Skip to footer

iPhone trade-in programs: Where to sell your old smart phone

Which iPhone trade-in program is best? We’ve broken down the big players in the game to find out how to get the most buck for your phone.

Gazelle and NextWorth

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/File
An iPhone 5 is pictured on display at an Apple Store in Pasadena, Calif.

Though you may covet the new iPhone, you may not want to put your trade-in money toward a new phone. If that is the case, there are sites such as Gazelle and NextWorth where you can get an estimate on your device, send it into their headquarters, and they’ll send you a check or gift card. Gazelle also offers payment through Amazon or PayPal and NextWorth offers Target gift cards. Though the prices are subject to the demand of the product, Gazelle offers a "lock in" price before big phone announcements, so you can ensure the value on your phone doesn't go down. In addition, you usually have a month on both services to send in your phone, which means you can purchase your new device without being stuck without a phone for a few days. Both also offer trade-ins on other computers, tablets, and various devices.

Level of ease: Easy, as long as you understand the postal system. Send in your gadgets; get a check (or gift card) in the mail.

Estimated trade-in value: Varies depending on demand. Currently Gazelle estimated a 16GB iPhone 5 with AT&T in good condition at $315 and NextWorth offered $320.

3 of 7
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.