Our three grades, explained properly

Every buyback site grades phones, and most make it complicated on purpose: five or six vague tiers, so whatever arrives can be argued down a level. We use three, and the line between them is drawn in one place: the display.

Working is exactly what it sounds like. Everything functions, there are no chips or cracks anywhere, and battery health is above 80 percent. Signs of normal use are fine; we are buying a used phone, not a museum piece. Working gets the top price on the calculator.

Faulty or damaged, screen fine covers a phone with problems that do not touch the picture. Cracked glass on the front or the back, a dent, a tired battery under 80 percent, a broken camera or speaker: all of that lives here, as long as the display itself is original and shows a perfect image. This grade pays around half the working price, which surprises people who have been offered pennies elsewhere for the same phone.

Faulty or damaged, screen bad is for phones where the display itself has problems: bleeding, lines, dead spots, ghost touches, or a non original replacement screen. The display is the most expensive part of the phone, which is why this grade sits lowest, and why it still pays real money, because the rest of the phone keeps its value.

Two honest notes. First, grade what you see, not what you hope: our bench checks every phone against the grade you chose, and if it does not match we send a revised price you can accept or decline, with a free return either way. Second, a phone that will not power on at all cannot be graded or wiped, so we return those rather than guess. If yours will not switch on, our guide on selling a phone that will not turn on covers your options.