Feds are investigating a popular phone trade-in site cashforiphones.com which has hundreds of complaints for paying its customers less than what they were quoted when they shipped it to them.
In one case a customer was quoted $121 for an old iPhone 5c. Then once her phone was received by cashforiphones hands the amount was revised to just $11. When she tried to get the phone back, the company was difficult to reach and evasive. Once she reached someone at the company, she was told it was too late to change the customer’s mind because the phone had already been recycled despite the fact that there was still a day remaining in the three day dispute window.
Before giving/trading, swapping, selling your old phone:
- wipe it sometimes called “hard reset” “Factory reset” – after backing up or transferring to new phone
if your old phone has SIM or SD card, erase the info - once wiped, double check your address book, photos, previous email should all be gone
- find out how much time you have to change your mind after trading in old phone
- only use sites that guarantee to pay shipping when returning your phone if you cannot agree on price
- find out how long does it take to process a return
Aside from walking into your wireless carrier to ask for a trade-in quote, here are some reputable trade-in sources: