How to sell a broken iPhone 4?
February 23, 2013 2:53 PM   Subscribe

I have a broken iPhone4 on AT&T (the home button does not work). I just ordered a Nexus 4 to replace it, so I'd like to sell the broken iPhone to offset the cost of the new phone. Googling for places to sell a dead iPhone brings up a lot of options, not all of which look legit. Does anyone have a recommended place to sell a dead iPhone to?
posted by pombe to Computers & Internet (11 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
eBay? Craigslist?

Those are the only places a person would search for such things.
posted by oceanjesse at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2013


I sold my effectively dead 3GS on craigslist. I just made sure it was very clear in the advertisement that the phone DID NOT WORK and there were NO REFUNDS.

I had no troubles.
posted by modernnomad at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2013


eBay. I've sold a couple broken iPods on eBay and was surprised by how much they made. People buy them for parts.
posted by jgscott at 2:56 PM on February 23, 2013


If its just the home button, take it to a place that repairs iPhones and get it fixed. Around here iirc that repair costs $40, and I'm certain your selling price would be more than $40 better if it works.
posted by Joh at 3:04 PM on February 23, 2013


Gazelle is one of several places that will buy broken electronics. I haven't used any of them - I suspect that they will pay less than ebay but be less hassle.
posted by jacalata at 4:00 PM on February 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


eBay if you don't mind 10 minutes of effort.
posted by Brian Puccio at 4:13 PM on February 23, 2013


Depends on how old it is, but Apple refurbed my phone for $200 and I sold the refurb for twice that. Never occurred to me to try to sell a broken phone.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:33 PM on February 23, 2013


It's pretty easy and cheap to get a home button fixed. You'll make far more money that way.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:41 PM on February 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


MeMail me, if you like, for a repair recommendation. I don't work for the company in question, and probably shouldn't plug their business here, but my friends with broken iPhones have had great success and reasonable prices with them (it'll be closer to $80 than $40, I expect, but the value will outweigh the repair cost). They're a local company to me, started here in Seattle and expanded to Chicago, and Madison WI, and do a substantial mail-order repair business.

The best DIY repair option is probably ifixit.com, which sells repair kits and instructions, including the right plastic spreaders for opening these gadgets properly and without incurring additional damage.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:04 PM on February 23, 2013


You could also jailbreak it, install Activator, and use a swipe gesture as the home button. Could make it more valuable to sell it that way - at least it'll work in a reasonably useful fashion.
posted by The Hyacinth Girl at 7:18 PM on February 23, 2013


The recycling program Apple points to gives Apple Store Gift Cards in exchange for phones in various states of repair and operability. http://www.apple.com/recycling/
posted by mjb at 7:56 PM on February 23, 2013


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