How To Sell Your Phone Online: Tips & Tricks For “First Timers”

Richard Goodwin

03/29/21 •  7 min read

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If you have an old phone or two laying around, why not sell them? It is easy than you think, as you’ll see inside this guide which details how to sell your phone online…

When you do what I do for a living, you get sent and buy a lot of phones – it’s part of the job. But even average consumers still usually have one or two phones laying around their homes, collecting dust.

It is always a good idea to keep your house nice and clean. But unlike most useless things you accumulate over the years, a phone is actually valuable if you know where to look.

And it doesn’t matter if it is an iPhone 6 or a Samsung Galaxy S8 – you could turn your old phone into cold, hard cash by by selling it online.

And in this guide, we’ll show you EXACTLY how it is done and why using a recycle program is the best way to do it.

How To Sell Your Phone

If you have an old phone or two laying around your home, and you’re not using them anymore, the easiest way to get rid of them (and make some money in the process) is to sell them.

When it comes to selling your phone online, you have a raft of options. You can sell it yourself via something like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Or you could sell it direct to a phone recycling company like SellCell.

Both are good options but for those that want a simple life, I would suggest you go with a legit phone recycling company. And the reason? Less headaches. With a phone recycling company, you don’t need to deal with a buyer.

You just ship the phone off and get your money. And you can sell broken and locked phones too.

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With something like Facebook Marketplace or eBay, you’re dealing with the general public and, while you might get more money on these platforms, as you can dictate the price, you will run into more issues with this approach.

You have to be super-specific with the description of your phone, its condition, or else you’ll get complaints from buyers. You might get complaints even if you’re 100% honest. There’s just no telling who you’ll be dealing with.

Trust me, this can and does happen – and it is super annoying. You then have to get into a dispute, usually mediated by PayPal, and PayPal ALWAYS sides with the buyer .

Disputes don’t happen ALL the time. But they do happen.

This is the main reason I prefer using buy back companies like SellCell when it comes to selling my old phones for cash.

Where To Sell Your Phone Online

As noted above, you have a myriad of options when it comes to selling your phone online. You can use popular auction sites like eBay, you can use Facebook Marketplace, and you can even use classifieds in your local newspaper or your social media accounts.

The other option is to use a buyback company (sometimes called a phone recycler). These trade-in companies specialise in buying old phones and handing out cash to their owners. This is all they do 24/7, 365 days a year.

And right now, there are hundreds of phone buyback companies online. I use SellCell and the reason isn’t that they’re the best it is because they compare the ENTIRE market to give you the best potential price for your phone.

It’s a comparison tool, basically, one that works with the top 35 phone recycle companies to ensure that you get the absolute best price for your phone.

And it is simple to use too: just go to the site, enter the phone you want to sell, and it’ll pull in all the latest offers.

All you then have to do is pick a deal, follow the instructions, ship your old phone off to the company you choose, and get paid.

Phone Recycler vs. Facebook Marketplace

Why do I prefer using dedicated phone recyclers (buyback) companies instead of places like Facebook Marketplace? The main reason is that it keeps things simple: you detail the condition of your phone, its storage, and whether it is locked or not, and then you get a price.

Selling via Facebook Marketplace is fine, but if you mislead the buyer – or they think they’ve been misled – you’ll quickly find yourself in a world of hurt, having to deal with emails and messages and potentially have to issue a refund and then get the phone back. Awkward.

With a recycle company, you don’t get any of this – you ship the phone off, the company receives it, and you get paid. Simple, right? But the best thing about using proper buyback companies is that they’ll take broken or scuffed-up phones. You’ll get less money, but they will buy them.

On Facebook, no one is going to buy a defective phone, even if it is cheaper.

How Much Can I Get For My Phone?

The million dollar question: how much is my phone worth? Unfortunately, there’s no hard and fast rule for answering this – it depends on a range of factors, including the phone’s condition, how much storage it has, and how old it is.

Newer phones sell for more than older phones. Similarly, phones in better condition fetch more than phones with scratches and bumps and other cosmetic issues. This is why you should ALWAYS use a case and a screen protector – it’ll make your phone worth more in the long run.

When it comes to phones, iPhones tend to hold their value better than Android phones. I have compiled a list of prices for Apple’s iPhones below in the table. These prices are based on the iPhone being in good, working condition.

Wrapping Up: How To Sell Your Phone Online…

The main thing you need to understand when it comes to selling your phone is that, if you go with a recycle company, it doesn’t matter what condition your phone is in or how old it is – they will buy it from you.

Selling direct to the public via Facebook Marketplace is fine, but it comes with its own set of unique problems. I’ve been burnt a few times by picky buyers and it isn’t fun. If you want to avoid this, avoid selling direct to the general public.

Again, when you sell your phone, the better the condition and the newer the model, the more money you’ll get for it. An iPhone X will always sell for more than an iPhone 8 Plus.

But you can still sell both and get a fairly decent stack of cash.

My advice? If you have any old phones laying around your home, collect them all up and sell them. I sold several iPhones last year and netted myself almost $1000. Not bad, right? And I hadn’t used these phones in ages either; they were just sat in my office drawer, collecting dust.

Interested? Check out how much your phone is worth by using this free tool.

Richard Goodwin

Richard Goodwin is a leading UK technology journalist with a focus on consumer tech trends and data security. Renowned for his insightful analysis, Richard has contributed to Sky News, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2, and CNBC, making complex tech issues accessible to a broad audience.