Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iPhone
Selling your iPhone
There are many iPhones and iPhone 3Gs being sold right now, and not just at Apple and AT&T Stores. If you're thinking about selling your old iPhone to get a little spendin' cash, here are some simple tips for you:Tip #1 - Pick a reasonable price. What's reasonable? Anything close to whatever other sellers are asking. A lot of 8GB iPhones are selling on eBay in the range of $325 - $450. Will you get that much? Who knows? That's the "joy" of online auctions.
Tip #2 - Show 'em the merchandise. People want to know what they're getting, so always take closeup pictures of everything that's included in the sale. eBay has special rules for iPhone sales:
The gist of the message? If you're selling an iPhone, put your User ID on all photos to prove you have the iPhone in your hot little hands. Sigh.
Tip #3 - Don't want to sell it on eBay? You can always try Craigslist, or you can get a guaranteed price buy selling it to a broker who will turn around and probably sell it on eBay. Some of these brokers include NextWorth (buying 8GB iPhones for $202) and Rapid Repair ($150). That's not as good a deal for you, but definitely a lot less hassle than eBay.
Have you sold your first-generation iPhone? Leave a comment telling us how you sold yours, and how much you made on the sale.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
rvinny said 3:36PM on 8-06-2008
Sold my v.1 for $300 cash while standing in line for a new one. Did a secure erase and handed it over. That IS quick!
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Joe said 3:36PM on 8-06-2008
Sold my 1st gen 8GB iPhone on ebay for $200, which subsidized the purchase of the 3G - I wouldn't have gotten it otherwise. I could have gotten more than $200 though - which is annoying. My friend sold his on craigslist for $250 and I saw other auctions where they were going for up to $300.
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ANB said 4:00PM on 8-06-2008
Sold my 8Gb iPhone on eBay on the day the 3G came out for $375. Better yet, sold it to a guy in my city, which spared me a MAJOR headache of shipping it to some obscure shady country out there.
With my Fido dollars in, the new 16 Gb didn't cost me a thing, and I actually made $245 on the sale. If, of course, I forget that I spent $580 on the first-generaiton one last July. :)
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Sara said 3:45PM on 8-06-2008
I sold my 1st gen 8GB on eBay for $350. Not bad, eh?
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george paraschis said 3:42PM on 8-06-2008
i sold my 8g unlocked for 425$ right when the 3g's came out. then i aquired a 16g in a trade...i used that for a while, then sold it for 525$. finally picked up my 16g 3g the other night. not getting rid of this baby anytime soon!
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Dante said 7:52PM on 8-06-2008
I had a similar experience, minus the extra 16GB phone. I sold my 8GB first-gen iPhone, unlocked, before eBay put all these restrictions in place (I didn't have my User ID in my pictures, but I did insist on PayPal). I made a 3-day listing and started the bidding at $249, with a Buy It Now price of $400. Twelve hours after I put the listing up, there was $400 waiting for me in my PayPal account. Neatly subsidized my 8GB iPhone 3G, and left me a nice chunk of extra savings to boot.
Eric said 3:47PM on 8-06-2008
Just last Friday I sold my original 4GB iPhone on eBay for $306. That's six dollars more than what I paid for it! I simply unlocked it and jailbroke it and it was ready to go. Got my new iPhone the same day. eBay is awesome!
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joe said 3:48PM on 8-06-2008
i sold mine at this place called cex (or something like that) on b'way and bleecker st (in nyc) for around $220. it's a uk company and i have a feeling their shipping them back there to sell as unlocked phones... the guys seemed quite stymied by the 2.0.1 update.
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manicmouse86 said 4:20PM on 8-06-2008
Wow the US prices in CeX are crap, what prices are they selling things at??
manicmouse86 said 3:55PM on 8-06-2008
I sold mine to CeX for £253 (about $490) and they will sell it on for £375 (about $730) and i bought my new 8GB for only £99!
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Mike said 3:49PM on 8-06-2008
I sold my 8GB on eBay for $455. The paypal payment was from a guy who had phished login creds for someone else. Premiere accounts have sellers protection for most sales, but because iPhones are so hot, they are targets for fraud.
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Jon said 3:48PM on 8-06-2008
The day I bought my 3G 16GB I went to the local mall to have the Ghost Armor guys do their thing. While I waited for him to finish with my phone, he bought 2 8GB old iPhones off unsuspecting passers-by for $125 each. Nice little side business he's got going.
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Randy Kato said 3:50PM on 8-06-2008
Sold my 8GB - previously jailbroken, but reset for resale so it wasn't unlocked or jailbroken - on eBay for $350. That's more than I paid for my 3G 16GB!
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Lee said 3:49PM on 8-06-2008
Sold my fiancee's 8GB for $350. Mine had a problem and was replaced by a genius just before I got the 3G, so it was, in effect "brand new" and it fetched $500. Paid for the two 3Gs we got and then some :)
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Ryan said 3:51PM on 8-06-2008
I sold my original iPhone 8gb Unlocked a week before the 3G came out for $550 on eBay, and got my 3G for $299 which means I made $251 by selling the old and getting the new. Not a bad deal!
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jared said 3:55PM on 8-06-2008
I sold my 16gb on ebay for 450.
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Bradjward said 4:16PM on 8-06-2008
Sold mine for $350 on eBay, 26 days before 3G launch.
http://26dayswithoutaniphone.com
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Steve H. said 3:59PM on 8-06-2008
Actually haven't sold my old one yet, and it's sitting as my "backup iPhone" in case I ever have problems with my 3G. Still, I'd quite like to sell it... hmm.
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mihnea said 11:29PM on 8-19-2008
i pay you $120 for your iphone. i love that phone but don't have enough money to pay you more than that. if you're interessed , you can mail me. mihneachirila@yahoo.com thanks , see ya.
windex said 3:58PM on 8-06-2008
After 5 crashes requiring full restores on my 3G, i'm happy with my decision to keep and unlock my old iphone. I use it as a backup and an ipod touch for traveling (to save battery juice on my 3g)
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