I bought my MacBook second hand and it is still on the previous owner's Apple ID.

Only the previous owner can remove it, at icloud.com/find or in their Find My app. Contact them before you sell, because we cannot test or pay for it until they do.

My employer gave me the laptop when I left. Is it mine to sell?

Only once the company has fully released it. We cannot buy a laptop that a company still owns or manages, so ask their IT to confirm it is yours, remove it from their device management and clear any BIOS password, and do that before you send it.

What happens if I send it still locked?

For a personal lock, we hold it, tell you exactly which lock we found, and wait while you release it. You are paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed after testing. If it is still owned or managed by a company, we cannot buy it, and it goes back to you to be released first.

We have a fleet of locked company laptops to sell.

Our business page handles batches of ten or more. Every device has to be fully released from your management systems before collection, because we cannot buy laptops that are still managed.

A locked laptop can be sold. It just has to be released first.

Your own Apple ID, Find My or BIOS password, we can wait for you to remove. A laptop still owned or managed by a company we cannot buy until it is fully released.

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What we would need

Apple ID / Find My: Signed out by the owner
Apple Business Manager: Released by company IT
Intune / Autopilot: Deregistered by company IT
BIOS password: Removed
Company owned or managed: Release before sending

The straight answer is below.

There are two kinds of lock, and they are handled differently. A personal lock, such as a MacBook still signed into your Apple ID with Find My on, or a BIOS password you set yourself, we can wait for you to remove: we test and pay once it is off. A company lock is different. We cannot buy a laptop that is still owned or managed by a company, including anything enrolled in Apple Business Manager, Microsoft Intune or Windows Autopilot. It has to be fully released before you send it. Nobody can legitimately remove these locks except the account owner or the company that set them, and that includes us.

Most locks take a few minutes for the right person to remove. On a MacBook you sign out of your Apple ID in System Settings, then erase it. On a company laptop, the IT department releases it from Apple Business Manager or deletes it from Intune and Windows Autopilot. A BIOS password needs the person who set it. If you send the laptop before then, we hold it, tell you what we found, and pay once the release is done.

If you are selling a batch of company laptops, release them all before collection and the process runs at the normal speed. Our business page covers fleets, including asset tags and management release, for anyone selling ten or more.

The locks we see, and who releases them.

Each of these stops us testing and paying for the laptop. All of them are removable, but only by the right person, and the company ones have to be removed before the laptop is sent.

Apple ID and Find My on a MacBookThe owner signs out, then erases the Mac
Activation Lock after an eraseThe owner removes it at icloud.com/find
Apple Business Manager or MDMCompany IT releases it from their organisation
Microsoft Intune and Windows AutopilotCompany IT deletes and deregisters it
BIOS or supervisor passwordRemoved by whoever set it
Windows sign-in or BitLockerSign out of your Microsoft account and reset

What affects your offer.

On a MacBook, sign out and erase

Go to System Settings, click your name, and choose Sign Out, which also turns off Find My. Then go to System Settings, General, Transfer or Reset, and choose Erase All Content and Settings. When it restarts to the setup screen, it is ready to send.

On a company MacBook, Apple Business Manager

If the Mac shows a Remote Management screen during setup, it is enrolled through Apple Business Manager. Only the company's IT can release it from their organisation and remove it from their management, and you will need to ask them.

On a company Windows laptop, Intune and Autopilot

A laptop that shows the company's sign-in during Windows setup is registered with Autopilot. IT needs to delete it from Intune and deregister it from Windows Autopilot, otherwise it locks to the company again on every reset.

On a ThinkPad, EliteBook or Latitude, the BIOS password

Business laptops often have a supervisor or BIOS password set by the company. It has to be removed by whoever set it. On many ThinkPads a forgotten supervisor password cannot be cleared without replacing the system board, so ask IT before anything else.

Locks we need released before we can pay.

We cannot test or pay for a laptop with any of these. Personal locks we can wait for you to remove. Anything a company still owns or manages we cannot buy at all until it is fully released, so sort that out with IT before booking a collection.

Still signed into an Apple ID with Find My on
Activation Lock asking for the previous owner's Apple ID after an erase
Remote Management screen from a company's Apple Business Manager
Company sign-in screen during Windows setup from Autopilot
Still enrolled in Microsoft Intune or another device management system
BIOS, supervisor or hard drive password set
BitLocker recovery screen on start-up

Locked laptop questions.

No, and nobody honest can. These locks exist to make a stolen laptop worthless, and the only legitimate way past them is the account owner or the company that set them.

Also selling one of these?

Sell your MacBook Pro Sell your Lenovo ThinkPad Sell your HP EliteBook Sell your Dell Latitude

Selling something we can buy?

MacBooks in any condition, business laptops from 8th gen, gaming laptops and everyday Windows laptops from 10th gen. One collection covers the lot.

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