Trying to clear my Mac to sell, cannot install new sierra installer

[emieemz]

I have followed instructions to clear my drive and have reformatted it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I have tried to download mac sierra but it says it has been downloaded too many times. What does this mean?

 

[doogald]

IIRC there is a problem with the Sierra installer after Apple had to fix them last fall when the signing certificates expired, and it's likely that they never fixed it. Try either El Capitan or High Sierra and see if one of those will work.