Before you sell your phone: a ten-minute checklist
Four things to do before the rider arrives, one thing not to do, and where the bill, charger and box come in.
A pickup takes about five minutes when the phone is ready and half an hour when it is not, and the difference is almost always one of the four things below. Do them the evening before and the handover is a formality.
1. Back up
Photos, chats, contacts, notes. iCloud or Google One will do it overnight on Wi-Fi; if you would rather have a copy on a computer, do that too. Check the backup actually finished — open it on the new phone, or look at the date on the last backup — before you hand the old one over.
2. Sign out of your account
This is the one people forget, and it is the one that stops a sale. A phone still signed in to an Apple ID, a Google account, a Samsung account or a Mi account is locked to you: nobody else can set it up, so it cannot be resold. Sign out in Settings before pickup. On an iPhone, signing out of iCloud also turns off Find My, which is what matters. The step-by-step for each account is a separate post.
3. Take out the SIM and memory card
Both are yours. The SIM in particular — a phone that leaves with your SIM in it is a phone that can still receive your one-time codes.
4. Find the bill, charger and box
None of them is required, but each one helps. A valid bill is what lets a phone still under warranty claim the higher price; the original charger and the box each add a little on their own. If you have them, put them next to the phone.
The one thing not to do: the factory reset
Leave that to us. Our agent resets the phone in front of you at pickup, as part of the handover, so nothing of yours is on it when it leaves your hands. Resetting it yourself the night before means checking it at the door takes longer, and it gains you nothing the reset at pickup does not.
At the door
The rider checks the phone against the answers you gave online. If everything matches, the number you accepted is the number you are paid — in cash, or by bank transfer with the reference on screen, before they leave. If something does not match, they show you exactly what changes before anything is agreed, and if you would rather keep the phone at that point, the pickup costs nothing.
See what your phone is worth
A price in about a minute, free doorstep pickup in a two-hour slot, and paid — cash or bank transfer — before our agent leaves.
Questions people ask
- Should I factory reset my phone before pickup?
- No. Our agent resets it in front of you at the door as part of the handover, so nothing of yours leaves with it. A phone that is still set up is also quicker to check.
- What happens if I forget to sign out of my Apple ID?
- The phone stays locked to you and cannot be resold, so it cannot be bought. Turn off Find My and sign out of iCloud before the rider arrives — it takes a minute in Settings.
- Do I need to include the charger and box?
- No. Each adds a little to the price if you have it, and the phone sells without either.