Sent in 2 MacBooks to the Trade In program, one was revised to 0$ due to RESTORE FAILURE

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Sent in 2 MacBooks to the Trade In program, one was revised to 0$ due to RESTORE FAILURE

I recently sent in a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air to the trade-in program. I did the process of erasing all content and settings on both laptops and quit out of setup assistant at the same spot once it had completed. The MacBook Pro was accepted for the full value quoted, but the Air was denied for RESTORE FAILURE. I request the Air to be shipped back instead of taking the 0$ offer, and it arrived back today without the charger I sent in with it. The Air still boots to the setup assistant like it did before I sent it in. Holding down the power button, it will boot to the restore menu normally with no password prompts or anything like that. Not sure what I did wrong. If anyone knows of something I missed to prevent this in the future I would appreciate it.

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 1:20 PM

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Answer 1

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varjak paw

Level 10

182,686 points

Feb 5, 2025 4:13 PM in response to FromSinking

Here's what Apple says to do when you plan to give away, sell or trade in a Mac:

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

If that's what you did, as seems likely, then it was probably an error by the trade-in partner Apple uses to handle such devices. It's not common, but it does happen. That's why most people here will recommend taking your trade-in to an Apple Store if possible rather than shipping it in, so you can be there when the device is evaluated.

Otherwise, the only error I can say for certain that you made was sending in the charger; Apple says not to return any accessories since they won't be returned.

Regards.

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Answer 2

FromSinking Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2025 5:01 PM in response to varjak paw

I did what was in that article. After my initial post, I went through the setup process without signing into iCloud. System Information reported activation lock was disabled, and I noticed it was running Sonoma 14.7.3 when I sent it in with Sequoia 15.2 so the OS was changed at some point. I didn't want to assume it was an error but that is what it looks like. I know the recommendation is to bring it to an Apple Store, but the closest one is over 3 hours away. I guess bringing them in person will be my plan going forward. Thank you for the response.

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Sent in 2 MacBooks to the Trade In program, one was revised to 0$ due to RESTORE FAILURE

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