Sellers · Data

Data sanitization before you list

Retired equipment often still holds data. Sellers on offlease.tech are responsible for removing it before a listing goes live. offlease.tech does not check, certify or audit sanitization, and it is not affiliated with NIST.

The standard we point to

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2, Guidelines for Media Sanitization (September 2025), which supersedes SP 800-88 Rev. 1 (2014). It describes three sanitization methods:

• Clear: logical techniques applied to all user-addressable storage, such as rewriting with a new value or using a menu option to reset the device to its factory state.
• Purge: physical or logical techniques that make recovery of the data infeasible using state-of-the-art laboratory techniques, while leaving the media potentially reusable.
• Destroy: techniques that make recovery infeasible and leave the media unusable for storing data.

NIST also recommends completing a certificate of sanitization for each item that has been sanitized. Listings can say that a certificate is available on request.

Which method fits depends on the media and on how sensitive the data was; that decision belongs to your organization's own policy. Read the publication itself on the NIST Computer Security Resource Center.

What every listing states

Each listing must say one of: no data storage in the items; storage removed (not included); or sanitized per NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 by Clear, Purge or Destroy. These categories usually hold data and cannot choose "no data storage":

• Laptops
• Desktops and all-in-ones
• Workstations
• Thin clients
• Servers
• Storage systems
• Phones and tablets
• Printers and copiers
• Point of sale
• Mixed lots

Also remove before listing

• Asset tags, inventory labels and stickers that identify your organization or its people.
• Device-management enrollment (MDM, Windows Autopilot, Apple Business Manager and similar) and activation locks, so the buyer can set the device up.
• Firmware and BIOS passwords, and any accounts signed in on the device.
• Printers and copiers: many contain a hard drive or memory that stores scanned and printed documents.

E-waste, batteries and export

Sellers are responsible for following the e-waste, battery-shipping and export-control rules that apply to them and to the sale. Damaged or swollen lithium batteries may not be listed.

Draft, pending attorney review · 2026-10-06