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sold my 3gs for $180... fair price?

Jedi5

Jedi5

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 16, 2009
575
34
North Burbs, IL
finally listed my 32gb - 3GS on CL as suggested here.
listed my phone at $225 obo.
got a few emails for $200 but they never followed up.
met up with a guy today who wanted to see the phone.
he offered me $170... i said no... i countered $200.
he then then offered $180 because he didn't have $200 to which i said OK.
by this time, we had been going over the phone for almost 25 minutes of inspection. here i am thinking he is going to pull out the cash from his wallet.
but nope.... we go to an atm for him to withdraw the money.
i'm thinking you %^&%... damn you got me...

$180 isn't bad, is it?
 
Nothing worst than having someone look over your iPhone as hard as you would if you were buying it yourself.:rolleyes:

The guy knows that he can't be trading it in at the store if he finds something wrong later.
 
Oh I don't mind the inspection, not all.
I think he was new to the smartphone/iPhone world so his questions were more how do things work.
He wanted to call and text and I was trying to explain to him that we needed service first for it work.
Seemed like a nice guy. I didn't mind explaining the phone to him.
 
I sold mine using eBay Instant Sale for $172.50. It was a black 32GB 3GS and had some scratches on the back plastic.
 
Not very related, but i literally just got back from selling my HTC Evo 4G (3 years old or so) for $200 on craigslist.

I listed it for $150 and got so many offers that it eventually jacked the price up to $200. Was pretty surprised because this phone's pretty old...
 
Well, I now believe it's a fair price for a phone introduced in 2009 (let's not forget, it's almost 2012!).

I sold my iPhone 3GS shortly after the introduction for €350 (current exchange rate: $454.34). Or €250 ($324.53). I can't remember, but it was a good, fair price.

But 'back than' the iPhone 4 was brand new, and the iPhone 3GS was still very expensive (even on contract). So, I got the money. Extended my telecom contract with one year (I had still one year to go) and bought the iPhone 4 using the money of the 3GS. I only paid a little bit extra: for 'early renewal' (extending and picking a phone one year early) and for the phone itself (not the full price of course, but the carrier-price).

As it turns out, this was a very good choice because the fifth generation iPhone (iPhone 4S) was delayed by a few months.

$180 is fair, for a 2.5 year old, out-dated smartphone. I mean, if your contract is ending anytime soon you could buy the iPhone 4S for only $19 extra.

As soon as the iPhone 6 is released, I will go and sell my iPhone 4. Hopefully I can sell it for a nice price (I already know I will set the minimum at 260 euros ($337.51), but I hope it will be closer to the 360 euros ($467.32).

Yes, that's right. A 16 GB iPhone costs an additional $337.51 (instead of $199), and a 32 GB iPhone costs an additional $467.32 (instead of $299).

If prices go up even more, I will really consider a the next generation Samsung Galaxy S. (Unlike some others, I don't hate Samsung :)).
 
ThatsMeRight said:
$180 is fair, for a 2.5 year old, out-dated smartphone. I mean, if your contract is ending anytime soon you could buy the iPhone 4S for only $19 extra.
Click to expand...

The 3GS, while not top of the line, still works very well. And yes, you could get a 4S for $19 more, but that also gets you the two year contract, which many people don't want. That's why many people purchase from private sellers, so they can avoid the contract.
 
sweetbrat said:
The 3GS, while not top of the line, still works very well. And yes, you could get a 4S for $19 more, but that also gets you the two year contract, which many people don't want. That's why many people purchase from private sellers, so they can avoid the contract.
Click to expand...
That comment was directed to the seller. ;)
 
andyACEcandy said:
Not very related, but i literally just got back from selling my HTC Evo 4G (3 years old or so) for $200 on craigslist.

I listed it for $150 and got so many offers that it eventually jacked the price up to $200. Was pretty surprised because this phone's pretty old...
Click to expand...

Thats good for evo but is no 3 years old is 19 months old I had one as well probably one of the best android devices if not the best of 2010, but you can get same amount for a 2 1/2 year old 3GS which ain't bad device , anyways 180$ is no great but fair that's why I love apple products :)
 
Eager Beaver said:
If it were JB and unlocked it would have commanded more $$$
If you are ever going to sell an iphone, always JB and Unlock, (if you can), you get more money for the device every time !!!
Click to expand...

Oh yeah very true. OP didn't state if it was. If it was jailbroken and/or unlocked and sold for $180, that's really low!
 
Thanks all for the responses.

No, phone was not jb or unlocked, just restored as new.

Oh well... it was my 1st sale using CL and I had no fees to pay.
 
Was it a bad deal? No. But since you went to an ATM I would have told him the price was $200, especially since he dicked you around. If he didn't like it, I am sure you could have sold it for $200 at some point. Guess it depends how bad you needed the cash though. :)
 
lordofthereef said:
Was it a bad deal? No. But since you went to an ATM I would have told him the price was $200, especially since he dicked you around. If he didn't like it, I am sure you could have sold it for $200 at some point. Guess it depends how bad you needed the cash though. :)
Click to expand...

I know... that's the move that got me.
Thing is that we agreed to meet at a local mall.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I called him to let him know I had arrived.
It turns out, we parked next to each other, LOL.

So I get in his car and we're talking. I see his wallet out so I think he must have the cash there. That's why I agreed to the $180, seeing the wallet in the car, I didn't think he'd need to go to an ATM.

I did get another $200 offer but when I responded to the potential buyer, they never got back to me.

Live and learn I guess.
 
Jedi5 said:
I know... that's the move that got me.
Thing is that we agreed to meet at a local mall.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I called him to let him know I had arrived.
It turns out, we parked next to each other, LOL.

So I get in his car and we're talking. I see his wallet out so I think he must have the cash there. That's why I agreed to the $180, seeing the wallet in the car, I didn't think he'd need to go to an ATM.

I did get another $200 offer but when I responded to the potential buyer, they never got back to me.

Live and learn I guess.
Click to expand...

More trusting guy than I am. All in all $20 isn't a huge deal. Happy it worked out. :)
 
I would be careful about getting into peoples' cars, although I guess this was at a pretty public place.

I always try to meet at Starbucks for CL stuff (I think that is the official 'storefront' of CL now), every couple of months I read a horror story about some guy getting robbed or even shot by CL thieves, pretty scary stuff.

I have gone to peoples' houses, but then there's a clear email trail and location, I don't think a thief would have people come over to their house and then rob them. Worse comes to worse let them steal your money, then leave and call the cops.

One time I sold a notebook computer to some guy who asked to meet me outside his apartment, because he didn't want his girlfriend to know how much he was spending on it. In retrospect, that's not a great sign- he could've given me a random address not tied to him, and maybe used a stolen cell phone or something like that. But he was totally legit and I did complete the sale.
 
sold my white 16gb 3GS on ebay for 159$. i included a USB cable, my old case and original box. sounds like it was a fair deal for everyone in your case
 
andyACEcandy said:
Not very related, but i literally just got back from selling my HTC Evo 4G (3 years old or so) for $200 on craigslist.

I listed it for $150 and got so many offers that it eventually jacked the price up to $200. Was pretty surprised because this phone's pretty old...
Click to expand...
thats great lol, some people have more money then sense lol. And you gotta love Apple Fanboys, I put my jailbroken 3GS on CL just to see what interest it would get (wasn't going to actually sell it), I made a few ad's at $350 bucks, got swamped with emails even a few with offers above what I was asking. Apple Fanboys keep more money in our pockets ;):D
 
SurferMan said:
thats great lol, some people have more money then sense lol. And you gotta love Apple Fanboys, I put my jailbroken 3GS on CL just to see what interest it would get (wasn't going to actually sell it), I made a few ad's at $350 bucks, got swamped with emails even a few with offers above what I was asking. Apple Fanboys keep more money in our pockets ;):D
Click to expand...

yeh, those are called craigslist scams.

no one would buy a 3GS for that much when you can easily find a 4 for much less.
 
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