OR are laptops one of those things that lose all value, the second you buy one? If the answer to my first question is yes, where is a good place to sell your used laptop? Craigslist doesn't seem like a good place...

dont use ebay. too many Nigerian scam purchases

Well, people steal them, so...

Maybe they steal them for the data inside?

Good point.

Probably depends on how old it is, really.

I sold two laptops on amazon...but they do lose value quickly

I'm on a refurbished laptop (refurbished just being the new fancy word for used) right now, in fact, a highly portable 11.6" ASUS. Used laptops aren't really where you go for gaming power, but they're pretty cheap and a good way to test out something you're interested in (in this case, touchscreen laptops plus Windows 8) without going in more than a few hundred bucks.

Craigslist is probably one of the top places to offload your used stuff, but the only refurb computers I've bought were from TigerDirect. I have no idea how you'd go about selling a laptop to them. For selling, yeah, I'd go with Craigslist or maybe, dimly maybe some local computer shop if there's such a thing near you.

There is always somewhere you can sell your laptop for more money then it's worth. People are so stupid when it comes to computers they'll pay any price to use facebook.

My first laptop was a second-hand machine I bought from someone I work with. Due to it dying recently and among other reasons I've bought a decent gaming machine and also picked up a Mad Catz keyboard & mouse, which cost more than that laptop.

Depends on the machine and the seller's reputation. Even trustworthy I would still reformat first before using, and I would most likely be using it for testing.

I know few people who have bought a used laptop, and I have also sold one. The laptop I sold was few years old and the price I got was around 20% of the original value. Even a really good machine can lost its value fast.

IMHO, there is too much risk in used electronics. You could be a saint and provide a perfectly cared for device and it could still die the day someone buys it.

This happened to me when I sold some Gamecube games on Craigslist. The disc was used once by an adult and then sat in its original case on a shelf in a climate controlled house and was never touched again. When I tested it before selling... disc wasn't readable.

That said, I sold a desktop on Craigslist advertised at 700.00. it was 2 or 3 years old, but the parts were fairly well sought after. If the parts were standard, I don't think it would have sold for 100.00.

Some folks look into saving a buck, but I've found that used devices often carry more expenses down the road than new ones.

The problem with Craigslist is that people treat it like a yard sale. If the item you are selling is legitimately valued at 1,000.00 and you try and sell it for 100.00, people will contact you and try to get you to lower the price. I see 100 dollar laptops quite frequently. A lot of craigslist shoppers won't buy if they don't feel like they haggled you down in price.

This is why I have a shelf full of usefull stuff that I can't sell. I can't warranty it and most people won't pay any semblance of a fair price unless I do.

Good luck whatever you try. But keep your expectations low. You can buy a decent gaming laptop for less than $600.00. Used should be much cheaper unless you have a premium rig.

My first laptop was bought from a (brick-and-mortar) second-hand shop. It wasn't bought for power (though I have played a few laggy sessions of World of Warcraft and some other games on its Pentium 3, 256 MB RAM and 32 MB SiS graphics), but for portability (compared to a tower) and served its role very well.

It was a few years old when I bought it, and I'd estimate I paid about 20% of its "new" value (using its sucessors' prices as an estimate, I don't actually know what it cost back then).

Add to what was already said that electronics manufactured by the global economy tend to last less than what we used to expect them to last. That is the natural counterpart of their constantly decreasing retail price.