Selling old mobile phone & battery health

jed_2

Does anybody in here have recent experience of selling an old phone(with poor battery health) on these compare selling sites?

Having just checked the MSE page on selling old mobile phones I have compared the prices using Sell My Mobile and the top payer is Grade Mobile. When selecting this company the next page shows some info on condition classifications all of which other than broken show the battery health must be above 85%. 

The next company (UR) down the list doesn’t have these classifications listed so thinking of trying them. 

My phone is IPhone SE 2020 btw with 78% BH. 

PHK

78% is at the level that a person would consider having the battery replaced. Especially for an SE which has a small battery. No consumer would want to buy a phone at that battery health (at least at prices that a site needs to charge to make it worthwhile )

I think your options are (in descending order of the money you are likely to receive)

Sell privately being candid about the battery health. 

Sell to a firm that will refurbish (replacing battery)  before selling on the phone. 

Sell as broken. 

elsien

I have an SE with similar battery health. I certainly wouldn’t consider it broken. 

My last iPhone I sold privately - at the time I didn’t realise battery health was a thing and the buyer didn’t ask about it. I just presume that anyone who buys an older phone is going to expect it comes with a reduced battery capacity and will ask any relevant questions if they want to know.

PHK

There’s reduced battery capacity and then there’s a level at which the phones firmware makes restrictions so that you can use the phone for a worthwhile amount of time. 

That’s 80% for an iPhone. 

Consequently, the majority of sites will treat the phone as needing work (other than a reset and clean) and so give a lower price. 

UncleJoes

I have the same issue. I have an iphone 8 in great condition, but with a battery health of 76%. None of the sites have an option to indicate that it's otherwise in great condition, but would need the battery replacing. So you have no idea how much they will reduce the offer price by until you send it in. I also looked at UR, but their small print has the same stipulation that you need at least 80% battery,

Penguin_

I usually sell my phones to a local place that repairs & sells second hand phones. 

cashsavvygal1

I would like to warn everyone do not use CEX. They had by far the best price for my old iPhone with 91% battery health and absolutely no damage. However once I sent it to them, they said they needed to regrade but not why and reduced the amount offered by 85%. I've refused and am waiting for them to return it to me in line with their promise. I have photographs of the battery health screen and the phone which I took before sending and all the ID details. I think this firm are probably pulling this scam regularly, giving highest quote but then not actually paying that. Beware.