Note: This is my second ever sponsored post here on Mobile Industry Review. I had some good feedback after the last one a few months ago so here we go. This one is on behalf of the team at the Mobile Phone Recycling Comparison site. (It does what it says on the tin).
I’ve been recycling my handsets for quite a while. Sometimes I’ll hand them to friends and family, other times I’ll send them off to one of the cash-for-your-phone places. It’s become so mainstream nowadays that I know many colleagues who’ve actually use the services to help them upgrade their devices.
For instance, one friend walked into a mobile store recently to upgrade his iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4. Now, I can’t recall if it was an operator store or if it was a handset retailer like Phones4U or Carphone Warehouse, however, he managed to avoid the up-front fee for the new iPhone 4 (About £120 for him) by handling them his 3GS during the transaction. He was absolutely ecstatic. I’m not sure if his girlfriend was that impressed at the concept as I reckon she was hoping to get it.
There’s substantial re-sale value in your old 3G, 3GS — indeed almost any device that’s 1-2 years old. Not many people know the true value though — something many companies have been able to turn into a substantial profit. For example, when I got my new handset from one UK operator, it came with a prepaid bag for the old one. The intent being I should stuff it into the bag and then send it to them. And they’d then be able to resell the device for a good bit of cash.
Of course there’s a ton of charities that most certainly benefit from this revenue stream too, especially if you can’t be bothered with the ‘hassle’ of posting your handset.
I’ve used a few different services and got the cash into my back account about a week after I sent them. Pretty smart.
Which brings me to the Mobile Phone Recycling Comparison site. Now, I say it does-what-it-says-on-the-tin (if you’re not familiar with the phrase, see Ronseal), because that’s all the site does: You choose your handset and the site then displays a list of companies who’ll buy your handset from you along with the prices they’re prepared to pay.
It does actually pay to shop around. For example, I clicked on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro handset. MirrorGoGreen will offer you £45 (and they’ve got a one-star rating) whilst Envirofone (I’ve used them before) will offer you £60.04. Fonehub will stump up a whopping £78.
What’s the value of your iPhone 4 32GB? Surprisingly high. Almost £370 from Money3MyMobile (four star rating). And if you’re one of the millions with an iPhone 3GS 16GB, you might think they’re worth next-to-nothing… but SellOldPhone.co.uk (four stars too) will send you £220 for it.
£220! I think I’ve got two of these sitting gathering dust!
That’s enough to seriously cover the cost of the new iPhone 4 and a few months of line rental depending on what price plan you select.
So when you’re in the mood to clear out your gadget closet, do check out the Mobile Phone Recycling Comparison site and see what you could earn.
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