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Sell back your old smartphone; it's worth it.

Over the weekend, I decided to finally sell my old work phone, an iPhone 5, white, 16 GB Sprint device. I had some videos and photo content on there so have been procrastinating getting the phone ready to sell. This, by the way, is one of the top reasons folks have told us in the past why they don't sell back or recycle an old phone. They don't want to lose the data on the phone. I was no exception to this. However, cloud-based storage platforms like iCloud, in my case, are (sort of) easing some of the concerns. For instance, I was confident that my photos and contacts were being saved to the cloud, but I was less confident about my videos. Therefore, I ended up moving all of the content to an external hard drive--to be on the safe side (Note: my World Series videos from October were on that phone and are more than priceless to me.)  So, after about an hour of fiddling around and moving content, I was ready to "clean" the device. I had to ensure he Find My iPhone feature was disabled and the phone was reset, then I was ready to find my best trade in value. 

Here is the list of vendors I checked out and the pricing they offered:

  • Amazon--the online retailer offered $90 in Amazon credit to sell back the device. I decided to check out some retailers in town since Amazon requires the seller to mail the device in. 
  • ecoATM--I visited the recycling kiosk at Oak Park Mall in Lenexa, KS and followed the instructions to garner the value. I was offered only $11 for the device. I asked for the phone back from the machine and continued my sell back journey.
  • I then decided to visit the other recommerce guys that offer cash--GameStop. The retailer said they would pay me $89 in GameStop credit or $39 in cash. I moved on; the price was better than ecoATM but still seemed low since I already knew Amazon would give me more than twice that in credit.
  • Last stop was Sprint, the corporate-owned store in Town Center Plaza in Leawood, KS.  The store was fairly busy but the "greeter" allowed me to go to the express lane. I was offered $100 credit on my bill which was the best offer so far!  He asked for my password for my Sprint account (must be a customer to receive this offer) and it took about 6 minutes to complete the entire transaction. I didn't even receive the standard 6-foot long receipt since the transaction was automatically sent to my email. I walked out with credit on my bill, peace of mind that my device's life will be extended and no wasted paper what so ever. Very green, Sprint!


The moral to this story. There are a few.  1) Back it up. (Trust cloud storage but only so far.) 2) Kill the kill switch. (Disabled theft deterrents like Find My iPhone.  3) Sell smart. (Do your research. There are lots of types of incentives and pricing varies greatly.) 

Just remember, folks. Get the most for your device, sell it while it still has premium value and find the program that works best for you (there are more choices than ever!). Keep in mind that selling your old device is, of course, good for the environment but also reduces your clutter and enhances your pocketbook.  


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