Where To Sell Your Old iPhone

So, you were one of the lucky ones that rose from the ashes of the awful iPhone 6 preorder effort with an email confirmation in your inbox. Consider yourself blessed. Many folks will minimize and shrug off your win simply because they won’t be able to share your victory.

For what it’s worth, the haters should be the least of your iPhone 6 worries. What you should be focusing on this week is shopping for cases and other accessories, hitting the ‘refresh’ button on your shipping company’s website, and figuring out the best way to sell your old iPhone.

I have owned (and subsequently sold) many a smartphone in my day…I guess I’m not nostalgic like that. I will sell a smartphone in a hot minute. All that to say I have gotten rid of an old smartphone in every way possible way you could get rid of an old smartphone…legally of course. That hasn’t changed with my current iPhone 5. Soon I will be putting my own iPhone 5 up for sale to recoup some dough from my successful iPhone 6 purchase.

So for you, I will give away some of my secrets, and based on your needs, show you best sites where you can sell your old iPhone.

eBay – Fast but watch out for fees

Before I decide where to sell anything, the first place I check to get an idea of how much I can sell my iPhone 5 for is eBay. Reason being is that everybody is selling everything on eBay. Additionally, you can buy anything on eBay. It’s not complicated to sell on eBay at all. With the eBay app and an PayPal account, you can list items for sale in minutes.

More importantly, you can sell your items stupid fast if you take some good pictures and price your iPhone competitively. The issue I have with eBay is on top of figuring out shipping, eBay will ding you with seller fees on the backend. So you will have to leave some profit off your sale in your PayPal account to cover the fees. It’s not a huge expense, but it can surprise you if you’re not aware.

Craigslist – Free but potentially problematic

Craigslist on the other hand, it’s free to list your items, and is equally as simple if not moreso than on eBay. If you can put together a two paragraph description of your iPhone with a couple of pictures, that’s all you need to do to list your item in your area.

The problem with Craigslist is, well…It’s Craigslist. After you list, you will get bombarded with:

1) People who will beg you to sell PayPal and ship your iPhone. “DON’T DO IT! Reconsider! Read some litera-ture…” Clear sign of a scam. Stick with local deals only.

2) People who will offer ridiculous counter offers to save a buck. Price your iPhone competitively, and shut down nonsense offers.

If you do list on Craigslist and get a good offer, be sure to meet in a public place. Don’t bring them to your place, and let somebody know where you are. I’ve done a ton of business on Craigslist, but if I can avoid it, I will. Using other methods are more ideal, but there may be times when selling on Craigslist to avoid other rules and regulations of other sites are required.

Gazelle – Super Simple but not cost effective

If you just want to sell your old iPhone with the least amount of work as possible, using sites like Gazelle are the best way. Just find your phone, find you carrier, find your iPhone condition, approve the quote, ship off your iPhone, and wait for the cash.

I mentioned Gazelle for the SEO because it’s a familiar site, but I prefer BuyBackWorld because in my experience, they offer more than Gazelle, and process is just as simple. You can even lock-in your quote for 30 days (since all the new jawns are sold out anywayz) while you wait for your new iPhone to ship.

The reason why I would choose eBay or Craiglist over sites like Gazelle is because you will trade away your Phone’s value for convenience. If you want the most money possible for your device, you’re better off doing a little more work in exchange for selling your iPhone for more money.

Carrier Trade-In – Free credits, but lost value

I liken taking your old iPhone to your carrier and getting trade-in credit towards the purchase of a new phone to that of Gazelle – Super simple. You’re already there buying a phone, might as well let them take your old phone. You might even get a better trade-in value if you’re contract is up with your current carrier and you decide to switch to a competitor.

Even still, you run the risk of losing money on your phone versus doing a little more work to list your phone via eBay or Craigslist.

Social Media – Most work but more familiar

If you’ve already built an brand/audience on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, you might as well see if you have what they are willing to buy. You can even use selling your own stuff as a beta test for expanding your brand into eCommerce, especially if you’re tired of chasing brands around for paid reviews, campaigns, and ad-revenue off your blog. (Like I did #RealTalk).

the only drawback to using Social Media to sell your iPhone is you have do your homework to pick the idea times to sell your old iPhone for sale on Social media. You may have to whip up a blog post to promote your sale, and even post multiple times, on multiple social media platforms to get your followers’ attention. That can take some time, especially if you’re not used to marketing on social media…or if you’re not even that active on your social media channels to begin with.

Again, if you’re just looking for a quick sale, I would use other methods to sell your old iPhone for sale first, and then use social media to simply spread the word.

I have used all of the above methods for clearing my geek closet to get money for new gadgets. They all have their own unique pros and cons. Honestly, the route you decide to take will be ultimately based on if you want to get the most money for your device, or if you want the transaction to be as fast and smooth as possible.

Drop a line in the comments and let me know your tricks of the trade when you sell your old iPhone

P.S. Holla at me if your looking to buy a MINT Condition Customized 32GB CDMA iPhone 5 – Verizon…Just Sayin’