# Selling a used iPhone 4; soliciting advice and experiences **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 7, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714 "2013-05-07T16:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/1 "2013-05-07T16:25:22Z")
I have a used Verizon iPhone 4 that I no longer use. It appears that they sell on ebay for a lot of money. I have seen lots of them that appear to have sold for more than $200. Has anyone here bought or sold one on ebay? Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/2 "2013-05-07T17:25:03Z")
Are you aware of common eBay scams? Don’t ship to an address other than the “Paypal verified” one. Don’t ship out of the country. Don’t accept some shady payment source. Don’t agree to “complete the transaction off of eBay”. Document the condition carefully. If you avoid the common ones, you’re very likely to do just fine. There’s still a risk that someone will try to rip you off, but that’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/3 "2013-05-07T17:43:00Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Are you aware of common eBay scams? > > Don’t ship to an address other than the “Paypal verified” one. Don’t ship out of the country. Don’t accept some shady payment source. Don’t agree to “complete the transaction off of eBay”. Document the condition carefully. > > If you avoid the common ones, you’re very likely to do just fine. There’s still a risk that someone will try to rip you off, but that’s life. Thanks. I’ve sold a fair amount of stuff on ebay, have always used Paypal, and haven’t had any difficulties. I guess the main reason I started this thread is that I threw the old iphone in a drawer when I got my new one, and was somewhat startled to see that they can sell for $200 or more. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/4 "2013-05-07T17:45:21Z")
Funny because I just got an iPhone 4S and am selling both my iTouch and Blackberry, which is what I used before, on eBay. I expect with all the accessories I’ll probably get about $100 for the iTouch. It’s possible you could get $200 for an iPhone. The double edged sword with eBay is that you’ll want to open your auction up to international bidders because there is no cost to do so and you’ll get a lot more eyeballs on your auction. Indeed, if you don’t, you will probably be messaged by someone who is outside the US asking you to make an exception for them and/or change the auction to allow non-US bidders (as it defaults to ‘US only’). The problem with non-US countries, however, is that they all have different rules for shipping. Some have tariffs, others have postal systems where the officials have ‘sticky fingers’ and steal the mail, and others may even not allow the iPhone for various political/regulatory reasons. Assuming your buyer is not a scammer, they may be unaware of their own laws and postal system issues, so through no fault of your own, you may end up with problems selling to them. I have gone both ways with my auctions and had good luck selling throughout the US, England, France, Greece, and even Saudi Arabia. I have bad luck selling to Malaysia and anywhere Eastern Europe or Russia, which seems to have 50/50 odds of a problem. The problem is that eBay seems to always find in favor of the buyer no matter what your feedback rating is and no matter how little feedback the other party has, and makes you eat the cost (and the shipping!) even if the buyer insisted they did not want to pay for insurance. My only advice would be that if you plan to sell internationally, that you set the terms of the shipping and REQUIRE insurance. Don’t let them talk you into a cheaper shipping option, which thankfully shouldn’t be an issue with something as small as an iPhone anyway. Other advice about obvious scam buyers applies as well. If the bid seems fishy, assume it is. Any kind of ‘and please ship to this different address’ or ‘complete the auction off eBay which will save you eBay fees!’ is a scam 100% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/5 "2013-05-07T18:03:45Z")
Yarster - I was originally inclined to avoid international shipping, although I have shipped some small guitar accessories to South America without too much hassle. How does it work if you smell a scam? Do you refuse to ship? Does that affect your rating? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/6 "2013-05-07T18:10:18Z")
Verizon iPhones are CDMA aren’t they? If so, there’s little point in attempting to sell it outside the US. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/7 "2013-05-07T18:21:33Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > Funny because I just got an iPhone 4S and am selling both my iTouch and Blackberry, which is what I used before, on eBay. Some may consider this a nitpick, but an [iTouch](http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-9670510403-iTouch-Keyboard/dp/B00004VUFB) and an [iPod Touch](http://www.apple.com/ipod-touch/) are two completely different and unrelated things. (And if you do have a used iTouch you’d be lucky to get a quarter for it at a garage sale.) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/8 "2013-05-07T18:31:10Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Verizon iPhones are CDMA aren’t they? If so, there’s little point in attempting to sell it outside the US. I believe Verizon’s network is CDMA. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/9 "2013-05-07T19:52:39Z")
I recommend resetting the phone to the factory defaults. I think you can do this from iTunes, if you have that installed on your computer. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selling-a-used-iphone-4-soliciting-advice-and-experiences/657714/10 "2013-05-07T22:14:10Z")
Advice? You want IMHO rather than General Questions. Moved. **samclem** , moderator