How to Sell Used Medical Equipment: Steps and Channels

General information, not medical or legal advice. This guide is for staff at clinics, practices, labs and health systems who hold equipment they no longer use and want to sell it rather than scrap or donate it. After reading it you should be able to run the internal steps that come before any sale, tell a plain resale apart from an activity FDA treats as remanufacturing, prepare data-bearing devices, and decide which kind of channel fits.

What you need before you sell

• An itemised list of what is leaving: make, model, serial number and condition for each unit.
• Internal approvals. One health system’s published process (UCLA Health, checked 2026-11-01) separates fixed equipment from mobile equipment (mobile means it can be moved without the need for facilities), then requires approvals by type: IT security sign-off for IT equipment, a Clinical Engineering form titled “Authorization to Remove Equipment from Active File”, a department custodian asset-disposal form for inventoried items over $5,000, extra approval where the original purchase price was over $50,000, and a Capital Finance review for fixed assets. Those thresholds belong to that institution; use them as a pattern for your own policy, not as a rule.
• Whatever documentation you hold: manuals, service records, and purchase or ownership records.
• A list of any unit that stores data (patient records, images, settings, user accounts).

Steps

1. Inventory and classify. List each item and mark it fixed or mobile, as in the example above.
2. Get internal sign-off. Clinical or biomedical engineering, IT security, finance and the asset owner each confirm the unit can leave. Retire the unit from your active equipment records at the same time.
3. Decide whether you are only reselling. Under 21 CFR 807.20, establishment registration and listing apply to a person engaged in manufacture, which includes someone who repackages or relabels a device. Paragraph (c) says the requirements do not apply to a wholesale distributor (as defined in 21 CFR 807.3(t)) who does not manufacture, repackage, process or relabel a device. FDA defines servicing as repair or routine maintenance of parts in a finished device after distribution, to return it to the original manufacturer’s specifications and intended use, and looks at the activities an entity actually performs rather than what it calls itself. If you plan to repair, repackage or relabel before sale, check the rule text and FDA’s page first.
4. Remove stored data. NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1 defines media sanitization as a process that renders access to target data on the media infeasible for a given level of effort. That revision was withdrawn on 2025-09-26 and superseded by SP 800-88 Rev. 2; follow your organisation’s current sanitization standard and keep a record of what was done to each unit.
5. Assemble the documentation pack for each unit: manuals, service history, and a record of the data-removal step.
6. Choose a channel (next section) and get the terms in writing.
7. Close the record: keep the sale document and update your asset register.

Where to sell used medical equipment: channel types

People searching for the best place to sell used medical equipment, or to sell it online, are really choosing between a few channel types. The practical differences are how much work stays with you: listing and answering buyers, storing the unit until it sells, arranging pickup, and handling data removal.

• Selling directly to another provider or buyer. You handle listing, buyer contact, handover and paperwork.
• Using a resale partner or broker. UCLA Health, for example, partners with Centurion Services Group to resell to over 17,000 registered buyers, with equipment resold to other healthcare organizations around the world. This is one institution’s arrangement, not an endorsement.
• Trade-in with the manufacturer or dealer. The equipment is credited against a replacement purchase. Compare it with the leasing and buying trade-offs in medical equipment leasing vs buying.
• Donation instead of sale. See donating medical equipment.

Questions to settle in writing with any buyer or broker

• Exactly which units and accessories are covered.
• Who removes the equipment, and who is responsible for data removal and for the record of it.
• When and how payment is made, and what happens to any unit that does not sell.

If you are on the buying side instead, see used lab equipment dealers. For lab units that need to be taken out of service first, see equipment decommissioning. Surplus stock rather than equipment is covered in deadstock and obsolete medical supply inventory.

What can go wrong

• Selling a unit that still holds patient or user data because the data step was skipped.
• Doing work on a device before sale (repair, repackaging, relabelling) that moves you out of plain resale; FDA looks at the activity, not your label.
• Skipping the internal approval, so a unit is sold while it is still on the active equipment file.
• Agreeing a sale without written scope, so accessories, removal or data responsibilities are disputed afterwards.

When to get professional help

Ask your regulatory or legal adviser before you repair, repackage or relabel a device for sale, or if you are unsure whether registration and listing apply to you. Ask your IT security or privacy officer about any device that stores patient data. Ask your biomedical or clinical engineering team whether a unit is safe and fit to leave service.

FAQ

Where can you sell used medical equipment?

To other healthcare providers directly, through a resale partner or broker, or as a trade-in against replacement equipment. The channel types are described above; your organisation’s asset-disposal policy decides which are allowed.

Does Goodwill accept used medical equipment?

Acceptance varies by location and by item, so ask your local donation site before you drop anything off. Programs that specialise in reusing medical equipment are covered in donating medical equipment.

What can I do with leftover medical supplies?

Donation is one alternative to discarding supplies; see donating unused medical supplies for how those programs work. Check your organisation’s policy before moving any supplies out.

Do I need FDA registration to resell used equipment?

Under 21 CFR 807.20(c), registration and listing do not apply to a wholesale distributor who does not manufacture, repackage, process or relabel a device. If you do any of those, check the rule and FDA’s remanufacturing guidance, and ask a regulatory adviser.

Sources

• FDA, Remanufacturing and Servicing Medical Devices, checked 2026-11-01.
• eCFR text via Cornell LII, 21 CFR 807.20, checked 2026-11-01.
• UCLA Health, Medical Equipment Resale, checked 2026-11-01.
• NIST, SP 800-88 Rev. 1, Guidelines for Media Sanitization, checked 2026-11-01 (withdrawn 2025-09-26, superseded by Rev. 2).