Planning to Sell Your Old iPhone? Do It Now
If you’re planning on selling or trading in your current iPhone in preparation for the new iPhone, there’s no time like the present. For a week, until September 9th, tech trade-in company Gazelle is offering an extremely enticing deal—up to $481 for a used phone—guaranteed to be at least $1 more than what Apple or your carrier is offering.
A trade-in value of just $1 more than what your current carrier or Apple will pay might not seem like much, but considering that companies like Verizon give you a combination trade-in credit and bill credit instead of cash, it offers flexibility if you want to switch up carriers.
Whether or not you use Gazelle to sell or trade in your phone, flipping your current iPhone now would save you from the dive in value of the old iPhone that follows the launch of every new one. According to AppleInsider, 5S trade-in prices fell 15% when the iPhone 6 was announced and then another 15% three weeks after it was released. Selling now would preempt that depreciation.
Of course, selling now raises a significant problem: Most people can’t handle a gap in their phone ownership. Gazelle addresses this by providing a 30-day price lock window to send your phone in after you accept a price, a window which should give consumers enough time to secure a new iPhone after its release.
If you favor a trade-in service that doesn't offer this window, you can also bridge that gap by activating an old iPhone 4S or 5 if you have one around—which you might, considering many people keep them as spares since they have poor trade-in value. Or, if trading in now means saving more than $60, which it could, you can grab a used 4S on eBay or Craigslist and use it until you secure a new phone.
