How to Trade in Your iPhone — The Ultimate Guide - 9to5Mac

So you’re looking to trade in your old iPhone? Look no further — you’ve found 9to5Mac’s ultimate guide. Whether it’s an iPhone XS Max or an ancient iPhone 4S, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide we’ll show you just about every option you have for recycling your old iPhone, whether you want to go through the trouble of selling it yourself on a site like Swappa or eBay, send it off to one of many recycling sites, or trade it in with our partners in just a few clicks.

Best iPhone Trade in Sites

Trade in your iPhone at Apple Trade In

Perhaps one of the most popular destinations for trading in your old iPhone is Apple’s own Trade In/GiveBack program. With Apple Trade In/GiveBack, you can either get an Apple gift card to put toward a purchase you hope to make in the future, or put the credit directly toward a brand new iPhone. If you choose the latter option, Apple sometimes runs upgrade promotions where they’ll offer you more than the usual amount for your old, retired devices.

Apple Trade In’s trade-in rates aren’t the best in the industry (they’re much better if you’re trading in a device to put the money toward a new model iPhone, however), but it is Apple you’ll be dealing with. That means you can count on every single quote and promise being followed through on throughout the process — unless you send in something other than what you claim, of course. In our experience, Apple Trade In pays less, but they’re also less stingy about the quality of what you send.

With Trade In, you’re not restricted to trading in just iPhones. Apple will take phones from a variety of manufacturers, iPads and other tablets, Macs, Apple Watch, and more. And if they aren’t currently taking the older device you have on hand, they’ll recycle it for you complete free of charge. Head over to Apple Trade In/GiveBack to get started. Confused? Here’s a closer look.

Trade in your iPhone at Decluttr – 9to5Mac’s official trade-in Partner

As mentioned, our favorite partner is Decluttr — the company behind our trade-in portal. In many if not all cases, Decluttr has the best balance of generous trade in values, seamless experience, and customer service you’ll find on the web.

The experience using our trade-in site is probably familiar to you. Simply head to the site, choose the device, and get your quote. From there, Decluttr will ship you a box with a pre-paid shipping label and some instructions, and you can just pop your device in the mail. From there, assuming everything checks out, you should receive your money shortly after they receive your device.

Decluttr is a great destination for trading in your iPhone, and they tend to offer some of the best trade in values on the market. Decluttr has great reviews on Trustpilot, and we’ve work with them as a partner in the past — so they’re definitely one of the sites we would use ourselves.

Trade in your iPhone at Best Buy

You can also trade in your iPhone at select electronics retailers around the world. In the US, the most popular destination is Best Buy, which takes iPhones, iPads, gaming hardware, Apple Watch, streaming media, and more.

Trade in your iPhone w/ carriers: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and more

Another option for trading in your old iPhone is to just call up (or click over to) your carrier. Whether you have Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or a variety of other carriers around the world, you’ll probably get a half-decent offer on your old iPhone. Like Apple’s own GiveBack program, carriers aren’t necessarily known for super great trade-in rates unless there’s some kind of promotion going on. That said, you can sometimes find a killer deal for a phone trade-in for iPhones if you look closely.

Even more sites: Trademore, Igotoffer, Itsworthmore, BuyBackWorld

All it takes is a quick Google search to find that there are more iPhone trade in sites out there on the web than you can count. We found a handful that seem to be at least somewhat trustworthy, but we wouldn’t go with something you’re not entirely confident in only to possibly get a few extra dollars. For one, you might not actually get those extra dollars — some sites have rough Trustpilot ratings with reported issues with receiving payments for their devices, for example.

That said, these sites aren’t all bad — many of them have enough positive reviews and reputation that it’s pretty unlikely you’ll get straight up scammed for your iPhone trade in. Check out Trademore, Igotoffer, Itsworthmore, and BuyBackWorld if you want to go into the Wild Wild West of iPhone and smart device trade in sites.

EcoATM

Were you hoping you could easily trade in your iPhone without even having to ship it anywhere? Well then you might want to check out EcoATM. The amount you’ll actually get paid is likely to be the lowest of any options on this list, but if you just really don’t care, then you can head to a physical EcoATM location and drop your phone in. Just for context: EcoATM is currently offering $385 for a good condition iPhone XS, while other options on this list are offering $500 and up.

Best Online Marketplaces to trade in/sell your iPhone

Swappa

As it related to selling your iPhone yourself, Swappa has become one of the most popular destinations on the web — it’s risen just as other boutique product-specific marketplaces have. Swappa, unlike general stores like eBay and Amazon, is a destination made specifically for buying and selling consumer electronics. It got its start around the iPhone and Android phone biz, and those categories remain its most popular to this day.

You should head over and check out Swappa if you’re serious about selling a good-condition device for the absolute max value you can get. But just like eBay and Amazon, it’s going to take a bit more work than just trading it in.

eBay

eBay is perhaps the most widely-known of online marketplaces, and you’ve probably been-there-done-that. If you’re looking to sell/trade in your iPhone on eBay, there are a few things you should know: First, eBay’s fees are pretty high. You can assume that a decent chunk of your sale price is going to get pulled from your PayPal account in the days following the closing of your sale. Second, eBay isn’t exactly user-friendly these days. And third, it’s not always the safest place to sell things if you aren’t already an established buyer or seller. For those reasons, eBay isn’t our first choice for selling your iPhone.

That said, eBay is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, and if you do it right, you can sell your iPhone safely and for a fair price. It’s going to take a little work making sure your eBay listing is accurate and thorough, and you’ll need to keep an eye out for scammers, but if you’re careful, it might be worth considering. Especially if you have a newer device that you can run an auction for or an older antique that the trade-in sites won’t give you anything for, eBay is definitely an option.

Check out eBay’s iPhone trade in/sale landing page for a quick rundown on listing your iPhone there.