Reselling Old iPhones

[Chrysalis~]

I have a near mint 3G 8gb and since buying my 4 I've been wondering what to do with it. I discovered Gazelle.com thanks to a member here and found I can get $94 for it. Then I began to see a lot of ads popping up from people who want to buy them. I have people here on craigslist advertising their old ones for around $200 and others advertising to buy them for around $150. I usually practically give old stuff away but this time I think I want to get the most I can for it to offset the cost of this new package.

Does anybody have any advice or experience with selling them. I'm all but sure there are a lot of shady dealers out there what with the iPhone craze, lots of scammers. Like flies of apple pies!

 

[Alude904]

Use craigslist and you can get at least 200. Dont settle for anything less. Ebay has a lot of scammers and it could take a while to get rid of it and a lot of the big brand sites will low ball you. Ive heard of ppl still selling theirs for 300 but thats getting lucky. 200 is a good price

 

[DannyBoy]

The going price on eBay is $150 for 3G 8gb. But if you can I prefer craigslist unless you really know your way around eBay. Don't ship it to ANYBODY unless it's thru paypal. With craigslist CASH only. If it's too good to be true.... It is!

 

[Chrysalis~]

Thanks guys. Because I don't want any of my information on the phone, I went into General Settings>Reset>Erase all settings and content. After that, I thought it may have been a misstep as some buyers may want a functioning phone sidestepping ATT. Did what I did compromise it's functionality as a resell phone? Was there another way to remove my info from the phone?

 

[DannyBoy]

I always put my sim in and unlock the phone then remove it. Just so they can see everything works. But if you leave it locked to the plug in to iTunes screen I would just make sure you tell them that they will havetoo have a valid AT&T account to activate it.

 

[Chrysalis~]

I always put my sim in and unlock the phone then remove it. Just so they can see everything works. But if you leave it locked to the plug in to iTunes screen I would just make sure you tell them that they will havetoo have a valid AT&T account to activate it.

Ya, I took my sim out after the reset. Let me make sure I understand this. I need to tell any potential buyer that they have to have or get an ATT account and the phone must be activated through ATT. Is that right? Is ATT okay with activating old phones?

 

[DannyBoy]

Sure once they have a line with a iPhone data plan and get a new sim card. They will do the same thing you did to activate you new phone.

 

[Gregoris]

have it as a backup phone?

 

[Chrysalis~]

I went ahead and posted it on craigslist yesterday, sold it today for $150 to a guy right here in town. I could have got more if I'd sifted through the contacts for a few days, but... I'm not into that. Met at a burger joint at lunch, done deal. Better than the $94 gazelle was going to give me and it's handled. Moving on.

 

[xdhd350]

I did the same thing with my 32GB 3Gs. Listed on CL and sold it in 4 days for $350. The guy tried to get me to take less, but I held firm on my price. Met him at a local mall and got cash on the spot. Gazelle was offering $198 for it.

After I reset all settings, I plugged it into iTunes and did a factory restore. When the activation screen came up on the iPhone telling me to wait, I unplugged the phone and it became a phone with no data, the standard apps, and a 'No Service" indicator because I didn't allow the activation to go through. That allowed the buyer to see it working with IOS4 already installed, but no activation (emergency calls only).

 

[Chrysalis~]

Hmmm...tricksy. I'm not so bright, I showed the guy my phone with the plug-in screen and kept saying 'I erased all content and removed the sim'. He kept trying to move to another screen and kept asking. 'does it have OS4 on it?' I didn't tell him OS4 sucks on a 3G. In the end I got money for a used phone, a first for me.

 

[Gregoris]

my old 3g has 4.0 on it and the only extra it had that i noticed was the folders, it does suck.. its stable but sucks

 

[Alude904]

Yeah every 3g ive seen with 4.0 on it is slow. Apple probably didnt want to give the 3g 4.0 but they probably wanted to make some people happy. When 5.0 comes out it will only be for 3gs models and up and im sure it will run slow on the 3gs. Just the way technology advances mixed with apples smart marketing techniques. Sorry to get off topic.

 

[Gregoris]

yes just like the 2007 iphone did not get the 4.0 update this time, imagine how that would of handled it.. though i wonder how many people still use it.. my brother does lol

 

[smeltn]

I have a question. I am getting the 4 very soon, I currently have the 3Gs.

My question is, I would like to give my wife my 3Gs. Can she take the sim out of her current AT&T phone and put it in the 3Gs and it work? I know she wouldn't be able to get online with it unless she had a data plan, but could she use it as a functioning phone with her current number and everything and just use the apps?