Outdated technology = Worthless

[synkr0nized]

You have to be reasonable with anything that's old and has much better counterparts on the market currently.

If you buy something for 200 dollars or pounds that has X, Y, and Z stats, it's silly to expect to get close to that much for it years later when 100-200 dollars or pounds can get you products with two or three or whatever times those stats. Unfortunately for you, I guess, you're looking at an electronic device, one of the faster areas of product upgrades and replacements. It's also very visible in the automobile market (like how they say your car loses value as soon as you buy it and drive it off the lot).

Other markets and items aren't as bad, if they don't change much over time. For example, a book you bought a decade back is probably not very different from the version sold now [aside from textbooks with edition changes] and can be sold for a similar price if it's not in terrible condition. Audio equipment, while a type of electronics, isn't as harsh as computers and gaming devices as long as it sounds good and is competitive. I've also successfully sold an older hard drive-based digital music player for a decent amount even though it wasn't new by a few years since its features and capabilities were still competitive. However, I had to be mindful of current prices at the time for comparable devices -- if my buyer could just go and buy a new one for only a little more, there was no motivation for him to take the used item.

But really computer hardware of all types isn't easy to fetch a high price for the more years that have gone by since it's been bought. I am constantly amused by ads on Craigslist for laptops that the seller bought for 700-800 dollars a year or two ago and wants to sell for 500-600****. For that much money, anyone could just go out and buy a current laptop that has better specs and is in new condition. You have to be aware of the market your item belongs to; it's the same for any used item you sell. It's just that what one can currently buy is usually much greater of a difference when it comes to computer hardware than other markets.

e: re-reading the OP, I suspect that you know this and are posting to complain/talk about the fact that electronics are upgraded so often rather than posting to express surprise or something. Oh well, this all is still relevant.

**** e2: This is actually a hobby of mine. In addition to looking for crazy deals I might want to take a stab at, I love all the fail postings. For example, I just read one that lists the machine as having "almost all Intel inside" with a Core Duo processor and chipset yet an "AMD QL-60 Athlon motherboard" (pst, that's not possibe; also, that's a Turion processor). Or this laptop for 250 with a 1.7 Ghz single-core processor, paltry 40 GB hard drive, and DDR memory. Just a little bit more (300, maybe 350) and one can get a new laptop with twice as much DDR2 or DDR3, a hard drive many times as large, and a more recent processor, even a dual-core. I guess people don't want to wait and save a little bit more money before buying.