Trade in or sell? What Apple and the networks do not mention

When you buy a new iPhone, Apple and the networks make trading in the old one feel like the obvious move: one screen, a number appears, the price of the new phone drops. It is genuinely convenient. It is also, in most cases, the lowest serious offer your phone will get.

Trade in programmes are run for the seller of the new phone, not the owner of the old one. The quote is designed to feel like a discount rather than to reflect what your phone is worth, and it typically lands well below what a dedicated buyer pays, especially for anything with a mark on it. Trade in schemes are famously brutal about damage: a crack that costs you a modest slice of value with us can wipe out most of a trade in quote entirely.

The catch people worry about with selling separately is timing and faff. Fair. So here is what the faff actually is with us: two minutes for a quote, a free tracked postage pack, one working day for the check after it arrives, and payment within 48 hours of acceptance. You buy your new phone however you like, and the money for the old one lands as cash in your bank rather than as a discount locked to one shop.

The honest advice: get both numbers. The trade in quote takes a minute in the shop, ours takes two on the calculator, and the gap between them is your answer. For a working recent iPhone the gap is usually meaningful; for a cracked one it is usually the difference between pocket change and proper money. Convenience is worth something, but it is worth knowing exactly what you are paying for it.