Selling Your Used C-Arm: 6 Steps for a Smooth Transaction

Like so many other things, selling a used C-arm requires a little leg work to get the best value. After all, you wouldn’t expect to get top dollar for your coin collection if it was missing a Susan B. Anthony dollar, would you? Nor would you, as a buyer, shell out for an 2009 Pontiac without seeing some service records or, at least, an oil change sticker from some time after the Obama administration.

Things are much the same when one ventures into the used medical imaging equipment market. Retaining your accessories and documentation and properly maintaining your unit as it waits to find its new home can go a long way toward helping you make your C-arm sale and get the most money out of it. Below you’ll find six tips that will help you sell your C-arm:

Delete All Patient Data

This is legally required per Congress’ Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Your buyer will appreciate that you’ve covered your bases, and you’ll appreciate being able to hold onto all the money the government could fine you for letting confidential health information leave your site.

One important note regarding data deletion: DO NOT simply remove your system’s hard drive. Doing this will generally also remove the system software and de-value the unit. Consult your manual for proper deletion procedures or arrange for a C-arm service engineer to visit your site and handle the data removal. If you happen to have the ever-popular OEC 9800, you can find the steps to delete patient data here.

Make Sure You Have Your Skin Spacer

It’s FDA required to have this accessory, but regardless, many users remove them for one reason or another. When these get removed, they get stashed in a closet or cupboard somewhere and forgotten. If your skin spacer is nowhere to be found, enlist your co-workers and mount a search. These short, acrylic tubes cost quite a bit more than one would expect a short, acrylic tube to cost and your buyer might want that to come out of your selling price.

If you need one, our Parts Team can help you find skin spacers for OEC C-arms and other makes and models.

Keep Your Service Records

Think CarFax for your C-arm. This is the best way to prove that your system works and is in good condition. A comprehensive look at the system over time can help increase your value significantly. Make sure you go back into your files and dig up any old reports you have from maintenance visits or service calls.

Take Photos and Video

You're going to post your system online to help sell it, right? Then you'll need to show its overall condition and prove that it has all its accessories with it. Anything you don't include, a buyer can use to talk you down in your price.

Here's a checklist of photos and video clips we've found helpful in selling over the years:

Photos

• Complete System, C-Arm and Monitor Cart
• A Blank Shot of the Image (Take an exposure and take a picture of that exposure)
• Any Damage to the High Voltage (HV) Cable
• Tube and Image Intensifier (II) or detector
• Any Error Codes
• All Serial Tags
• Software Level Screen

Videos

• Short clip of system booting without any errors/codes
• Short clip showing an image being taken

Plug It in Periodically

If you have been or will be storing your system for any period of time, make sure you plug it in periodically to charge the batteries. Nothing de-values a system like a boot failure during a buyer’s inspection.

Keep Your Software Disks and Manuals

This will give your buyer a backup in the event of software loss or corruption and, if they’re new to the model, questions about basic operations. Besides, software is one of the most expensive C-arm accessories and probably the last thing your buyer will want to pay for after giving you the smokin’ hot asking price you earned by following these tips.

The Takeaway

The easier you make it for buyers to learn about your system before they see it in person, the more likely you are to get the best price possible. 

If you're looking for a place to start in listing your system, we can help. Start by submitting a system specification form to put the ball in motion.