We’re 2 short weeks away from Apple’s iPhone 6 announcement and that of course means it is almost time to trade in your current but now outdated tiny iPhone 3/4/5/s/c. Giving your non-sapphire 4-incher to a friend or relative? That’s nice of you but for those in the US who prefer cold hard cash, there are lots of great options out there.
In years past, we’ve put together roundups (2013, 2012) that include 12 different options but things change pretty quickly so we wait right until launch week to update ours. This year, Statista compared the major US trade in options out there two weeks ahead of time to find the best pricing.
The TL;DR is that Amazon gives you the most credit for an iPhone across all carriers and models and we’ve had good success here using Amazon. Additionally, Amazon credit for most of us is almost as good as cash (compared to say Best Buy where we might not be making another electronics purchase in the near future). That said, Amazon doesn’t offer the iPhone directly as a purchase and many folks will prefer to use the credit to directly buy their next iPhone.
As for cash money options, Glyde and NextWorth seem to be the winners with Gazelle bringing up the rear in most cases (Gazelle is offering a price lock which might be driving down their current offer).
Stay tuned for our launch day guide and see results for all carriers as of yesterday below:
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I feel like values have really taken a dive this time around. White unlocked 64GB iPhone 5 (AT&T) in like new condition = $295 gift card. Ouch.
I’m sure they’re probably higher than a comparable Android phone but still. I’ll just hold onto mine until after launch and sell it myself.
eBay is where you’re going to get your money’s worth. I sold a refurb-replacement (from Apple) factory-unlocked 32 GB white VZW iPhone 5 a few weeks ago for $450. My old iPhone has already paid for my new one, and then some!
Yep I do the same every upgrade cycle and have got more then I paid for them.
$450 for a 32GB refurbished iPhone 5? You must’ve sold the phone to an idiot. You can get a mint 32GB unlocked iPhone 5 at $300-$350 everywhere on eBay. Sometimes, you guys just lie too much.
just sold mine for over $600 (minus fees) on ebay. 5S Silver 64GB Verizon (which is factory unlocked).
call your carrier to get it factory unlock or buy factory unlock service on ebay for $30 or less to do it by your self that will help you to get good price especially from international buyers
i will never sell my iPhone or iPad outside ebay
“Factory unlocked” means that it has been unlocked at the factory where the iPhone was produced, like a Verizon iPhone 5 or later that is also useable with GSM carriers. Having an iPhone unlocked by a carrier or third party is classified as having been “unlocked,” but not :factory unlocked.”
Well, after eBay and PayPal fee + shipping+insurance/packing/your time, you’ll end up the same as trade-in.
Glyde charges a fee when you sell it. Is that mentioned in this article?
Comparing using a 4s, att, 16 gig, Gazelle is ahead.
Why did they forget to include SellYourMac.com?
Who did WSJ ask? i know a whole lot of people that own 5’s and 5s’ that want to upgrade to the 6
Just a number until Apple price iPhone 6 starting at $299, all the sudden, the number will drop like a rock especially those with 5, 5C and 5S.
gazelle is notorious for crappy prices masked by great service. you get the best prices in Asia hands down. For an iPhone 5s 16gb in excellent condition you can fetch close to $500…shows you these guys’ margins!
I think it’s awesome that people are still runnin around with 3G/3Gs’s. 6yrs is not bad for a machine like that.
icracked.com pays more out than gazelle
Done plan on selling my iPhone 4… I’m probably going to use it as a development/testing device.
The best place to sell your current iPhone so you can buy the new iPhone 6 is http://www.cellbeach.com They pay way more than anyone else and they pay you fast!
I’ve sold them three iphones and have had a perfect experience each time…and like I said, they pay the most of anyone online.
Just checked CellBeach… They pay at least $70 less what I can get for my Verizon iPhone 5s 16GB on eBay or Craigslist and about $45 less what I can get on CellCashier. It is all about shopping around! :)
I just want to know what Seth used to make those graphs. They look awesome.
We just upgraded from the 5 to the 5s and I nearly sold our 5’s on eBay but I heard about the Russian iPhone scam in which Russian buyers allegedly win your auction, get the phone and then take parts out of them and claim it arrived DOA. eBay then has no choice but to penalize you the buyer, and you get screwed.
We sold our old phones to iCracked which was mentioned by 9to5Mac recently. Went to their site, clicked through to tell them about our phones, and a few hours later we got a call to meet a local rep who inspected each phone, took pics of them as well as my ID, handed us a prepaid debit card that he activated with his phone and we were good to go! Took about 30 minutes and we got a total of $340 for two 16gb 5’s. Mine was mint and my wife’s had a few scuffs. The breakdown was $165 + $155 + $20 promo from 9to5 Mac. We took a little less to avoid hassle of shipping and potential risk of a scam.
no longer does Amazon give u $400 for an iPhone 5s 32GB like last week. They’ve dropped it down to $385 for t-mobile, somehow more valuable than the unlocked version! the unlocked will run t-mobile as well!!!!! defies logic.
Beware of Amazon Scam
I sent in an iphone 5 which had absolutely no scratches and was in original box with charger & headphones in new condition. Shame on me for trusting Amazon. They lowered the offer price by over $100 and marked the item as scratched.
*** I Promise to spread the word of this scam in every way possible – This was Fraud ****
ditto for me. my iphone 5s was always in otterbox defender and had no scratches. they lowered it to acceptable citing non existent scratches