It is the only resale channel with no logistics cost, because the buyer already has the device. No collection, no packaging, no customs, and no condition dispute, since the person has been using the machine for three years and knows exactly what it is.
TL;DR
- No collection, no packaging, no shipping and no condition argument. For a distributed fleet that is a large advantage over any other channel.
- It needs three things to be workable: a written scheme open to everybody, a published price list by age, and a wipe and reinstall before the sale.
- Offer it at refresh rather than at offboarding. Offboarding is where it is most tempting and most fraught.
- How such a sale should be treated for tax or payroll purposes differs by jurisdiction. Take local advice before publishing anything.
- Price it by age band as a published figure. Negotiating individually is what turns a scheme into a favour.
- Any remaining warranty usually does not transfer. Say so in writing rather than letting somebody assume.
Why this channel is underused
Every other resale route involves getting the machine from wherever it is to wherever the buyer is. For a distributed fleet that is a collection from a residential address, packaging, a shipment and sometimes a customs process, and for an older device it frequently costs more than the machine is worth.
Selling to the person already holding it removes all of that at once. The device does not move. Nobody assesses its condition, because the buyer has been looking at it daily. There is no grading dispute and no transit damage.
It is underused because it feels like it needs a policy, and the policy question is genuinely the hard part. The logistics, which dominate every other channel, are the part that is already solved.
What the scheme needs
| Written and open to everybody | Not an arrangement offered to some people | Offered selectively it reads as a favour, which is worse than not offering it |
| A published price list by age | Age bands, not individual valuations | Negotiating per person is how a scheme becomes a grievance |
| Wipe and reinstall before the sale | Not a handover of the machine as it is | Company data must be gone and recorded before ownership changes |
| Released from management, locks cleared | A condition of the sale | An enrolled or locked machine is unusable to the buyer |
| The asset row closed as sold | With a date and the buyer recorded | Otherwise it looks identical to a device that went missing |
How any such sale should be treated for tax, payroll or benefit purposes differs by jurisdiction and by circumstance, so take local advice before publishing a scheme rather than copying how another company has done it. That is the one part of this which cannot be worked out from first principles.
Setting the price
Three approaches, and the simplest is also the most defensible.
A flat figure per age band. Three or four bands by device age, published, the same for everybody. Easy to administer, easy to explain, and nobody has to justify a number to anybody.
A published percentage of the original purchase cost. Slightly fairer across different machines and it requires the original cost to be in the register, which for older devices it often is not.
A market-referenced figure. Benchmarked against what a buyback vendor would pay. Most accurate, most work, and it changes constantly, which makes it hard to publish.
Whichever you choose, set it against what the alternative channel would actually net you rather than against a retail price. The honest comparison is a buyback quote minus the collection and shipping you no longer have to pay for, and that comparison usually leaves room to price it attractively for the employee and still do better than selling it elsewhere.
A worked example
A company retiring 58 machines across 7 markets got a single quote from a buyback vendor for the batch and was about to accept it.
Splitting the batch changed the picture. Thirty-one were uniform two-year-old machines a vendor wanted as a clean lot. Eleven were over five years old with no resale value anywhere. Seven were with staff who said, when asked, that they would buy them, and those seven required no collection from four different countries.
The seven netted more than the vendor would have paid for them even at a price the employees were pleased with, because the collection cost from those four markets was removed entirely. Nobody had asked the question before because there was no scheme to ask it under.
Running it without problems
What to do:
- Take local advice on the tax and payroll treatment before publishing anything.
- Publish the scheme and the price bands where the rest of your equipment policy lives.
- Offer it at refresh as the default, since the machine is being replaced anyway.
- Wipe and reinstall the operating system before the sale, and record the date and method.
- Release the device from management and clear any activation lock as a condition of the sale.
- Close the asset row as sold, with the date and the buyer, rather than leaving it open.
The third point is the one that keeps this simple. At refresh the person is receiving a new machine, the old one is leaving the fleet regardless, and the sale is a clean transaction with nothing else attached to it.
At offboarding it is more tempting, because it also removes a recovery, and more fraught, because it sits alongside a departure. If you do allow it there, make it the same published price with the same conditions and settle it before the last working day rather than during a chase.
And state in writing that any remaining manufacturer warranty usually does not transfer with a change of owner, because somebody will reasonably assume it does. The other resale and marketplace routes are compared in our business laptop marketplace comparison.
Final thoughts
This is the resale channel where the hard part of every other channel is already solved and the easy part of every other channel is the obstacle. The device is in the right place; what is missing is a page saying what the price is and who may buy.
Take advice on the treatment, publish bands by age, open it to everybody, wipe and reinstall before the sale, make release from management a condition, and close the asset row properly. Then ask the question at every refresh, because the answer is sometimes yes and nobody has been asked.
Frequently asked questions
Can employees buy their old work laptop?
Many companies allow it and it is the resale channel with the lowest cost, because the buyer already holds the device so there is no collection, no packaging, no shipping, no customs and no condition dispute. What it needs is a written scheme open to everybody rather than an arrangement offered selectively, a published price list by age band, and a wipe and reinstall before ownership changes. How the sale should be treated for tax or payroll purposes differs by jurisdiction, so take local advice first.
How should you price a laptop sold to an employee?
A flat published figure per age band is the simplest and most defensible, because nobody has to justify a number to anybody and it cannot be read as favouritism. A published percentage of the original purchase cost is slightly fairer across different machines and needs that cost to be in the register, which for older devices it often is not. Set the figure against what a buyback vendor would net you after collection and shipping, not against a retail price.
Should you offer this at offboarding or at refresh?
At refresh as the default, because the person is receiving a new machine, the old one is leaving the fleet regardless, and the sale is a clean transaction with nothing else attached. At offboarding it is more tempting, since it also removes a recovery from a residential address, and considerably more fraught because it sits alongside a departure. If you allow it there, use the same published price and the same conditions, and settle it before the last working day rather than during a chase.
What has to happen to the device before the sale?
A full wipe and a clean reinstall of the operating system, with the date and method recorded against the asset, rather than handing the machine over as it is. Then release it from device management and clear any activation lock, both as explicit conditions of the sale, because an enrolled or locked machine is unusable to the new owner and resolving it afterwards is awkward for everybody. Finally close the asset row as sold with the date and the buyer recorded.
Does the warranty transfer when an employee buys the laptop?
Usually not, and it is worth stating in writing because somebody will reasonably assume otherwise. Manufacturer warranties are frequently tied to the original purchaser and service arrangements are often regional as well, so a machine bought in one market may not be serviceable on the same terms elsewhere. Say plainly in the scheme that the device is sold without ongoing support from the company and that any manufacturer cover should be checked directly.
Why does the scheme have to be open to everybody?
Because offered selectively it reads as a favour, which is worse than not offering it at all. A published scheme with published prices available to anyone whose machine is being retired is a benefit; the same transaction arranged quietly for one person is something colleagues will hear about and interpret. It is also easier to administer, since a published price list removes every individual negotiation and the question of whether somebody got a better deal than somebody else.