BrandMyLaptop / Case study

The MacBook that paid for itself three times over

Before this was a marketplace it was one laptop. The lid was divided into 10 sticker spots and put up for sale to fund the machine. All 10 sold.

Raised

$9,690

The machine

$2,959

Of the goal

327%

Spots sold

10 of 10

What actually happened

The offer was simple enough to explain in a sentence: a MacBook was needed, the lid was empty, and brands could buy a square of it. The lid was drawn on the page with every sold spot filled in, so anyone arriving could see exactly how much of it was gone and what was left.

It ran as an auction, and that worked because a viral moment put several brands on the same square at the same time. The machine cost $2,959. The lid raised $9,690 — 327% of it — because the laptop grew an inside and a set of accessories along the way, and those sold too.

What it proves

That brands will pay real money for a sticker on a stranger’s laptop, and that the number is in the hundreds rather than the tens. Ten companies put their logo on a machine they would never see, and paid on average more than the machine was worth divided by three.

What it does not prove

That every lid does this. One listing with a viral post behind it is an existence proof, not an average — and it is the reason this marketplace does not run auctions by default: bidding needs several brands on one square at once, and a seller with an ordinary audience gets one buyer per spot. A fixed price is that seller’s honest offer.

The comparison worth making is the median spot on this board, which is $246 across 43 sales. That is the number to plan around. The full report has the rest.

What changed afterwards

The listing closed and the idea became this: anyone puts their own lid up, sets their own prices, and brands buy the spots on it. The money goes straight to the person carrying the laptop through their own Stripe account, and the platform takes 10% as it passes.

The original listing is still up ›