With the announcement of Apple’s next generation iPhone suspected imminently, eBay UK are encouraging us to cash in on our unused phones languishing in a drawer. In fact, you might even be tempted to trade your old handset in as Apple are touting a £200 trade-in credit for the iPhone 11 but if you accept you’re losing a ton of money compared to paying full price and opting to sell your old phone on eBay.
eBay UK has recorded sales spikes following each Apple iPhone launch over the last two years. The launch of the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR last year for example, prompted an increase in sales of older smartphone models, so much so that the platform saw 282 sales an hour, with the previous iPhone X re-selling for an average of £476!
What price to expect if you sell your old phone on eBay
Average re-sale prices on eBay UK can be seen below and if you want to sell your old phone on eBay you can find the trending price on eBay here.
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| Apple iPhone XS MAX | £684 | • | £782 | £826 |
| Apple iPhone XS | £650 | • | £736 | £762 |
| Apple iPhone XR | £525 | £557 | £526 | • |
| Apple iPhone X | £476 | • | £533 | • |
| Apple iPhone 8 Plus | £373 | • | £432 | • |
| Apple iPhone 8 | £307 | • | £351 | • |
| Apple iPhone 7 Plus | • | £265 | £291 | • |
| Apple iPhone 7 | • | £197 | £213 | • |
| Apple iPhone 6S Plus | £156 | £166 | • | • |
| Apple iPhone 6S | £119 | £139 | • | • |
| Apple iPhone 6 Plus | £122 | £154 | • | • |
| Apple iPhone 6 | £87 | £98 | • | • |
Apple are offering a £200 trade-in credit against an iPhone 8 Plus 64GB, but average selling prices on eBay for this model are £373 netting sellers £173 more if they sell their old handset on eBay.
Not only is there money to be cashed in from your old smartphone, but eBay are also currently running a 10% off discount valid until 11:59pm UK local time on 20th September 2019 on purchases on eBay UK from 14 selected sellers to ramp up interest in used tech.
With over half of Brits (56%) admitting that they’ve held on to old devices due to a lack of time and energy, as well as knowledge on selling, eBay has developed five top tips for a smooth, stress free and profitable tech sale.
5 Top tips to sell your old phone on eBay
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Key words are truly key
Take the time to get your keywords right and bidders will come. When buyers search, eBay.co.uk automatically looks for words in the listing’s title only, so it’s crucial to write your listing in your customers’ language and use the keywords they search for – especially brand and specific product names.
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Pictures are important
The vast majority of users will not bid on items they cannot see. With used technology, buyers want to make sure the item they are purchasing is as described so be transparent and honest about the condition of the item. Be sure to provide images from a variety of angles, as well as close-ups and feature details. For best results, take photos in natural light against a neutral background. Remember, a good picture often holds up a less than perfect listing.
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Opt for 10-day auctions to maximise the number of bids
When listing an auction, you can choose whether it lasts one, three, five, seven or 10 days. The longer your item is listed, the more chance of people seeing it, so unless it’s time-sensitive, pick 10 days. For Buy-It-Now listings, you can choose three, five, seven, 10 or 30 days. They cost the same, we advise selecting the 30 day option.
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Consider postage costs
Consider the impact of postage costs in advance. If you don’t offer free postage, you will need to pack your item, then weigh and measure it so you can calculate postage costs. Use the eBay postage estimator service to check your pricing – you don’t want to be out of pocket by covering excess postage once the product has sold.
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Timing, timing, timing
Get the timing right. The busiest time for buyers is Sunday evenings, so schedule your listings to end around that time. Avoid times when most people will be busy, such as weekday mornings, or any big events such as sports matches or TV finales. For selling old iPhones and Smart Phones, the perfect timing is now!
3 Responses
It really is a fantastic way to be the victim of fraud whether either buying or selling.
If selling, you’re money is typically held by PayPal for up to 14 days in case of fraud claims, and if one is raised (and we all know the classics, like ‘I received nothing in the box’) they will always find in favour of the buyer, meaning you loose out.
If buying, lot of idiots try to fob their knackered old phones off onto you, with problems not mentioned on the listing, and then claim you are defrauding them, with threats of tacking to court and such nonsense!!! Had that twice in last 2 years, suffice to say I put them in their place and luckily I knew my rights / buyer protection and how to use it, others probably not so lucky.
Go Gumtree or FB Marketplace, change the goods for cash in your physical hands, best all round for everyone and no exorbitant market fees.
It’s just not the best way to buy some of this stuff, phones especially.
I was just going to say what Michael said….. NEVER sell a phone on ebay. It is the place to go for fraud. I sold a phone on there a few years ago, took pics, serial number imei etc etc… buyer claimed to have received a completely different phone, which amazingly was the same make, model and issues as the one they said they were replacing in a ebay message asking about mine!
Obviously i took this up with ebay, who despite acknowledging the message and the clear match with what he said he had received, simply said that they couldn’t prove what I had sent so i could either pay for return or refund. Wishing to cut my losses i opted to pay for it to be returned, much to the anger of the buyer (why?)
Item came back…. and it was his old phone. When i took this up with ebay they simply said… that was what i had sent them!
Fast forward, buyer got full refund then emailed me to laugh and say how ‘ebay was the place to go’! He didn’t laugh long. I took him to small claims court with pictures of his messages etc. He failed to show and i won.
So please… don’t think the thousands of cases like mine that you will read about are fake… it’s your phone and your money. Sell on marketplace, gumtree or even take it to CEX…. but avoid fraudbay like the plague. (No fees too!)