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How do you guys sell your iPhones?

A

ageller

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 17, 2014
26
0
I've always purchased my iPhones directly from Apple since they started selling factory unlocked phones. I don't use eBay because of a few bad experiences and have used Kijiji and Craigslist and although I get buyers fast and with any hassles, I get short changed a lot. I sell them with cases that I have and I usually have a few that range from $50-$100. Not to mention that the phones are in great condition.

Just to test things out I put my iPhone 6 up for sale (tempted to get a 6 Plus) with three cases. I set the price to $950 and everyone wanted to banter and the highest price I got was $800.

Any tips would be much appreciated.
 
I keep mine, and collect the boxes.

I guess it's a sort of weird thing to do... but here is my collection so far.

iPhone 2G w/ box
iPhone 3Gs (black and white) w/ boxes
iPhone 4 (black) w/box
iPhone 4s (black) w/box
iPhone 5 (black and white) w/boxes
iPhone 5s (black) w/box

I might be on an episode of hoarders one day, so watch out!
 
ageller said:
I've always purchased my iPhones directly from Apple since they started selling factory unlocked phones. I don't use eBay because of a few bad experiences and have used Kijiji and Craigslist and although I get buyers fast and with any hassles, I get short changed a lot. I sell them with cases that I have and I usually have a few that range from $50-$100. Not to mention that the phones are in great condition.

Just to test things out I put my iPhone 6 up for sale (tempted to get a 6 Plus) with three cases. I set the price to $950 and everyone wanted to banter and the highest price I got was $800.

Any tips would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Buyers on Amazon usually pay pretty high prices. I got $400 after fees for my 5S on there and it had a dent in the top from where I dropped it.
 
I've been very pleased with swappa so far. Sold an iPad air, iphone 5, and a cracked iPhone 5 on the boneyard.
 
To friends or through Craigslist. My friends know I am fairly anal about keeping my phones in stellar condition, so I tend who have offers to buy when I made it known that I'm ready to upgrade. My last three have gone to friends.

Before everyone and their mother had a smartphone, I sold on Craigslist or our city's FB sale/swap page. I prefer meeting in person and exchanging cash for phone over leaving myself open to the vagaries of PayPal.
 
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I have never really been short changed on Craigslist. If you are counting the cases? yeah... used cases go for 10% what you bought them for if you're lucky. I;ve got a listing for $40 with a lifeproof nuud, two apple leathers (one is beat up), various belkin, speck, incase sliders, some Disney stuff, probably about 16 cases and I haven't even had a bite. Retail for all of that would be well over $300. Cases I usually end up just giving away, as I am likely to do with these.
 
Usually eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist. Other websites that do "trade-ins" like gazelle or electronics stores are just ripping people off most of the time. (yes I understand they have a business to run)
 
If you rather sell, ship and collect payment yourself, ebay or CL will usually net you the most cash for your iphone. If you rather use a third party trade-in site, use a reputable company like buybackworld or gazelle that will pay a fair price and secure transaction.
 
Applejuiced said:
Amazon sales and swappa has been good so far.
Click to expand...

Yep. But as a buyer, I always need IMEI or Serial number to check model, region, network, production date, warranty, simlock, carrier and most important is Blacklist and Find My iPhone status.
Or you can check and write down there, that save buyer time and they will have big attention about your phone.
 
Last edited:
I have only used eBay to sell my "old" iPhone's. I will sometimes get buyers who don't pay, but I usually get my fees back after I open a case with eBay. But the majority of the time, I make out pretty well. I also keep my phones in immaculate condition, so they (hopefully) attract more bids.
 
cuongnq said:
Yep. But as a buyer, I always need IMEI or Serial number to check model, region, network, production date, warranty, simlock, carrier and most important is Blacklist and Find My iPhone status.
Or you can check and write down there, that save buyer time and they will have big attention about your phone.
Click to expand...

On swappa they do an IMEI check before they allow you to list it.
Or the potential buyer can ask you for it also.
Pretty easy to sell on those places and with less worries.
 
i always sell here or a few other forums i frequent. i don't ask for top dollar and the community is familiar with me so it's usually quick.
 
I sell all my devices on Swappa. There is some lowballing and tire kicking going on, but overall I always get or get close to my asking price.

One thing about Swappa, if your device is worth $100 or less, you're better off selling it on eBay, because that 10% cut they take is actually less than the $10 Swappa charges.

For higher end devices, it's the best place to sell.
 
themyst said:
I sell all my devices on Swappa. There is some lowballing and tire kicking going on, but overall I always get or get close to my asking price.

One thing about Swappa, if your device is worth $100 or less, you're better off selling it on eBay, because that 10% cut they take is actually less than the $10 Swappa charges.

For higher end devices, it's the best place to sell.
Click to expand...

eBay and PayPal fees come out about 13%
So swappa is still cheaper even on $100 items.
 
epelican.com seems to give the most if you are late in selling your device...2-3 months after new apple product is released. I've traded in my trusty iPhone 4 to verizon and my iPhone 5 to t-mobile. I can't seem to give up my gold 5s though..keeping that one for life. It's like the last 'real' iPhone - not phablet.
 
swappa, always have, always will.

however, when I sold my iPad 2 on swappa, I got a review 1 star out of 5 because I didn't put the iPad in the original box (I included the box, but didn't put the iPad in because I included all of my accessories (chargers, cords, cases, etc). The iPad was wrapped in bubble wrap and placed beside the box. Everything was mint and perfect shape.

I tried every way possible, communicating with swappa staff and buyer, but nothing I could do could raise my now horrible seller reputation. Now when I sell, I have to be the lowest price or I get ignored due to my 1 star rating. It's rather annoying to say the least.
 
I posted my iPhone 5 on our intranet at work yesterday and sold it no hassle in less than three hours. I tried this to avoid Craigslist and am happy how easy it was.
If I was still a college student I would try to sell it on campus.
 
networth, amazon buy back, buybackworld have all netted me quick and fast solid values for my older iPhones.
 
I have been selling phones and tablets that I no longer need on the Craigslist equivalence (in Canada, managed by eBay). However, all the them were 1+ year old, and the prices were generally low ($100-400).

Based on my experience, it is difficult to sell items valued at $500 or over in this channel. Why? People with that amount of cash in hand don't tend to look at Craigslist unless to look for a good deal. For a phone that will cost $1000 from Apple, I would not consider the risk of buying from a stranger unless for a saving of at less $100 to $200 (10-20%).

To have an idea what would be a realistic selling price for your phone, search to see if what others are selling the same version for. Keep in mind that asking price does not mean selling price. Ads that had been posted for more than 2 weeks are likely the ones with prices set too high.

If you set a price at $950, and got one offer of $800, I'd say it's not too bad. If you repost your ad once a week. You'd likely be able to eventually find a buy that would offer $850 to 875, especially when it gets closer to Christmas. Be patient, listing on Craigslist usually takes a couple of weeks (or longer) to find a really serious buyer. Meanwhile, ignore all the other low ballers. They aren't really looking to get a phone, but are just trying their luck to find a deal that's more like a steal.
 
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