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Why Selling Your iPhone 6 Is Better Than Trading It In

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Apple unveiled the iPhone 6s last week during its annual fall event, and the new smartphone goes on sale later this month. If you’re thinking about upgrading and getting rid of your iPhone 6, here’s why selling your iPhone 6 is better than trading it on.

The iPhone 6s keeps the same overall design and look as the iPhone 6, but includes a few new features and improvements. First of all, the iPhone 6s now comes with a 3D Touch display, which is similar to the Force Touch on the Apple Watch, where you can press down harder on the screen to bring up alternative actions that aren’t just selecting something.

Furthermore, the iPhone 6s now has a 12-megapixel camera that can record 4K video, as well as take “Live Photos,” which are essentially animated photos from a second-and-a-half video that automatically records when you snap a picture.

There’s even a new rose gold color option that’s only available for the iPhone 6s, so if you have the rose gold Apple Watch, you can buy the iPhone 6s in the same color to match.

iPhone-6 copy

If you’re thinking about upgrading to the iPhone 6s from the iPhone 6, you might be considering trading in your iPhone 6 and getting some quick cash for it, but that’s probably not the best idea.

There are a handful of trade-in programs that you can use. The market is literally saturated with companies that specialize in offering users quick cash for their old iPhones, and that’s because it’s a lucrative business. Why is it a lucrative business? Because they offer you less than what your old iPhone is truly worth.

Here’s why selling your iPhone 6 is better than trading it in.

Trade-In Programs Are a Rip-Off

Ok, so that’s a little harsh, but it’s technically true. Companies offer you significantly less than what your old iPhone is truly worth, but you get the convenience of not having to take the time to sell your old iPhone yourself and deal with flaky buyers.

iPhone-6-pair

This can be a nice trade-off, but you may not realize exactly how much cash you’re missing out in by utilizing a trade-in program.

Gazelle, which is one of the most popular trade-in services available, will give you $350 for a 16GB Verizon iPhone 6 that’s in “flawless” condition, which your iPhone 6 probably isn’t. A unit showing some normal wear and tear will fetch you $310 on Gazelle.

To compare, iPhone 6 units that were recently sold on eBay were all fetching at least $400, with some that sold for over $500. Most of them were selling in the $450 range, though.

Furthermore, on Swappa (which is an online marketplace to sell your old gadgets), I spotted a 16GB Verizon iPhone 6 that sold for $500 that was in flawless condition, with other units selling for at least $400.

iPhone-6

Even NextWorth, which offered the best deal on an iPhone 6 trade-in back in August will only give you $355 for a flawless unit, or $320 for an iPhone 6 showing some normal wear and tear.

This means that if you took the time to sell your iPhone 6 yourself, you could make at least $100 more than what you were offered on Gazelle or some other trade-in service, and it really doesn’t take that long to sell your iPhone 6 on eBay or some other online marketplace.

Considering that it makes maybe 30 minutes to list your iPhone on eBay (taking photos, writing a description, etc.) and then another 30 minutes to pack up the box and drive to the post office to ship it, you’re essentially spending an hour of your time by selling your iPhone 6 yourself.

If you can get at least $100 more from your iPhone 6 than a trade-in program, you effectively made $100 for an hour’s worth of work. That’s not bad at all. Good luck finding a job that will pay out that much money.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Armando Filoteo

    09/14/2015 at 10:34 am

    Craig, you are underestimating the convenience factor of the trade in sites. Remember, ebay has many other risks like fraudulent buyers that return goods after they take parts from them. eBay also takes 10% and now they even limit how much new sellers can post in a month. What happens if a buyer wants to return the phone? With trade in companies you deal with solid professionals that don’t back out once you lock in your price.

    Just saying that many people would rather get paid something fair than try to learn ebay or deal with craigslist buyers that may be unsafe.

    Good research though and ultimately people will do whatever is best at that moment in time.

    Thanks!

  2. Gail C. Laubach

    09/14/2015 at 6:04 pm

    have an apple i6 and yesterday…..cannot open mail with touch

  3. graigslist or ebay

    09/16/2015 at 5:45 am

    buy from Craigslist and them did not work after couple days because the pre-owner called report lost or stolen.

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