What actually decides the price of a used phone
Every quote starts from a ceiling and works down. Here is what the ceiling is, and the seven things that decide how far below it your phone lands.
A used phone does not have one price. It has a ceiling — what that exact model and storage variant is worth in perfect condition, under warranty, with its bill — and a set of questions that decide where below the ceiling yours lands. The same questions price every phone we buy, so two people selling the same phone in the same condition get the same number. This is what those questions are, and why each one is asked.
The ceiling: model, year and storage
The model sets the starting point, and the year it launched matters more than the year you bought it. A phone launched three years ago has a three-year-old ceiling however recently it left the shop.
Storage is priced separately, which is why you pick the variant before you see a number. A 256 GB phone is worth more than the same phone with 128 GB, and a quote that did not ask would be guessing.
The screen
Of everything on the phone, the screen moves the price most, and within the screen it is the panel that matters — spots, lines and dead pixels — before the glass. A cracked or heavily scratched touch glass counts too, but a panel fault is the more expensive one, because it is the more expensive repair.
The body
Scratches, dents and a broken back panel each count on their own. A phone that has lived in a case usually does well here; one that has been dropped on concrete usually does not, and a photo will not hide it from the agent at your door, so answer this one straight.
Everything working
Cameras, speakers, microphone, network, the charging port, Face ID or the fingerprint reader — each is asked about and each fault is priced on its own. One broken camera is one deduction, not a rejection.
The battery
On an iPhone you will be asked for the battery health figure in Settings. On an Android phone, whether the battery drains fast or has started to swell. A tired battery is a fault like any other, not a reason we will not buy the phone. What battery health does to the price is its own post.
Warranty, bill and box
A phone still under the manufacturer's warranty, with the bill to prove it, prices higher. The original charger and the box each add a little. None of them is required — a phone without any of them still sells.
What a quote is, then
A ceiling, minus what your answers say is wrong, plus what your accessories add. That number is shown before you book and it is the number you are paid. If our agent finds something your answers did not mention, they show you exactly what it changes before anything is agreed — never after.
Pick your phone on the sell page and the questions take under a minute.
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
- How is the price of a used phone calculated?
- From a ceiling for your exact model and storage variant, minus a deduction for each fault your answers declare, plus what the bill, box and charger add. The same table prices every phone, so two people selling the same phone in the same condition see the same number.
- Does the storage variant really change the price?
- Yes, which is why you pick it before you see a number. A 256 GB phone and a 128 GB phone of the same model are two different prices.
- Will one fault mean you refuse the phone?
- No. Each fault is a deduction on its own. A phone that will not switch on is still bought, at its model's minimum.