There’s a big group of consumers who like to upgrade their smartphones every year. Upgrading phones every year can be an expensive process, but selling your old phone can help pay for your new device. iPhones typically hold their value pretty well and if taken care of, can bring back up to $500-600 depending on the make and model. One of the most reputable sites for selling your old devices is Swappa.com. I went through the process of listing my old iPhone 6S Plus that was sitting on a shelf, slowly depreciating in value. The process took no more than five total minutes, and can return over $450 after the $15 listing fee, and $10 shipping cost.
The process of selling your old phone takes a matter of minutes. All you have to do is create an account, either by registering with your personal information, or using social media logins like Google+ or Facebook. Once you create an account, you can buy or sell phones within minutes. It helps if you already have a verified PayPal account created too. This is what you will use to send or receive payments.
One of the most important processes Swappa.com uses is photo verification to ensure the user actually has the device in hand. The photo must contain a specific code generated by Swappa written on a piece of paper by the device being sold. An actual employee of Swappa.com will approve the listing once photo verification is uploaded to the listing. This eliminates sellers who list phones they don’t have leaving the buyer to dispute their money transfer through PayPal. Beyond photo verification, all that is required is a product description of the manufacturer, make and model of the device.
When those few requirements are completed, you simply wait for your device to sell. Once sold, the buyer transfer payment through PayPal where the seller doesn’t have to wait to the funds to release. New users of ebay are sometimes forced to wait up to 21 days before they can access their cash.
For those who have sold on ebay, you know the fees can be really high at 10% of the final sale cost. Throw in shipping, premium listings and reserve pricing, and you could easily be on the hook for up to 20% of the total price of your smartphone. Swappa.com only charges $15 to list a phone, which the buyer actually pays in the final price. If you want a premium listing where it will be highlighted and shown at the top, the additional fee will only be a flat $5 charge. $20 to sell a $500 phone on Swappa is much cheaper than the $50+ you would pay on ebay.
Swappa was created in 2010 with 2011 sales totaling $500,000. Now in its seventh year, users generate over $5M in sales each month. The simplicity, security and quality devices listed make it a very good experience on the buyer and seller.
Swappa.com is an excellent site to buy and sell old phones. For those of you who are interested in learning more, head on over to the FAQ section over at Swappa.