Unloading Old iPhones: 4 Tips to Get the Biggest Bang For Your Buck

Trying to get rid of your iPhone 7 before getting the newest model? You’ve got plenty of options for getting rid of an iPhone that you’re planning to upgrade to the latest version: Trade it in to Apple directly, sell it to Amazon, sell it to a reseller, sell it to a retailer, or simply head to Craigslist and handle the process yourself. You can take a deeper look at your options in this primer, but a new interviewee has stepped to the plate to suggest a few previously undervalued tips.

Here’s TestM CEO, Eden Cohen, with a few of the best tips concerning the dos and don’ts of selling your smartphone on the secondary market.

The Big Three

All those different locations for reselling iPhones can be overwhelming. Is there a best overall option?

“When it’s time to sell old smartphones, there are generally three main marketplaces: Amazon, Craigslist and eBay. Though it may seem like a good idea to take up your mobile carrier’s offer to trade in, you’ll generally get up to 50 percent less moolah for your phone that way. Listing on these sites like Craigslist will help to fetch top dollar, though it may take a little bit longer to find an interested buyer.”

And if you go for Craigslist, there’s a couple ways to ensure you sell as quickly as possible. First, make sure you get a lot of data in your listing.

Sharing Is Caring

“When selling a phone on a secondary marketplace,” Cohen says, “it’s extremely important to give the buyers as much info as you can: model, specs, color, storage and condition all play a huge role in how much you’ll be able to get for your old device. More details make potential buyers feel secure when making a purchase. more details will make the buyer more secure about buying the phone from you.”

The tip makes sense to me, as the tech nerd who cruises Craigslist for a cheap phone — iPhone 7 or otherwise — is definitely the type to enjoy reading as many specs as possible.

Snap Plenty of Pics

In further confirmation that we live in an increasingly visual world, one bit of advice suggested going for as many high-quality photos as possible.

“In addition to details, real pictures of your phone from every angle will dramatically improve your chances to sell your device fast,” Cohen notes.

Get a Report Card

Of course, no CEO interview would be complete without them pointing out how great their own service is. Here’s what Cohen had to say about TestM.

“Lastly, while providing details and pictures will help you sell your phone, what you really need to earn the biggest bucks for your device is to give potential buyers peace of mind they’re getting a properly functioning phone. For that, employ TestM. In less than five minutes, the app will run more than 20 diagnostics tests on your phone, generating a report that can be immediately shared with buyers, ensuring all software and hardware is in mint condition.”

The time to resell an iPhone 7 will never be better. Whether you go for the report option or not, be sure to start snapping photos and recording information in order to make that phone order go through a lot faster.

Read more about Apple’s iPhone advancements at TechCo

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Written by:
Adam is a writer at Tech.co and has worked as a tech writer, blogger and copy editor for more than a decade. He was a Forbes Contributor on the publishing industry, for which he was named a Digital Book World 2018 award finalist. His work has appeared in publications including Popular Mechanics and IDG Connect, and his art history book on 1970s sci-fi, 'Worlds Beyond Time,' is out from Abrams Books in July 2023. In the meantime, he's hunting down the latest news on VPNs, POS systems, and the future of tech.
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