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How to prep an iPhone 5 before I sell it online?

NYKrumrie

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I have my aunt’s old iPhone 5 & she wants me to sell it on eBay for her. She is a bit of a techno-phobe so I’m sure she hasn’t done anything to get it ready to sell. I’m not even sure she ever used iTunes. She just handed it to me & said “see what you can get for it”. So I’ve heard there is more you need to do before you sell an iPhone than doing the factory reset & wiping the data. The cell still has its SIM card. She has been using her new iPhone 6 with her original Ph# for months now. I want to make sure I don’t do anything that messes up her current service while making sure the phone is ready to be used by a Verizon customer once sold.

-What steps do I need to take to prep the phone correctly for sale?

-Is there an easy way to unlock the phone from Verizon? (I heard its easy w/ ATT & Sprint)

Thanks!
 
First, make sure that Find My iPhone is turned off. You can check by going to Settings>iCloud>Find My iPhone and making sure the switch is set to off. If it's turned off, your aunt will have to turn it off by entering her Apple ID and password as requested when turning off Find My iPhone. Once that is done you can go to Settings>General>Reset>Erase All Content And Settings. This will result in all data being erased from the iPhone and it will be like it was when first removed from the box when brand new. You can remove the SIM card as the new owner will have to get their own when activating the iPhone. Also, when selling the iPhone, mention which carrier your aunt used the iPhone with as if it is carrier locked, the new owner will have to activate it with the same carrier. You can also say if your aunt will go to her carrier and get the iPhone unlocked before you sell it if it is indeed carrier locked. You're likely to get a better price for an unlocked iPhone.
 
Wow cool! I would not thought of the "find my phone" setting. I read somewhere to turn off iMessage as well, should I do that? How about iTunes if she ever used it does she need to log in & deactivate the phone on there? It doesn't seem like you should have to but a friend sold an 5S after just doing the RESET setting. Once the customer got it they called him & said he had to do something with iTunes activation. You ever heard of that? This phone is on Verizon do you know if Verizon lets you unlock a phone way way past its 2 year contract?- Thanks!
 
Your friend would have been able to have remotely turned off the Find my iPhone for that individual device from iTunes, if he had not done so from the device itself.
 
Wow cool! I would not thought of the "find my phone" setting. I read somewhere to turn off iMessage as well, should I do that? How about iTunes if she ever used it does she need to log in & deactivate the phone on there? It doesn't seem like you should have to but a friend sold an 5S after just doing the RESET setting. Once the customer got it they called him & said he had to do something with iTunes activation. You ever heard of that? This phone is on Verizon do you know if Verizon lets you unlock a phone way way past its 2 year contract?- Thanks!
That customer that called your friend was referring to iCloud Activation Lock which is what happens when Fund My iPhone has not been turned off before selling the iPhone. It requires the Apple ID and password of the original owner in order to activate. iMessage can be turned off by going to Settings>Messages>iMessage and turning off the switch.

As to unlocking the Verizon iPhone, your friend will have to contact Verizon to ask.
 
Ohhh okay it probably was an iCloud issue my friend had with his sold phone. Ok so to be clear. I turn off "Find my Phone". I do the factory reset like you described. When the new owner gets the phone & goes to activate it the there would not be an "iCloud Activation lock" issue, correct? What happens when the new owner turns on the "Find My Phone" feature?
 
That's correct, there's no iCloud Activation Lock issue when you remove the iPhone from Find my iPhone. When the new owner turns on this feature, the iPhone will be connected to his iCloud account.
 
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