paid within 24 hours
We inspect your Mac on the day it arrives and pay by bank transfer within 24 hours of it passing inspection. Decline a revised quote? We return your Mac free.
Reading's tech corridor keeps our inspectors busy
The Thames Valley is the densest concentration of IT employment in the UK, and Reading sits at its centre. Staff at the software giants based around Thames Valley Park and Green Park often run a personal MacBook alongside their corporate kit, and that personal machine gets replaced almost every time a new chip generation lands - the outgoing one comes to us.
University of Reading students add a second wave each summer, selling laptops after finals at Whiteknights before moving on to jobs or travel. Contractors and consultants scattered along the M4 corridor round out the picture; when your income depends on billable hours, spending evenings haggling with marketplace buyers over a used laptop makes no sense at all.
Faulty Apple Silicon Macs from Reading are far from write-offs
Do not assume a broken MacBook is scrap. Cracked screens, spent batteries and boards that never post keep in the region of 40 to 50 percent of their working value - a failed component still leaves plenty a refurbisher can reclaim and resell. The website prices every one of these faults the instant you select them, so there is no describing the damage in an email or waiting for someone to look at photos.
Intel MacBooks sit outside our window - it covers Apple Silicon only, M1-generation and newer - so an Intel machine gets our honest value guide rather than a quote. The other exception, whatever the condition, is an iCloud-locked device - no legitimate buyer can move one on, so clear Activation Lock before you post.
Drop-off points and next-day delivery from RG postcodes
Reading is one of the best-connected towns outside London for getting a parcel to us quickly. It sits on the Great Western main line and is now the western terminus of the Elizabeth line, and Royal Mail moves boxes overnight, so a Mac posted by late afternoon typically reaches us the following working day. The central branches by the Oracle and Broad Street are busiest at lunchtime; DPD points along the M4 corridor take the same label if that is easier on the commute.
There is no charge at the counter and no forms to complete - postage and full-value insurance are already built into the label. The assistant scans it, prints your proof of postage, and the tracking runs from that moment until your laptop is in our hands.
Is there a smart time to sell in Reading?
Sooner beats later, every time. Apple's autumn announcements compress the value of every earlier model in one stroke, and a laptop gathering dust in a Caversham spare room depreciates just as fast as one being used daily in an office. Waiting for a better moment is really just choosing a smaller number.
Because our quotes hold firm for 14 days, you lose nothing by getting a figure today and posting next week once backups are done. Decline a revised offer at any point after inspection and the Mac travels back to Reading insured, with absolutely nothing to pay - return postage is always on us.
Good to know
Selling from Reading - FAQs
Everything sellers ask us before posting their Mac - answered straight.
Which Post Office in Reading should I use?
Any of them. The central branches near Broad Street work well if you are in town, and the counters in Caversham, Tilehurst, Woodley and Earley are just as good. Our label is prepaid and insured for the Mac's full value, so there is nothing to pay at the till.
I work in IT - is my data actually safe when I sell?
Yes. Every Mac we purchase is erased to NIST 800-88 standards, the benchmark used for government and enterprise data sanitisation. We still recommend signing out of iCloud and wiping the drive yourself before posting from Reading - it protects you twice over and disables Activation Lock at the same time.
How long does payment take from Reading?
Reading sits close enough that parcels usually reach us the next working day. Inspection happens on arrival and your bank transfer is sent within 24 hours of the Mac passing, so the typical Reading seller is paid within two to three working days of visiting the Post Office.
Can I post my MacBook on the commute into London?
Yes. The prepaid insured label works at any Post Office counter in the country, so use whichever branch fits your route rather than making a special trip in Reading. There is nothing to pay at the counter, and your quote holds for 14 days if the week gets away from you.
About the buyer
What is SellMacBooks?
SellMacBooks is a UK buy-back service for Apple computers only. We have no shops and no drop-in counter: every sale runs by post, anywhere in the country. You describe your Mac, we email a fixed quote within 2 working hours, you post it free on a fully insured label, and payment leaves by bank transfer within 24 hours of the machine passing inspection.
We buy Apple Silicon Macs only - M1-generation and newer (2020 onward), working or broken. We do not buy Intel Macs. Macs are the only thing we handle, so the person pricing yours knows what the model is worth this month rather than reading it off a generic gadget table. See how it works or read about us.
The inspection
Everything we check before quoting a Mac in Reading
Your quote is built from what you tell us, and the bench check on arrival exists to confirm that description rather than renegotiate it. Here is exactly what we look at:
- Power-on and a clean boot to the desktop
- Screen: cracks, dead pixels, backlight and marks
- Chassis and cosmetics: dents, deep scratches, worn palm rests
- Battery health percentage and cycle count
- Keyboard, trackpad, speakers and every port
- Storage size, memory and chip against the spec you quoted
- Find My / Activation Lock signed out (we cannot buy a locked Mac)
- Accessories included, such as the original charger
The quoted price is fixed and locked for 14 days. If the machine differs from your description, you get photos and a plain explanation with a revised offer - accept it, or decline and we return the Mac free and insured. Full detail on the three grades is on our grading page.
Versus the alternatives
How we compare
Selling a Mac in the UK usually comes down to a big trade-in site, a marketplace listing, or a specialist buyer like us. The differences that cost sellers money are these:
- Big trade-in sites can keep you waiting days after delivery. We pay within 24 hours of your Mac passing inspection.
- eBay takes roughly 14% in fees, plus postage, plus return and scam risk. Our quote is the amount that lands in your bank.
- Some buyers put the courier damage risk on you in their small print. Our label is insured at our expense, both ways.
- Return fees for declining a revised offer are common in this market. Ours are always free, both ways, whatever inspection finds.
- Most quotes quietly expire or float with the market. Yours is locked for 14 days.
The longer version, option by option, is in our guide to the best place to sell a MacBook in the UK and our MacBook trade-in comparison.
Selling something specific?
See our dedicated pages to sell a MacBook Pro or sell a broken MacBook, or start from the main quote page.