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Three tips to get more love/money for your now old iPhone: Unlock, fix and boxing

It is ‘upgrade to iPhone 5s/5c day’ today so a lot of you will be passing your now old iPhones down to loved ones or selling them through various services. Here are 3 tips to make that gift a little nicer or get a little bit more in a sale.

1. Unlock your iPhone. Your iPhone is worth a lot more if it can be used on any network especially internationally. Unlocking is fairly easy through a carrier (AT&T will do it free after two years after you run a gauntlet) or you can do it through a paid service.

We’re big fans of Chronic Unlocks, which unlocks iPhones for $25 (other phones for less).  Many trade in services will give you $25 more in value from an unlocked phone so it is a no brainer.

2. Got a couple of cracks in the glass? Fix it up quick with a service provider like iFixyouri.com. These services (they have walk-ins too) will have your iPhone (or any iOS device/smartphone) returned in a day or two looking like new. Often the repair cost is less that the value gained at trade in places so again, no brainer. Giving the iPhone to your kids? Cracked Glass? Shame on you!

3. Original packaging. Selling online at eBay or other places you’ll often find that you’ll get a few extra bucks if you have the original box packaging and contents. You can usually skip the earbuds but having the older iPhone come looking as close to original will not only get you more money, but it will also be a better gift to friend or family.

As far as trade in services, Jordan has covered them extensively. You’ll likely get the best return from Gazelle and Amazon, but shop around for the best deal.  Recent prices are below and haven’t changed much for most services:

iPhone 5:

iPhone 4S:

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Comments

  1. For readers in the UK, I found Money Saving Expert’s Mobile Valuer (http://mobilevaluer.com) useful for comparing prices that recyclers will pay. Be sure to click on the link as some may offer a little more if the phone is unlocked (whereas the search engine, I think, assumes that the phone is locked)

    Unlike the US, recyclers here don’t care about the original packaging and it does not affect the price.

  2. Lucas Berry - 11 years ago

    $357 for an iPhone 5 64gb black at bestbuy? Website says $400 for a phone in good condition as of right now. http://www.bestbuytradein.com/bb/funcCheck.cfm?SKU=6699547&category=mobile-phones&modelNumber=MD644LL/A%20or%20MD642,%20MD644,%20MD646LL/A&manufacturer=Apple

  3. Hedayet Ullahcu - 11 years ago

    Rather appealing, This material could possibly make improvements to one’s experience considerably. You can easily have some exceptional with Android spy software correlated down the page.

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

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