🎯 The business: U.S. companies replace business laptops every three to five years and sell them in lots through IT asset recyclers. You buy tested lots, check that the data is gone, replace worn batteries and drives, grade each machine, and sell them to private schools, NGOs and education projects abroad that cannot afford new ones. The work is honest refurbishing and careful paperwork, because used electronics are where e-waste rules bite.
At a glance
| Money to start | ≈ $18,400 with a first 100-laptop lot |
| Time to the first sale | About 3 to 6 months |
| Hours a week in year one | 15 to 30, mostly at the bench |
| Skills that matter most | PC repair and testing, honest grading, export paperwork, patience with school purchasing |
| A realistic income line | One 100-laptop order a month at this page’s example margin leaves about $5,300 a month before tax |
Is this for you?
It suits someone who has fixed and set up a lot of PCs, likes routine bench work, and keeps careful records. You will test every machine and write down the result. A contact at a school, an NGO or a church network abroad helps a great deal; your first order usually comes from someone who already trusts you.
It is a poor fit if you hope to clear out broken stock. Shipping untested or broken electronics abroad is how e-waste dumping happens, and it is illegal in many places. Your business is working machines with a warranty, nothing else.
Who pays, and what
Private and faith-based schools, school networks, NGOs running computer labs, and projects funded by donors. They pay for working business-grade laptops (the kind with sturdy cases and replaceable parts) with a fresh battery or a battery health report, a clean operating system, a charger, and a 90-day or six-month warranty. Many want the same model across a whole lab so their IT person can keep one image and one set of spares.
Government school tenders often require new machines, or certificates you will not have at first. Start with private buyers who decide quickly and pay a deposit.
What it takes to start
| First lot: 100 off-lease laptops at $110 | $11,000 |
| Parts: batteries, drives, memory, chargers (about $25 a unit) | $2,500 |
| Wipe-check and test software, labels | $600 |
| Bench, tools, anti-static mats, packing materials | $800 |
| LLC filing, insurance for the first year | $1,500 |
| Packing and sea freight for the first order | $1,200 |
| Sample laptops sent to buyers by courier | $800 |
| All-in | ≈ $18,400 |
Take a deposit before you buy the lot. With 50 percent of a $23,500 order in hand, your own money at risk falls to about $6,650. Begin with one order for a buyer you know rather than a lot bought on hope.
Start to finish: the steps
1. Find the first buyer. A school, an NGO or a school network you can reach through someone you know. Ask what they need: how many, which tasks, which operating system, budget per unit, and when.
2. Learn the destination’s rules before you quote. Some countries ban or limit used electronics, set age limits, or require a conformity certificate before shipment. Kenya, for example, has proposed an age limit and performance tests for imported used electronics. Ask the buyer’s customs broker what applies today.
3. Pick your sources. Buy from IT asset disposition (ITAD) firms certified to R2v3 or e-Stewards, which document where the machines came from and that data was erased. Ask for a lot list with model, processor, memory, drive and battery health. Windows 11 needs a recent processor (Intel 8th generation or newer, roughly) and TPM 2.0; Windows 10 support ended in October 2025, so older machines are a harder sell.
4. Set up the bench and the business. LLC, EIN, insurance, a clean workspace, and a test checklist for every unit: boot, screen, keyboard, ports, Wi-Fi, camera, battery health, a full drive wipe check. Keep the result for every serial number.
5. Agree terms in writing. A pro forma invoice with the model, grade, specification and price per unit, the warranty, the Incoterm (CFR to the buyer’s port is common), a 50 percent deposit and the balance before shipping. See Incoterms.
6. Refurbish and document. Verify the wipe (to the NIST SP 800-88 standard your ITAD supplier should already have met), replace batteries below about 70 percent health, swap in solid-state drives where needed, install the operating system with a license you are allowed to sell, and label each unit with its test record.
7. Ship under the battery rules. Laptops with batteries inside ship as lithium-ion batteries contained in equipment (UN3481). Your forwarder will tell you the packing, marking and document rules for sea or air. Damaged or swollen batteries cannot be shipped this way.
8. Support the lab after delivery. Send spare chargers and a few spare units, answer the IT person quickly, and honor the warranty. A school that is happy at month six orders the next lab.
9. Then grow: standard bundles (a 30-seat lab with a teacher’s laptop and spares), a second country, Chromebooks for younger students, and larger buyers once you have references and a clean record.
Pricing an order
| Off-lease business laptop from an ITAD lot (example) | $110 |
| Parts: battery, drive or charger, averaged | $25 |
| Bench labor, about one hour at $20 | $20 |
| Box and padding | $5 |
| Share of freight and documents ($1,200 ÷ 100 units) | $12 |
| Your cost per laptop | $172 |
| Your CFR price per laptop | $235 |
| Your margin per laptop | $63, about 27 percent of the price |
Check what a new low-cost laptop sells for in the buyer’s country after duty; yours has to be clearly cheaper and sturdier. More on building a price in Export pricing.
The math
One example order of 100 laptops at $235 brings in $23,500. Costs: laptops $11,000, parts $2,500, labor $2,000, packing $500 and freight with documents $1,200 ($1,700 together), a total of $17,200. That leaves $6,300 before overhead.
Overhead for a one-bench shop is about $1,000 a month: $600 for space, $100 for insurance, $100 for software and $200 for everything else. One order a month leaves $6,300 minus $1,000, or $5,300 a month, before tax. A realistic first year is about six orders: 6 × $6,300 = $37,800, minus $12,000 of overhead, is $25,800. Warranty returns come out of this, so budget a few spare units per order.
Getting buyers to say yes
Schools say yes to proof. Send one sample laptop with its test report, a battery health printout and a one-page warranty. Offer a matched lab (one model, one image) and say exactly what is included. A reference from one school or NGO they trust will do more than any price cut.
Where to find them: school networks and faith groups with schools abroad, NGOs that run education programs, diaspora associations, and education fairs in the destination. The U.S. Commercial Service can search for distributors that sell to schools. More in Finding foreign buyers.
Running it week to week
Each week: check lot offers from your ITAD suppliers against open orders, test and refurbish to a daily target, update the log of serial numbers and results, and answer buyers. Before each shipment: count, photograph and seal the cartons, match the packing list to the serial log, and give the forwarder the battery details. Keep the supplier’s data destruction certificates with each lot’s records.
Rules to check
Basel and e-waste: since 1 January 2025, amendments to the Basel Convention bring nearly all electronic waste, not only hazardous e-waste, under its prior consent controls. The U.S. is not a party, and Basel parties generally may not accept waste from non-parties without a special agreement. Working, tested laptops sold for reuse are not waste, but you must be able to prove it: a test record per unit, packing that protects them, and a sales contract for reuse. Never ship untested, broken or "as-is" lots.
Destination rules: many countries limit used electronics with age limits, inspection or conformity certificates before shipment, or outright bans. Check with the buyer’s customs broker each time.
Data and software: buy from R2v3 or e-Stewards certified suppliers and keep their data destruction certificates. Windows licenses on refurbished PCs have their own rules; check Microsoft’s current refurbisher program before you install Windows on machines you sell.
U.S. export rules: ordinary laptops are usually classified 5A992.c (mass-market encryption) and need no license for most countries, but they do for embargoed and heavily sanctioned destinations such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Belarus. Screen every buyer, and file the EEI when the shipment’s Schedule B line is over $2,500. See Export controls.
What goes wrong
A lot that looked good on paper has tired batteries and cracked hinges. A shipment held at the destination because used electronics need a certificate nobody mentioned. A forwarder who refuses the cartons because the battery paperwork is wrong. A school that waits months for its budget. Personal data found on a machine you sold, which ends your reputation. The refurbishers who last buy from certified suppliers, test everything and sell only what they would use themselves.
Questions people ask
Is it legal to export used laptops to Africa?
Working, tested laptops sold for reuse can be exported to many countries, but some importing countries ban or limit used electronics, and broken or untested units can count as e-waste. Check the destination’s rules with a customs broker and keep a test record for every unit.
Where can I buy used laptops in bulk?
From IT asset disposition firms that buy retired company equipment, ideally ones certified to R2v3 or e-Stewards. Ask for a lot list with the specification and battery health of each unit before you buy.
How do you ship laptops with lithium batteries overseas?
As lithium-ion batteries contained in equipment, UN3481, packed and marked as your carrier requires. A forwarder that ships electronics will handle the declaration. Damaged or swollen batteries cannot go.
Do I need R2 certification to sell refurbished laptops?
Not to start. Buying from R2v3 or e-Stewards certified suppliers gives you the data destruction records buyers ask for. Certifying your own shop costs time and money and is worth it once you sell to larger buyers.
How much profit is there in refurbished laptops?
At this page’s example numbers, about $63 a laptop, or $6,300 on a 100-unit order before overhead. Battery replacements and warranty returns are what usually shrink it.
Free help
The U.S. Commercial Service and your local U.S. Export Assistance Center can research a country’s import rules and find partners. Your state’s STEP grant can help pay for a trade trip. SCORE and Small Business Development Centers help with the plan and the numbers. SERI (for R2) and the Basel Action Network (for e-Stewards) publish their standards and lists of certified recyclers. The EPA explains the Basel e-waste changes for U.S. exporters.
E-waste rules and import limits on used electronics are changing in many countries. Points here were checked in November 2026; confirm the destination’s rules with the buyer’s customs broker and the battery rules with your forwarder before every shipment.