Should I unlock mobile before selling?

faddy

I'm about to try my first sale on ebay. Item is a Motorola V545 locked to Orange, brand new (unwanted as I just wanted the new contract/cashback deal, quite happy with current handset).

If I pay a tenner to get it unlocked before selling, am I likely to get at least £10 more for it, or should I leave it locked?

Tojo_Ralph

Leave it locked and let potential buyers decide if it's worth the £10 investment.
(IMHO)

Tojo_Ralph

Al_Mac wrote:

Doesn't one of chat forum buddies do this for free? I thought I saw it on an auto sig.
:beer:

I thought that was primarily Nokia's? ...... But I'm only guessing.

Found this.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=34239&highlight=v545+unlock

s30jok

faddy wrote:

I'm about to try my first sale on ebay. Item is a Motorola V545 locked to Orange, brand new (unwanted as I just wanted the new contract/cashback deal, quite happy with current handset).

If I pay a tenner to get it unlocked before selling, am I likely to get at least £10 more for it, or should I leave it locked?

Make sure you put on your listing that you are only willing to ship to the UK and No Nigerian Scammers! or else you will get plagued with 'i am wanting this phone and am willing to pay top dollar for it if you can accept bidpay I am willing to pay £250 and ship to my mother in law tomorrow blah blah blah etc i am secretly ripping you off because you will ship the item out to me but i have not paid for it but will keep promising it to you etc'

this is happening a lot with people selling high value or technological items.

soolin

Also don't list the phone with a BIN, at least with a straight auction you can remove bids from dodgy looking bidders.

I sold a couple of phones last year and I got as much for them locked as others were getting for them unlocked, and by selling them locked I could at least put in my auction MINT in box, rather than switched on to be unlocked and tested.

Soo

VH

I've sold a few mobiles on EBay within the last 6 months. I find that they always go for a better price if you unlock them.

A lot of bidders do not seem to know that you can unlock mobiles. Or if they do, they assume it will be expensive to do it. So they will pay a higher price if the 'hard work' has been done for them.

In general, people buy a phone from EBay with the intention of putting their exisiting SIM card in it. If your mobile is locked to one network, then you are excluding all customers from other networks from bidding on it, thereby reducing your selling price.

Have a search on the Mobile Phones forum for addresses of websites where you can do the unlocking. Most phones can be unlocked for free, others will require doing in a store using a cable (costs between £5 and £10).

biblejohn

Ive sold many phones on ebay in the past and I always research to see what prices they go for locked or unlocked as to whether its worth me unlocking them. For the phones ive looked at there isnt any difference in the price. Strange as i thought that an unlocked phone would make more.