How to Sell Your Old Mobile Phone for Cash on eBay
Take Pictures of Your Phone before you list it
It's Easy to Sell Your Old Phone
I have a few old smart phones that I no longer use and I want to sell them. I've done this in the past and it's a good way to supplement the cost of upgrading to a new phone. I seem to upgrade or change to the best cell phone I can get frequently, so getting some money for my old phone is nice.
I thought it might be helpful to explain how I sell my old cell phones.
I Sell My Phone on eBay
To sell my phone on eBay, I go through a few steps. Here they are.
- First I search on eBay to find the product I'm selling. I look for top sellers selling my product and see what category they have selected. I also look at what they are charging for shipping and write it down.
- Second, I look up what previous phones like mine have sold for so I have an idea of how much my phone is worth.
- Third, I take pictures of my cell phone so it shows any dings or nicks in the phone. I want people to know what they are getting.
- Then I start listing my smart phone on eBay. I select the simple listing option.
- Since I sell my old phones, when I list on eBay, there is a search feature where they usually have a description of my product to use.
- As I go through the listing, I set the shipping price and service based on what the top sellers do.
- I set my initial price of my cell phone at $10 and list it as an auction only. The auction lasts for 7 days. This gives people a chance to see my item and start watching it.
- I pay the 15 cents to add a few more photos so I can show any damage on the phone and I add pictures of what I'm including like chargers, headphones and batteries.
- Then I submit my smart phone to be listed.
I've done this before and have been pleasantly surprised how much demand there is for old phones.
After I sold my last blackberry, I quickly had the cash transferred via paypal. It went so well, I'm thinking of buying old phones and selling them - I have an htc aria for sale now and I'm planning to sell an Iphone 3g as soon as all the data is wiped off of them.
That's another important tip. When I sell a used phone, I always wipe out the data and restore the factory settings. This way nobody gets access to my email or personal information.
Comments
Very informative article. thanks for the step-by-step tips.
Wonderful help. Thank you.
Learned something... never too old! Thanks for sharing...
thank you for this helpful Hub! Many people have old celly's laying around. Help the environment and your pocketbook! voted up!
Nice tips; thanks for sharing.
Great idea! I had no idea what to do with my old phones.
I honestly didn't think old mobile phones would sell on ebay, obviously I was wrong. Might have to give it a try.
nice topic.
I ever sold old phone on ebay. And the customer ask guarantee. Should I give it or not?
I'll use your tips for selling my cellphone. Thank you.
If I sold a used phone and the person didn't like it, I'd take it back and sell it again. When selling used phones, it's important to describe the wear.
I just sold my blackberry bold on ebay for well over $100 net to me after fees. Now I'm selling an HTC Aria. It's a brand new phone that was sent to me as a replacement. I'm curious how it will do.
I sold my BB Bold for $40 less than I paid for it. Then I PAID for it. He claimed it had lots of problems. It went to paypal and he won. He emailed me and said he closed the case, and was keeping the phone. I guess his guilt caught up with him.
Thanks Paul. This was really useful, as I just recently gave into my cell companies (verizon) numereous request to upgrade my phone (of course with a new 2 year plan as well). But not wanting to pay extra or increase my rate via the free smart phones that require the $29.99 data package.
I ordered what I thought would be comparible to my LG Swifts(which needs new batteries) in an LG Accolade. Wrong and not even close, and I could have even dealt with a few less features like, the camera with pictures only no video option and no slot for added memory. But the poor sound and reception quality was unacceptable.
Thus after about a week of this I went online and reactivated my wife and I's LG Swifts. So I basically have two brand new w/box LG Accolades that I was wondering what to do with, and actually wondered specifically about your hub topic.
So again thanks at this point if I make anything from them it's a plus. Up and useful!
Useful hub and clearly explained. Thanks.
Very nice hub, I will look in at that, because I have a few old cell phones on hand that I could sell on ebay.
I'm quite pleased how well it's been going selling used phones on eBay. I just put my wife's old iphone 3gs for sale. I know it's going to go well when there are over ten people watching the auction.
Good info - I have a bunch of old phones, I may consider this, but I think I'll probably end up donating them anyhow!
I have bought used phones from ebay and realized that one needs to be careful about what they are buying. I was told that the phone I purchased was new never used only to find out it was four years old and used. That is great that you are using pictures and being discriptive about what you are selling. It is hard to find honest people anymore not out for a quick buck.
Paul, this hub could be very helpful. People are always upgrading their phones these days and it's nice to make some money on the old one. You explained well what is needed to be done with the eBay listing to get it sold. I voted up.
i have soni xpera x10 mini just 2 month old cell phone ! i want to sell it with all assoriess can you tell me the best price of it.
samsons1 20 months ago
up & useful! I've thought about doing this. Thanks for the info...