Broken MacBooks - liquid damage
Sell a Water or Liquid-Damaged MacBook
The quick answer
Yes, a water-damaged MacBook can be sold. SellMacBooks buys liquid-damaged Apple Silicon MacBooks (M1-generation and newer) at 30-45% of working value, whether it boots, partly works or is dead. Describe the spill in the quote form, get a fixed quote within 2 working hours, post it free and insured, and you're paid within 24 hours of inspection.
Coffee, tea, a glass of water, rain in a rucksack: liquid damage is the fault sellers are most often told is worthless. It isn't. The aluminium body, the display and a surprising amount of the internals survive most spills, and that is what we pay for. One rule matters more than any other: quote it soon, because corrosion keeps eating value while the machine sits in a drawer.
We buy Apple Silicon Macs only, M1-generation and newer - no Intel - and we can't buy an Activation-Locked Mac. If it's yours, remove it from Find My at icloud.com; that works even if it will never boot again.
- Free insured shipping
- Paid within 24h of inspection
- Data wiped to NIST standards
- Free returns if you decline
Select device
Get your quote for a water-damaged MacBook
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 a water-damaged MacBook fetches - by model
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 |
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.
What a water-damaged MacBook is worth
Indicatively 30-45% of the same model's working value: nearer 45% if it boots and charges, nearer 30% if it's dead. The price table above gives working prices by model, and the faulty column is a fair guide to a liquid-damaged example. Your emailed quote is fixed for 14 days and is the price we pay if the Mac matches your description.
Why the band is wider and lower than a cracked screen: liquid reaches the logic board, and on an M-series MacBook the board carries the chip, memory and storage in one piece. A spill that shorted the board takes the most valuable single part with it. What remains - display, top case, keyboard, trackpad, battery, speakers - is still worth real money, which is why a dead water-damaged Mac is quoted at 30% rather than nothing.
Not every buyer will take it: MacBack's grading information excludes water damage even from its lowest grade, Grade E. We quote it from your description, at the band above.
Every fault band we use is set out on the broken MacBook hub, and what buyers actually pay for water damage explains how a spill is priced at inspection.
The first hour after a spill
What you do in the first hour decides whether the board survives. In order:
- Power it off now - hold the power button until the screen goes black. Don't shut down gracefully; every second powered is a second the liquid is conducting.
- Unplug the charger and any accessories. If it was charging, that is the most important step.
- Open the lid fully, turn the Mac upside down in a tent shape on a towel so liquid drains away from the keyboard, not into it.
- Leave it in a warm, dry room for at least 48 hours. Don't use a hairdryer or a radiator - heat spreads the liquid.
- Don't charge it and don't switch it on to "check". Both are how a survivable spill becomes a dead board.
Rice does nothing for a sealed laptop and leaves starch dust in the ports; skip it. After 48 hours, if it starts, note what works and what doesn't. If it doesn't, leave it off and get your quote.
Corrosion means value drops the longer you wait
Liquid damage is the one fault that gets worse on its own. Once liquid - especially anything sugary or salty - reaches the board, it starts corroding solder joints and component legs, and that continues for weeks after the surface is dry. A Mac that boots today can fail next month, and a Mac that is dead today can lose repairable parts to corrosion by the time it is opened.
For you that means one thing: the quote you get this week is likely to be the best quote the machine will ever get. Waiting for it to "dry out properly" over a month doesn't improve it. Describe the spill as it is now, lock the quote for 14 days, and post it.
Repairing first? A logic-board clean can cost hundreds of pounds and still fail as hidden corrosion spreads. Sell as-is.
Boots, partly works, or dead: how each is quoted
Boots and works, with faults
Runs, but keys, trackpad, ports or speakers misbehave. Top of the 30-45% band. Say exactly what's wrong.
Boots, then shuts down or won't charge
Usually the charging circuit or battery took the hit. Middle of the band.
Completely dead
No light, no chime, no fan. Bottom of the band - still real money, because the display and enclosure survive.
In the form, tell us three things: what was spilt, roughly when, and what the Mac does now. That is enough for a fixed quote. If it is completely dead you may also find the won't-turn-on page useful - the checks there rule out a flat battery - and if the only casualty is a keyboard or trackpad, the partial-fault page explains why that keeps 60-80%.
Activation Lock on a Mac that won't start
Activation Lock is held on Apple's servers, so a dead Mac can still be unlocked from any other device. Go to icloud.com/find, sign in with the Apple ID used on the MacBook, select it, choose Erase Mac and then Remove from Account. Do it before you post: we cannot buy an Activation-Locked Mac, because nobody can legally erase or resell one. Your data is protected either way - every Mac we buy is erased to NIST 800-88 before resale.
Posting a water-damaged MacBook
Once it has dried for at least 48 hours it posts like any other MacBook: accept the quote, print the prepaid insured Royal Mail label we email, pack it powered off in a double-walled box with 5cm of padding, and drop it at any Post Office. Royal Mail carries laptops with the battery installed. The shipping guide shows the packing.
The exception is a swollen battery, which a spill can cause. Royal Mail prohibits damaged batteries of any type, so if the trackpad has lifted or the bottom case bulges, don't use the standard label - tell us in the form and we'll confirm the right way to get it to us. The quote doesn't change.
Staining on the aluminium or keyboard is graded as cosmetic wear alongside the fault; the criteria are on our grading page. If inspection finds something different from your description we email a revised offer with photos, and if you decline, the Mac comes back free and insured.
Before you quote
How condition affects your offer
Functional condition
Fully working machines quote highest. Faulty boards, cracked screens, liquid damage or no-power still sell if the Mac is Apple Silicon. Describe the fault honestly on the form.
Cosmetic condition
Like new, Good and Fair grades are published on our grading page. Light wear rarely moves a quote much; heavy dents or missing keys do.
Good to know
Your questions, answered
Everything sellers ask us before posting their Mac - answered straight.
Can a water-damaged MacBook be sold?
Yes. We buy liquid-damaged Apple Silicon MacBooks (M1-generation and newer) at 30-45% of working value, whether it boots, partly works or is completely dead. We quote it from your description with no photos. Get the quote soon - corrosion lowers value over time.
How much is a water-damaged MacBook worth?
Indicatively 30-45% of the same model's working value: nearer 45% if it still boots and charges, nearer 30% if it's dead. The faulty column in our price table is a fair guide. Your emailed quote is fixed for 14 days, and we pay it by bank transfer within 24 hours of inspection.
What should I do immediately after spilling liquid on my MacBook?
Power it off straight away, unplug the charger, disconnect accessories, and stand it upside down in a tent shape in a dry, warm room for at least 48 hours. Don't charge it and don't switch it on to check. Skip the rice - it does nothing for the board and leaves starch in the ports.
Should I get a liquid-damaged MacBook repaired before selling?
No. Liquid repairs are unpredictable: a logic-board clean can cost hundreds of pounds and still fail weeks later as corrosion spreads. Buyers price a repaired water-damaged Mac cautiously anyway. Sell it as-is, describe what still works and what doesn't, and let the quote reflect it.
Does the Mac need to work for you to buy it?
No. Boots normally, boots with faults, or completely dead - all three are quoted, from around 45% of working value at the top down to 30% for a dead machine. Tell us what was spilt, when, and what the Mac does now. The only thing we can't take is an Activation-Locked Mac.
Is it safe to post a liquid-damaged MacBook?
Yes, once it has dried for at least 48 hours and provided the battery isn't swollen. Royal Mail carries laptops with the battery installed but prohibits damaged batteries, so if the case is bulging tell us in the form and we'll arrange the right way to get it to us. Pack it powered off.
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 Water-Damaged MacBook
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.
More we buy
Selling another Mac too?
MacBook Pro
M5 through M1 - Apple Silicon only.
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M5 current through M1. Apple Silicon only.
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Free courier collection for desktops - no giant boxes to post.
Get a quoteMac mini
M6 and M5 Pro current. Ships in a shoebox - easiest Mac to sell by post.
Get a quoteMac Studio
Apple's strongest resale values - M5 Ultra and M5 Max lead the range.
Get a quoteMac Pro
M2 Ultra (2023). Free courier collection. Apple Silicon only.
Get a quoteBroken MacBooks
Cracked, water-damaged or dead - any Apple Silicon Mac.
Get a quoteMacBook Trade In
See how cash compares with Apple Trade In and eBay.
Get a quoteWhy sellers choose us
Guarantees you can check, not vague promises
Buyback trust is process, not slogans. These four commitments sit in every quote email and on our how it works page.
Quote locked 14 days
The emailed price stands while you wipe and pack. No silent expiry.
Paid within 24 hours
Bank transfer after inspection matches what we quoted, if your description was accurate.
Free insured post
We email the label. Transit risk sits with us, not you.
Free returns if you decline
If inspection revises the offer and you say no, the Mac comes home free and insured.
Independent reviews are next: once our Trustpilot profile is live we will embed it here and add the URL to our Organisation schema. Until then we do not invent star ratings.
Guides
iCloud-Locked MacBook: What You Can Sell
No legitimate UK buyer can purchase an Activation Locked Mac. How to remove the lock if it's yours, and the law around locked machines.
Read guideSell MacBook with Dead Battery or Faulty Keys
Dead battery or sticky keys? See UK battery service costs vs value added, butterfly keyboard context, and what your faulty MacBook sells for.
Read guideMacBook Won't Turn On? Still Worth Money
A dead MacBook is still worth 30-45% of its working value. Try these quick revival checks first, then see what UK buyers pay and why.
Read guideSell a Water-Damaged MacBook: What Buyers Pay
Spilled on your MacBook? Liquid-damaged Macs still sell for real money - but corrosion eats value daily. Safety steps and honest UK price ranges.
Read guideMacBook Cracked Screen: Repair or Sell As-Is?
Apple charges £300-£600 to replace a MacBook display. We run the break-even maths so you know when fixing pays and when selling as-is leaves you better off.
Read guideCan You Sell a Broken MacBook? What It's Worth
Broken MacBooks keep 30-80% of their working value, depending on the fault. See indicative UK prices, what buyers salvage, and how to get a quote.
Read guide