Selling Your Cell Phone: Final Update (#4)!

Categories: Business, Cell Phones, Personal Finance

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This is the final update for my Selling Your Cell Phone series. You can see the other posts here, here, and here.

I finally received my check! It took several e-mails harassing customer support, but I finally got my check from CashMyPhone. I received it this week after the check having been ‘issued’ on May 5th. They tried to give me the run around, but I had all of my e-mails handy. I also quickly pointed out that if you search “cashmyphone” on Google, this blog is the #6 entry.

Would I recommend CashMyPhone in the end? It depends. Are you going to be really ticked if you send off an old phone and never say payment for it? Then it might be a bit risky. However, they do pay the best it seems. And I did get my money in the end.

Sell Your Cell Phone: Update #3

Categories: Cell Phones, Personal Finance

I’m still waiting on my check from selling my cell phone. CashMyPhone is dragging their feet. My check was ‘issued’ on May 5th. I haven’t received it, so I sent them another e-mail asking where it was.

The response, straight from the e-mail:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your interest in CashMyPhone.com as your used cell phone(s) recycling service. According to our record, we have issued your check, but haven’t sent it yet. It usually takes a few days to mail the check out after the “Issued Date” due to we mail them by batch. We will mail the chek tomorrow. If you didn’t receive the check by the end of next week, please contact us.

Thanks for your patience. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Customer Service
CashMyPhone.com

Note the typo of check. I’m thinking more and more this is a one or two man operation. I’ll let you know when I do finally get my check. This process has taken about two months.

Selling Your Cell Phone: A Look at Your Options

Categories: Cell Phones, Personal Finance, Technology

I recently upgraded to a family share plan (hooray marriage) and we got two new LG VX8600s. Thus, I need to sell my Motorola E815. I have a few of the typical options — Craigslist, eBay, donating/recycling it…

But you have other options too! Specifically tailored sites to sell your cell. Let’s take a look — are they similarly priced?

I looked at the following sites:

  • Cell For Cash
  • Sell Your Cell
  • Cash My Phone
  • Simply Sellular
  • Cellphone Tradeins
  • Also to note, Cellphone Tradeins requires you to input:

  • the IMEI/ESN# which is located below the battery on a sticker
  • the condition of the phone body
  • the condition of the phone screen
  • and what accessories you have for it
  • Each site, of course, is a little different. For the most part they are the same. You input the make and model, occasionally the provider you used it through. Add the condition and what accessories you have, and you are presented with a price. I’ll test with the Motorola E815, my new phone the LG VX8600, and my terribly old phone the LG VX4500. We’ll see if it matters how old the phone is.

    The results are below:
    Sell Your Cellphone Excel Image

    A mixed bag of results! I was surprised that two of the five sites did not list my newest phone, the LG VX8600.

    As you can see, the oldest phone did not have much variation in the price you could receive. One site didn’t even list it as an option — most likely from its age.

    The E815 did not have a ton of variation, except for CellForCash. $11? Are they serious? That’s $1 more than the price I would receive for the VX4500 from CashMyPhone. And they are offering $48 for a brand new $200 cell phone? No thanks.

    Judging from this small test, CellForCash looks like an absolute rip off. The cash you would receive for your cell there is 1/3 or 1/4 of what you could get elsewhere. SimplySellular may take your phone for nearly nothing if it is really old. Your mileage may differ.

    Overall, the winners look like Cellphone Tradeins and CashMyPhone. CashMyPhone had an edge in the amount of money I would receive, but remember this is a small test of three phones. SellYourCell and SimplySellular may be decent options depending on the phone you are selling.

    I also checked eBay for E815 prices and saw a few phones with bids at $46, $56, $59, $37.50 all with 12+ hours of bidding left. That would be another option if you take eBay (and PayPal) fees into consideration.

    Conclusion:
    It looks like I’ll be selling my two older phones to CashMyPhone. The only price I pay is shipping. 30 days after they receive my phones, I will get a check in the mail. I might make a tad bit more money on eBay, but there is also the risk I would make less. With CashMyPhone I know the exact amount I should be getting after shipping.

    Updated: I ended up using Cash My Phone for a combined total of $55. Shipping cost me something like $3. My phones have been received and I should get my check in about 30 days.

    Updates!: One, two, three, and four. Did I ever get my cash? Read on and find out!