Has anyone sold an iPhone on Craigslist? If so, what was your experience like?
Many people on here have, if you read all of the comments.
Basically it can be a miserable experience, unless you price the phone to sell quickly. If you are trying to get fair value for the device, you will receive tons of emails from people who have no interest in buying your phone. For example:
"Is it still available" and you will reply "Yes" and then never hear from them again. You will get about 50 of these.
"What is the lowest price you will take" as their very first email to you and you will reply "what is the most you are willing to pay?" and you will never hear from them again. You will get about 15 of these.
"Does it have XXXX?" where XXX is clearly stated in the listing and you will reply "yes, as I said in the listing it has XXX" and you will never hear from them again. You will get about 10 of these.
"I am interested in your phone, will you take XXX?" where XXX is either insultingly lower than you are asking or a fair offer. You will get about 10 of these, but only a few you will actually consider.
Eventually you will get a buyer that is willing to offer you a fair amount of money. I only agree to sell to and meet buyers that are able to form complete and coherent sentences, carry on a conversation, voice verify (for larger transactions), and are ok with the price (meaning they aren't going to offer me $200 less in person hoping I take it since I made the trip). Also, cash only of course.
When you agree to meet, only agree to meet in a public place. I always choose a Starbucks and arrive 15 min early to get a drink and watch the buyer arrive. This way I can see what type of vehicle they driver (and plate number for larger transactions) and anything suspicious (like when they show up with 2 or 3 other people).
When they come in I shake hands and ask to see the money before showing them the device. Most thieves probably don't actually bring the cash to the deal. Once I see the money, I let them touch and review the device and then make the exchange. If you are not familiar with currency, you may wish to have a counterfeit pen available to verify the bills. I worked at a bank for a while, so I am able to tell fake bills by touch alone.
Once it is all said and done, you have the potential to make more than on eBay or other services, but you will have spent a lot of "admin" time dealing with the emails and stupid people. I also listed my device on eBay for more money (enough to cover the eBay and PayPal fees and asked buyer to cover shipping) to make sure that regardless of where I sold it I would end up with the same net amount.
Good lord. Did auctions jump up that high? I bailed the eff out of eBay years ago becausebtheybwere taking too large a cut and I'm easily able to resell things that interest me elsewhere. But Jesus. 20%?!
If you add a reserve they charge even more on the auctions. I believe they were going to charge me another $14 to add a reserve of $550 on my 6+.