Why Retired Hardware Is Worth More Than Scrap

Retired hardware is routinely priced by weight. That single decision destroys most of the value sitting in a refresh cycle, because a three-year-old business laptop has very little in common with a broken monitor.

Grading changes the outcome. Once devices are assessed for functionality, cosmetic condition and configuration, they can be matched against live secondary market benchmarks instead of a flat scrap rate.

Timing matters just as much. Value declines steadily after retirement, so assets sitting in storage for a year are worth materially less than the same assets processed within weeks.