Reuse is better than recycling. That is the whole idea behind The IT Shed — a working computer put back into service does more good than the same machine shredded for its raw materials, however carefully that shredding is done.
Who we are
Between us we have been working in IT since the mid-1990s.
Kevan Heesom previously ran an online laptop business in the UK that was a certified B Corp — a standard that takes real effort to meet and rather more to keep.
Steve Smith has spent the past decade in IT recycling and reuse, starting in 2015, and handles the day to day: testing, grading and getting machines out of the door.
Edward is one of our drivers / IT Technicians
Oliver is one of our drivers
Jacob is one of our IT Technicians
Hugo is one of our IT Technicians
We are backed by a group of individuals who mostly prefer to stay in the background. What they have in common is the reason they backed us in the first place: they would rather see equipment reused than recycled.
Why we started
We founded The IT Shed in 2026 because there was a gap in this part of the country. Plenty of businesses here needed their old equipment dealt with properly, and plenty of people nearby wanted a decent computer at a sensible price — but not much was joining the two together.
Where our stock comes from
Our machines come from businesses retiring their IT. We assess every unit, erase it, and decide what deserves a second life. The ones good enough to keep working end up here; whatever genuinely cannot be reused is recycled responsibly. Reuse is always the first question we ask, not the last.
Most of what we sell is one of a kind — a single machine, photographed as it actually is, with its own specification and its own condition grade. When it sells, it is gone.
Sometimes a company retires a whole fleet at once and we end up with several of the same laptop in the same condition. Where that happens we list them as one item with a quantity, rather than posting near-identical adverts and making you compare them. Every machine in such a listing shares the same specification and the same condition grade — we will not put a scratched one and a mint one behind the same photographs — and each is still tracked individually by its own serial number, so the one we pick off the shelf is a specific machine, not a random pick from a box.
Data security
Every storage device that passes through us is securely erased to the NIST 800-88 Rev. 2 standard, or physically destroyed where erasure is not possible. Nothing reaches the shop until that erasure has been confirmed and recorded against the specific machine it came from — not the batch, the machine.
For laptops we then install either MacOS, ChromeOS, ChromeOS Flex or Windows 11 on the device depending on what it can run, we then test the machines and ensure updates are run, we then test the laptop.
We do similar testing to other devices, anything different will be listed on the items page.
We are currently working towards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification.
How we grade
Every machine carries two grades — one for the case, one for the screen — so you know what you are getting before it arrives. Cosmetic wear is described honestly and shown in the photographs. Anything with a fault that affects how it works does not go in the shop at all.
Warranty
Buying for yourself: every machine comes with a 12 month warranty.
Buying for trade: trade sales carry a 14 day warranty.
Your statutory rights as a consumer, including the right to cancel within 14 days of delivery, are unaffected.
Trade customers
We supply the trade as well as the public. If you buy regularly and would like trade pricing, get in touch and we will set you up. Orders over £2,000 are arranged over the phone rather than online, so we can confirm stock and collection with you directly.
Collection and visiting us
We work from a shared warehouse, so collection is by appointment only. Please do not turn up without arranging it first — we will not be able to see you. Ring or email and we will book you in.
Find us
The IT Shed
Unit 4, Copley Valley Business Park
Sowerby Bridge
West Yorkshire
HX6 2WA
Telephone: 01422 416821
Email: steve@theitshed.co.uk