How Much Are Your Broken Electronics Worth?

When your phone breaks, do you bother trying to sell it on eBay, or just toss it out?

A flight of stairs. The cement of the sidewalk. A toddler. The toilet. A bottle of diet Pepsi not capped tightly enough in your purse. What do these have in common? They’re silent gadget-killers, lurking in wait for the right moment to fry your phone, camera, or other electronics. It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when”.

And when your gadgets break - and oh yes, they shall - do you bother trying to resell it or say your goodbyes and give it its proper Viking funeral in the East River (not recommended by FDNY)? Is it actually worth the hassle of listing it on eBay, waiting for a buyer, waiting for them to PayPal, and shipping it off?

Apparently, it actually might be worth the hassle.

eBay allows you to list electronics in the condition “For parts or not working”. I searched for completed listings that were specifically listed this way, and the prices were fairly surprising for items with sometimes very serious defects.

The prices on these pieces of junk might make you consider putting up with waiting in line at the post office.

2. $1,065.00 - MacBook Pro 17” (missing 3 keys and doesn’t turn on)

Original price: about $2,799.99

3. $416.11 - Nikon D90 SLR Digital Camera (cracked screen after dropping)

Original price: $1,299.99

Source: ebay.com

4. $199.99 - Lot of 6 Canon PC1472 POWERSHOT cameras

Original price: $250.00 each

Source: ebay.com

5. $525 - iPhone 4S 64GB (cracked screen)

iPhone 4S 64GB not on a plan: $849

Source: ebay.com

6. $750.00 ($250/each) - Lot of 3 iPhone 4S (water damage)

Source: ebay.com

7. $24.00 - Palm Pre 2 (broken microphone)*

Original price: $409.99

*dog not included

Source: ebay.com

8. $133.61 - Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD Recorder (no longer records)

Original price: $449.00

Source: ebay.com

9. $610.00 - Sony Bravia EX72 60” TV (no image, remote missing)

Original price: $3,229

10. $500.00 - LG Infinia 65” LED TV (distortion on the right side of the screen)

Original price: $4,499.99

Source: ebay.com

11. $232.49 ($23.25/each) - Lot of 10 Nintendo NES consoles (various states of non-working)

Source: ebay.com

12. $214.99 - Sony PlayStation 3 120GB (only HDMI output works, controllers not included)

Original price: $464.00

Source: ebay.com

13. $110.00 - Sony PlayStation 3 Slim 120GB (accepts discs but won’t play picture or sound)

Source: ebay.com

14. $172.50 - Sony Playstation Vita (screen is completely broken)

Original price: $249

Source: ebay.com

15. $59.99 - Nintendo Wii Console plus 3 games (disc drive cannot play discs)

Original price: $199.99 for console, games additional

Source: ebay.com

16. $401.11 - iPad 2 64GB WiFi/Verizon (Cracked Screen)

Original price:

17. $112.50 - Kindle Fire (stuck on “load screen”)

Original Price: $199.99

Source: ebay.com

18. $60.00 - Kindle DX 4GB (screen broken)

Original price: $189

Source: ebay.com

19. $185.00 - Samsung Galaxy Tab 16GB (cracked screen)

Original price: $399.99

Source: ebay.com

20. $89.01 - TomTom Go 2535TM GPS (won’t boot up)

Original price: $319.95

Source: ebay.com

21. $50.00: Sony Discman D25(spins disc but can’t read it) circa 1989

Original price is unclear, although working ones go for $100-$225 today

Source: ebay.com

22. $60.00 - Lot of 6 non-working TI-83 graphic calculators

Originial price: $137.99. Looks like we’ll never figure out why these are so expensive, even when they’re broken.

Source: ebay.com