4 ms·

To jump on a point totally unrelated to the post's complaint but related to selling smartphones, I've found that if I'm selling electronics (especially generati

To jump on a point totally unrelated to the post's complaint but related to selling smartphones, I've found that if I'm selling electronics (especially generation-behind iPhones for the family) I can do much better than eBay, even before you discount both their listing fee and paypal use fees. And there's comparatively no risk. For cash: gazelle For slightly more cash (usually just a few percent), in the form of a gift card: amazon trade-ins

DanBlake 14y ago
Gazelle is worthless and preys on the poor and uneducated. You get less than 50% what you would from selling on ebay. http://www.gazelle.com/iphone/iphone-4s/at-t/iphone-4s-64gb-at-t-or-unlocked/480695-gpid http://www.gazelle.com/iphone/iphone-4s/at-t/iphone-4s-64gb-... vs http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones-Smartphones-/9355/i.html?Storage%2520Capacity=64%2520GB&Color=White&Carrier=AT%2526T&_from=R40&Model=iPhone%25204S&LH_Complete=1&_dmpt=Cell_Phones&_nkw=iPhone%204S&_sop=13 http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones-Smartphones-/9355/i.html...
- bryne 14y ago
  Which in this case is zero, because eBay is rife with scammers preying on the *well-educated? Gazelle and Amazon present almost zero risk to the seller, hence the price differential.
  - DanBlake 14y ago
    The chance of getting scammed like this on eBay is less than 2% (maximum chargeback rate) Hence you are better selling 100 iPhones on eBay and taking the hit for two then sell all 100 on gazelle and not.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - jessedhillon 14y ago
      That's not quite genuine. You need to look at probability of a scammer winning your auction, not the probability that a scammer still has room under his/her chargeback cap. And even after that, I somehow doubt that those statistics are satisfying to the person who lost 100% of their money after selling 100% of their phone inventory (one phone).
    - btilly 14y ago
      If you plan to sell 100 iPhones, you are absolutely right. If you are selling an iPhone and actually need the money, a 2% risk of being left with neither may be worse than just getting 50% of the money, safely.
    - DanBlake 14y ago
      2% is a way higher number than reality. The amount of fraud on eBay is well, well below a 10th of a percent. Selling on craigslist and gazelle does not solve the issue. It could be lost in the mail or you could be robbed. Il take a 99% chance at getting twice my money than a 100% chance of getting half. To each his own though./
      - CamperBob2 14y ago
        It's heavily skewed by category. For every Macbook or iPhone sale that goes awry, 10,000 Beanie Babies are traded between elderly housewives without incident.
    - brigade 14y ago
      It's less than 2% in the aggregate across eBay, but it's probably significantly higher for small high-value electronics like recent smartphones, especially if you're a small seller relying on eBay to detect scammers.
- eli 14y ago
  I would think selling on Craigslist for cash would be a much better option if you live in any sort of city.
- MBCook 14y ago
  I sold my iPhone 4 on Gazelle. I know I could have got more through Craigslist or eBay, but it wasn't worth my time. With eBay I have to photograph it, write it up, list it, answer ridiculous questions about shipping it to the 3rd world and take payment in the form of casino chips mailed to me in a few months. Then I have to deal with the buyer, ship it, and the whole time I have to be worried about scammers. All the time I'm competing against companies that are listing 50 iPhones a day because that's their fulltime job and my account hasn't been used in 4 years. I wouldn't buy from me in that circumstance. With Craigslist, things are a bit worse. Not only do you get occasional scammer emails, but I have to meet the person to physically sell the item. I've had people stand me up numerous times, be continually able to schedule, etc. And when I do meet up with someone, they could give me fake money, or just steal the item, or refuse to buy it meaning I have to go through the whole thing again. With Gazelle I got a perfectly fair bid. I hit accept and in a day or two a box showed up on my door. Put the phone in it, dropped it off at a UPS store, and in a few days I got my Amazon gift card. No weird fraudsters, and I spent a total of about 10 minutes of my time. In return I got a price I was quite happy with, an easy experience, and I was able to use the money to help support my Amazon habit. Worst case scenario, Gazelle could have said no and shipped the phone back to me. I wouldn't be out any money (unlike if I paid for eBay shipping), and I could have sold it on Craigslist.
  - DanBlake 14y ago
    If you were willing to take $250 less for saving 5 minutes time, by all means. Most of your complaints are made up though (casino chips, third world, etc.. ) I dont use craigslist, so I cant answer to that. I find the eBay process mostly fine, with the exception of not being able to specify who can bid/buy. If they did that it would be a way more reliable experience.
    - brigade 14y ago
      Unless you're a regular eBay seller, selling one phone on eBay is going to eat up a lot more than 5 minutes of your time. And that's the whole point - eBay is terrible for selling newish electronics unless you're a frequent eBay seller like yourself. To the point that people will willingly accept $200 less (eBay fees!) to avoid it.
- angryasian 14y ago
  isn't that the point, you're paying a premium for security.
mibbitier 14y ago
For the UK there's http://www.envirofone.com/ http://www.envirofone.com/ or http://www.mazumamobile.com/ http://www.mazumamobile.com/ or http://www.fonebank.com/ http://www.fonebank.com/ amongst others. I've used the first 2 with excellent results. Obviously you get slightly less than selling on the open market, but you don't have to deal with scammers, and get the cash quickly and without issues.
pbreit 14y ago
You can get much more on Ebay or Craigslist than Gazelle or Amazon trade-in!!

DanBlake 14y ago

Gazelle is worthless and preys on the poor and uneducated. You get less than 50% what you would from selling on ebay. http://www.gazelle.com/iphone/iphone-4s/at-t/iphone-4s-64gb-at-t-or-unlocked/480695-gpid http://www.gazelle.com/iphone/iphone-4s/at-t/iphone-4s-64gb-... vs http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones-Smartphones-/9355/i.html?Storage%2520Capacity=64%2520GB&Color=White&Carrier=AT%2526T&_from=R40&Model=iPhone%25204S&LH_Complete=1&_dmpt=Cell_Phones&_nkw=iPhone%204S&_sop=13 http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones-Smartphones-/9355/i.html...

bryne 14y ago
Which in this case is zero, because eBay is rife with scammers preying on the *well-educated? Gazelle and Amazon present almost zero risk to the seller, hence the price differential.
- DanBlake 14y ago
  The chance of getting scammed like this on eBay is less than 2% (maximum chargeback rate) Hence you are better selling 100 iPhones on eBay and taking the hit for two then sell all 100 on gazelle and not.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - jessedhillon 14y ago
    That's not quite genuine. You need to look at probability of a scammer winning your auction, not the probability that a scammer still has room under his/her chargeback cap. And even after that, I somehow doubt that those statistics are satisfying to the person who lost 100% of their money after selling 100% of their phone inventory (one phone).
  - btilly 14y ago
    If you plan to sell 100 iPhones, you are absolutely right. If you are selling an iPhone and actually need the money, a 2% risk of being left with neither may be worse than just getting 50% of the money, safely.
  - DanBlake 14y ago
    2% is a way higher number than reality. The amount of fraud on eBay is well, well below a 10th of a percent. Selling on craigslist and gazelle does not solve the issue. It could be lost in the mail or you could be robbed. Il take a 99% chance at getting twice my money than a 100% chance of getting half. To each his own though./
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      It's heavily skewed by category. For every Macbook or iPhone sale that goes awry, 10,000 Beanie Babies are traded between elderly housewives without incident.
  - brigade 14y ago
    It's less than 2% in the aggregate across eBay, but it's probably significantly higher for small high-value electronics like recent smartphones, especially if you're a small seller relying on eBay to detect scammers.
eli 14y ago
I would think selling on Craigslist for cash would be a much better option if you live in any sort of city.
MBCook 14y ago
I sold my iPhone 4 on Gazelle. I know I could have got more through Craigslist or eBay, but it wasn't worth my time. With eBay I have to photograph it, write it up, list it, answer ridiculous questions about shipping it to the 3rd world and take payment in the form of casino chips mailed to me in a few months. Then I have to deal with the buyer, ship it, and the whole time I have to be worried about scammers. All the time I'm competing against companies that are listing 50 iPhones a day because that's their fulltime job and my account hasn't been used in 4 years. I wouldn't buy from me in that circumstance. With Craigslist, things are a bit worse. Not only do you get occasional scammer emails, but I have to meet the person to physically sell the item. I've had people stand me up numerous times, be continually able to schedule, etc. And when I do meet up with someone, they could give me fake money, or just steal the item, or refuse to buy it meaning I have to go through the whole thing again. With Gazelle I got a perfectly fair bid. I hit accept and in a day or two a box showed up on my door. Put the phone in it, dropped it off at a UPS store, and in a few days I got my Amazon gift card. No weird fraudsters, and I spent a total of about 10 minutes of my time. In return I got a price I was quite happy with, an easy experience, and I was able to use the money to help support my Amazon habit. Worst case scenario, Gazelle could have said no and shipped the phone back to me. I wouldn't be out any money (unlike if I paid for eBay shipping), and I could have sold it on Craigslist.
- DanBlake 14y ago
  If you were willing to take $250 less for saving 5 minutes time, by all means. Most of your complaints are made up though (casino chips, third world, etc.. ) I dont use craigslist, so I cant answer to that. I find the eBay process mostly fine, with the exception of not being able to specify who can bid/buy. If they did that it would be a way more reliable experience.
  - brigade 14y ago
    Unless you're a regular eBay seller, selling one phone on eBay is going to eat up a lot more than 5 minutes of your time. And that's the whole point - eBay is terrible for selling newish electronics unless you're a frequent eBay seller like yourself. To the point that people will willingly accept $200 less (eBay fees!) to avoid it.
angryasian 14y ago
isn't that the point, you're paying a premium for security.

mibbitier 14y ago

For the UK there's http://www.envirofone.com/ http://www.envirofone.com/ or http://www.mazumamobile.com/ http://www.mazumamobile.com/ or http://www.fonebank.com/ http://www.fonebank.com/ amongst others. I've used the first 2 with excellent results. Obviously you get slightly less than selling on the open market, but you don't have to deal with scammers, and get the cash quickly and without issues.

pbreit 14y ago

You can get much more on Ebay or Craigslist than Gazelle or Amazon trade-in!!