A broken laptop, phone or monitor is worth something to the right buyer and nothing to the wrong one, and the difference is usually the fault. A phone with a cracked screen and a working board is a repair job. A laptop that will not power on may only be worth its parts. A dead monitor is mostly free-recycling material. This guide sets out the choices in Australia, what the free schemes accept, why you should wipe your data first, and what to avoid. It is written for households and small businesses. We give no prices, because we could not find a reliable source for what broken devices sell for, and we say where our evidence stops. ScrapTrade operates a scrap marketplace and has a commercial interest in the scrap trade.
How much demand is there?
Modest. According to Ubersuggest data for Australia, "sell broken phone" is searched about 170 times a month, "sell broken laptop" and "sell broken iphone" about 70 each, "sell broken laptops" about 90, and "sell broken monitor" about 10. Variants such as "sell broken phones for cash near me" and "where to sell broken laptop" are smaller again. These are small numbers, and most people with a broken device end up recycling it. Selling is worth trying when the device has a specific, describable fault and is a popular model.
Step 1: Check whether it is still covered
If the device is recent, the fault may be covered by consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says can outlast a manufacturer's warranty. A major fault lets the consumer choose a refund or replacement, and a minor fault lets the seller choose. We are not lawyers, and this is a summary of ACCC material, so confirm it for your case. Our companion guide, Can You Sell a Broken TV in Australia?, sets out the same rights in more detail.
Step 2: Wipe your data
Before the device leaves your hands, remove your personal information. We did not find Australian Cyber Security Centre guidance in our searches, so check cyber.gov.au for the current advice. The closest official guidance we found is from the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre, which advises backing up what you want to keep, signing out of your accounts, and using the device's own factory reset or "erase all content" feature, and not an option that keeps personal files. It also notes that a determined expert with specialist tools may still recover data after a reset, so if the data must never be recoverable you need secure sanitisation. For a laptop, one older consumer article suggests removing the hard drive entirely. A broken device you cannot reset is the hardest case. If you cannot wipe it, consider keeping the storage drive.
Step 3: Decide: sell, or recycle
- A cracked screen but it powers on and works: sell as a repair project, describing exactly what works.
- Will not power on: sell for parts, or recycle.
- A dead or damaged battery: do not post it; ask the buyer or collection point how to handle it.
- Water damage: describe it honestly and expect parts or recycling only.
- An old, common model: recycle it free.
This list is our own rule of thumb, not a market study. We found no Australian data on how much each type sells for.
Selling it
Buyers want the make and model, the storage size where it applies, a plain description of the fault, and photographs of the screen, the back and any damage. Do not describe a non-working device as working. If a buyer is a repairer, an honest description helps them quote. If you have many devices, for example from an office clean-out, you can list them on the ScrapTrade marketplace or create a free account.
Recycling it free
Phones. MobileMuster is a free, not-for-profit program that accepts any type of mobile phone, plus batteries, chargers and accessories such as earphones, according to its pages and council pages we found. Sources cite more than 3,000 to more than 4,000 public drop-off points, including major phone retailers and Officeworks stores, and a free postal option using a satchel from Australia Post or a prepaid return label. The program says phones are sorted and dismantled by hand into circuit boards, metals, glass, plastic and batteries, that some plastics and metals are processed in Australia, and that circuit boards and batteries go to a partner facility in Singapore. It says nothing is reused or resold, and that any data left on the device is destroyed. The recovery rate it quotes varies by page, from over 95 percent to over 99 percent, with an older page saying over 89 percent, so treat the figure as the program's own claim. Check mobilemuster.com.au for current details, since we could not find one complete current page.
Laptops, tablets and monitors. The National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme accepts laptops, tablets, desktop computers, monitors and projectors, printers, and parts and peripherals such as keyboards, mice, hard drives and motherboards. It is free for households and small businesses, and charges can apply for larger businesses or at drop-off points outside the scheme. You can find a drop-off through Recycle Mate, Planet Ark's Recycling Near You or your council, and the approved operators are TechCollect, E-Cycle Solutions and Activ Group. We relied on search summaries of the government pages, which we could not open, so confirm what each point accepts.
Safety, and landfill
A swollen or damaged lithium battery can start a fire. Do not put one in a bin, and ask the collection point how to hand it over. Several states ban e-waste from landfill, so a dead device should not go in the rubbish. We cover the rules and what happens next in Where Old Electronics Go After You Hand Them In.
For the complete guide to selling broken, faulty, old or used electronics, see Sell Broken, Faulty or Old Electronics.
What we could not verify
- What broken laptops, phones and monitors sell for. We found no reliable source.
- The Australian Cyber Security Centre's current guidance. We relied on UK guidance.
- The current MobileMuster and television and computer scheme details. We relied on a mix of program, council and news pages and search summaries.
- The recovery rates. They are the program's own claims and differ by page.
- How many Australian buyers pay for broken devices.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I sell a broken laptop?
To a repairer or parts buyer, if you describe the fault and the model honestly. Many people recycle instead, which is free through the national scheme.
Can I recycle a broken phone for free?
Yes. MobileMuster accepts any mobile phone at drop-off points or by post, at no charge.
Do I need to wipe a broken phone or laptop?
Yes if you can, and keep the storage drive if you cannot. Use the device's factory reset and check the current advice at cyber.gov.au.
Can I sell a broken monitor?
Rarely for much. Monitors are accepted by the national television and computer recycling scheme, which is free for households.
Sources
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, consumer guarantee pages, as summarised in search results.
- MobileMuster program, council and news pages on phone recycling, as summarised in search results.
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme pages, as summarised in search results.
- United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre, "Buying, selling and donating second-hand devices"; and a 2015 Christian Science Monitor article on erasing data.
- Ubersuggest keyword data for Australia, queried November 2026.
This is general information, not financial, legal or security advice. ScrapTrade operates a scrap marketplace and has a commercial interest in the scrap trade.