How do I sell my iPhone 5s for the best price?

December 29, 2014 9:39 AM

I want to sell my practically new iPhone 5s and get the 6 Plus. No retailer will trade up. I've read that there are on-line markets for used cell phones. Which will give me the best price?
posted by KRS to Technology (13 answers total)

You'll have to do the shopping yourself to find out who would give you the best price. Amazon, Apple, and Gazelle are some well-known places you can trade in. When I looked recently Amazon had the best trade-in price but it was for Amazon store credit. Prices change often and it depends on your carrier and whether your phone is unlocked and stuff like that. You can also try selling it on Craigslist or eBay if you feel like taking more of a risk. The fact that it's "practically new" is not going to be worth much.
posted by mskyle at 9:49 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm in a similar boat with a like-new 5. I googled something generic like 'sell iphone', which gave me a series of sites like Gazelle, etc, (as mskyle mentioned) and then compared what I could get from each site & in what format (the most common offer is a store gift card for Best Buy, Amazon, etc). For my particular phone I found the best offer was straight from Apple, but YMMV.
posted by AthenaPolias at 9:53 AM on December 29, 2014

Craigslist is great but you will get a million lowballers offering you $50 or whatever. It will take you at least a day or two, probably a week, but you can probably get top dollar on there. I would advise meeting in a police station unless you're moderately big and intimidating. Cell phones are a lot of hassle and a bit of risk to sell on Craigslist, for sure, but it's the best place to get top dollar without fees.

I have sold both working and broken cell phones on Craigslist before and gotten decent amounts of money for them.
posted by Slinga at 9:54 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Glyde is another option and you can see what they'll give you without making any commitments. I disagree that the condition doesn't matter - they price them based on the condition. I can't guarantee I got the best price from Glyde, but the process was clear and painless.
posted by desjardins at 9:55 AM on December 29, 2014

eBay is where I would actually buy your phone, so maybe sell there.
posted by oceanjesse at 9:56 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

Used retailers like CEX buy in person too for cash. We got ~200 for a iPhone 5.
posted by amileighs at 10:22 AM on December 29, 2014

It really depends on your timing. I've sold my last two phones to best buy for store credit which I then used for a new phone. Their office was decent, but I could have done better through Craigslist or eBay. Best buy was fine on the spot though, didn't even have to send it off like with Amazon or gazelle.
posted by dstopps at 10:58 AM on December 29, 2014

Totally not the question you are asking, but try the 6+ before you buy it. I got it and while I can finally see the screen without glasses, the phone itself is awkwardly ginormous coming from a 4S. I wish I had gone with the 6!
posted by cecic at 11:05 AM on December 29, 2014

Swappa often comes up here when there's a "Where can I buy/sell a used cell phone and not get ripped off?"
posted by Gev at 11:58 AM on December 29, 2014

swappa is the place to sell it, and they don't hit you with fees.(the buyer pays those) but i'm seriously seconding trying out the 6+ in person for more than 5 minutes before you get one(at an apple store, carrier store, best buy, whatever)

it's pretty much larger than most 6in mega-phones like the nexus 6 and z ultra and whatever since the bezels are large. i really wanted one, and then realized it was basically impossible to hold even compared to the mega-phone i had for a while with the same sized 5.5in screen(lg g3). I now have a regular sized 6 and love it. iphones are bigger than say, android phones with the same display size. my regular 6 is the size of my old nexus 5.

if you really want to trade up in a store, apple will do that at their stores. you get a decent, but not great amount of money for it.
posted by emptythought at 3:28 PM on December 29, 2014

Go to the Apple Store online, or in person. I traded my wife's iPhone 5 and received $150 credit toward her new 6. They also gave me $50 for an old iPhone 4 we had laying around.
posted by tgrundke at 5:50 AM on December 30, 2014

I've had good luck with iCracked. They will come to you.
posted by Seeking Direction at 10:18 AM on December 30, 2014

Craigslist is the traditional way. You'll get a good price eventually, but it's kind of a pain in the ass because CL people are flaky as hell.

One thing to note: I'm not sure if the 5S has carrier-locked versions (IIRC the 5 didn't), but if yours is carrier-locked, call your carrier and see if they'll unlock it for you. If you're on AT&T there's a page to do that here. For lots of potential buyers (like people on T-Mobile), one that isn't locked is a big plus, and you might be able to get a bit of a price premium for it.

Second the plea to consider a 6 instead of a 6+. Dear God, the 6+ is huge. (Then again, I thought the 6 was huge too, after moving up from a 4, but after getting used to it the bigger screen is pretty nice.)
posted by neckro23 at 1:42 PM on December 30, 2014