Some of what you're paying to dispose of is worth money. Working out how much, and whether an offer is fair, is harder than it should be, because the four common pricing bases aren't directly comparable, and nothing obliges a provider to quote in the same shape as the last one.
Here's how to make offers comparable.
First, understand what you're being quoted
Offers in this market usually take one of four shapes, and they're not interchangeable.
Per pound. A rate by weight, sometimes with a floor for complete units. Simple, and it prices a working laptop the same as a broken one of similar mass. Fine for genuine scrap. Poor for a recent fleet.
Per unit. A flat figure by device type, sometimes by model. Better, though it flattens condition.
Revenue share. You get an agreed proportion of what each device sells for. Only meaningful if you can see what each device sold for.
Offset. The recovered value reduces the service fee rather than arriving as income. Administratively simpler for a lot of public buyers, and check it against your own finance rules before you agree.
A weight-only quote prices the material, not the asset. That alone doesn't mean the provider isn't doing proper disposition. The seven questions below are what tells you.
Then ask these seven questions
1. What's the unit of measurement, and can I see it? A single recovery figure with nothing behind it is a number you have to take on trust. Ask whether you'll receive a per-unit breakdown showing what each device made and when it sold.
2. Is condition graded before pricing, and against what scale? Grading is what makes a price defensible. Without it you can't tell why two identical models made different amounts, and you can't check anything.
3. When does data treatment happen relative to sale? It should happen first, be verified, and be recorded per device. If a provider can't tell you the order, ask again.
4. Who pays the costs, and which ones? Collection, packing, transport, non-revenue material, recycling fees for items with no value. These get netted off in different places by different providers, and a headline rate can mean very little once they're applied.
5. What happens to devices worth nothing? Assume there will be some. If they're handled free, say so in the contract. If there's a charge, know it now.
6. When do I get paid, and against what document? Thirty days after sale is different from thirty days after collection. On a large fleet that gap matters.
7. Who's the buyer, and what do they get? Ask whether your identifying marks are removed, and whether that removal is recorded. Asset tags on resold equipment are a small problem that becomes a large one at exactly the wrong moment.
What actually holds value
Recent-generation laptops are usually the highest-value of the three device types we handle, and lose it continuously rather than in steps. A fleet retired promptly is worth more than the same fleet after a long spell in a closet being kept just in case.
Phones and tablets hold value well when the screen is intact and the device isn't carrier-locked or activation-locked. Carrier locks and activation locks are a common reason a phone that should have been worth something isn't. They're cheaper to clear before collection than to chase afterwards, because afterwards it needs your administrator's time on a device that has already left the building.
Older devices, damaged screens, missing components are a recycling story rather than a resale story. An offer that promises resale value across a whole mixed-age fleet deserves a question: which units?
Where the money usually goes
Usually, delay.
A closet full of retired laptops isn't storage. It's a depreciating asset and an open data liability, and it's costing you floor space to hold both.
Delay costs money too, and it's the cost that rarely appears on a comparison sheet. Run that number alongside the rate comparison before you spend weeks on the second one.
Working comparison record
One row per provider. Fill it in from their written offer, not from a conversation.
| Provider A | Provider B | Provider C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis (weight / unit / share / offset) | |||
| Per-unit reporting provided? | |||
| Condition grading scale | |||
| Data treatment before sale? | |||
| Costs netted off | |||
| Zero-value devices | |||
| Payment timing and trigger | |||
| Identifying marks removed and recorded? | |||
| Documentation supplied | |||
| Evidence reviewed and by whom |