News

Sellers can boost value of used ATMs

Thinking of selling your older ATMs? There are ways of getting more money for your machines.

October 12, 2003

With Triple DES, ADA and other regulatory requirements in the ATM pipeline, many deployers are considering whether to upgrade or replace their machines.

Those who choose to swap old machines for new are faced with yet another decision: What to do with the older units?

The most common choices are a trade-in with the ATM vendor in which deployers receive a rebate on new equipment or selling the old machine to a refurb shop. A third option, increasingly popular in today's Internet-driven world, is for a deployer to try to sell his own machines on the open market.

However, the self-sale option -- much like a person selling his own home rather than listing it with a realtor -- often involves more time and effort than folks realize, said Woody Alderman, president of refurb shop ACG ATM Remarketers. It's also up to the seller to arrange payment details with the buyer.

"If you sell to a reputable refurb shop, you get the money up front and you're done," he said. "We generally pay for the machines even before we pick them up."

Unless the ATM is a very early model, deployers often can get more money for their machines from a refurb shop than from a manufacturer, Alderman said.

The reason is simple, he said. Manufacturers generally have no use for the equipment and simply scrap it. Refurb shops, however, upgrade it and resell it. If that's not possible, they can salvage parts to help maintain their inventories.

Jon Erpelding, president of refurb shop NuSource Financial, said that refurb shops tend to be more flexible with their pricing, taking into account an ATM's condition and any past upgrades.

Alderman likened the ATM trade-in to an automobile trade-in. "The dealer finds out how much you want for your old car, and then prices the new car accordingly," he said. "Because I want the machine, I'm in a position to offer them real money for it."

"Real money" in most cases equates to 5 percent to 10 percent of a machine's initial value, he said. Refurb shops often sweeten the deal by arranging to transport machines and paying freight costs -- not an insignificant expense for hardware that can weigh thousands of pounds.

Phil Kasper, NCR's vice president of marketing for the Americas, said in an April 2003 interview with ATMmarketplace that NCR's typical offer for fourth-generation and above ATMs is "four digits and it's competitive." Older machines are worth somewhat less, he said. (See related story Delayed decisions on Triple DES)

Alderman and Erpelding agree that the more information a seller can provide about his ATMs -- including details on any field upgrades that have occurred -- the better the price he is likely to fetch for them. 

"The more information they can give me about a machine, the more I should be able to offer them for it. If I'm buying blind, I have to assume the worst," Alderman said.

If deployers' data is incomplete, they may be able fill in the blanks with additional information from maintenance companies that have serviced the ATMs, Alderman said.

Photographs are "a definite plus," Erpelding said, because they provide a good indicator of the overall condition of ATMs.

Deployers that are located along major transportation routes can expect to command a better price than their rural counterparts, Alderman said, simply because it costs less for a refurb shop to collect the machines. Deployers in isolated areas might want to consider selling several machines versus just one or two to make it more worthwhile for a refurb shop to pick up the added freight tab, he said.

Even a well-prepared seller may face certain free-market realities, however. Like most buyers, refurb shops follow the principle of supply and demand. Certain machines are simply more valuable on the resale market than others; those are the ones that will earn the most for the seller.

In general, Alderman said, newer models are valued more highly -- if for no reason other than their more up-to-date looks.

"A three- or four-year-old NCR Personas may be pretty much the same as an NCR 5600," Alderman said. "But the Personas is worth more based on aesthetics alone."