Need a few spare bucks for the holidays? Boost may just tempt your hand by finding out what spare phones are worth.
As much as we might all want a brand new phone, sometimes a slightly refurbished and fixed and near-enough-to-new phone will do just fine. It’s why used marketplaces such as eBay and Gumtree do decently well with electronics, and why people typically flock to the nearest modern equivalent of the classified section to sell anything they have that might be spare.
With the gift giving season upon us, selling excess gadgets for a few dollars might just be something folks are thinking of, but there are more options than merely selling to the highest bidder.
If you have a drawer full of phones you’re not using, or even one or two under the bed, Boost Mobile could well be offering a way to turn them into spare money to use, and there’s even an app to tell you how much you could get before you hand it over.
Aptly named the Boost Mobile Trade-In app, it’s a little bit of software that runs your phone through six diagnostic tests to check screen accuracy, how well the touchscreen works, whether there are dead pixels, how well the phone buttons work, if the microphones are in good condition, and just how quickly the battery on your phone drains. Running through these tests will give the app an idea of the quality of the hardware and its components, and then it may come down to the obvious quality looking at the phone, because scuffs, scratches, and broken glass will make a difference in determining the value of a used phones, as well.
“At a time when cost of living is through the roof and Christmas is just around the corner, Australians could be sitting at home earning extra cash and not even know it,” said Jason Haynes, General Manager of Boost Mobile in Australia.
“Our Boost Mobile Trade-in app makes it easy to trade in your unwanted devices, simply download the App and follow the steps, then send us your device with free postage and get paid cash into your account,” he said.
Selling old phones to Boost could see as much as $900 depending on the model, with the iPhone 13 Pro 256GB apparently worth a little over, while most phones range between $120 and $500 depending on the model. Almost crazily, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is worth $510 in good working order, amazing when you consider it was $2999 brand new only a couple of years ago.
For Boost, those phones will get refurbished and reconditioned, set to be sold on its refurb shop, which has also been responsible for getting inexpensive iPad Mini models to Coles in the years past.
There’s also the other side of things, with smartphones being reused and recycled helping to potentially keep e-waste and landfill down as older devices get used by other people, recycled and put into use once more.
“Refurbished and re-used technology is not a new concept to Boost Mobile, we were the first major prepaid supplier to offer refurbished smartphones for sale in July 2019,” said Haynes.
“We’ve been looking at delivering a way to buy phones from customers for some time now and we are very excited to be once again leading the way in encouraging more Australians to have their phones re-used as they upgrade, while also unlocking some much-needed cash,” he said.
The Boost Trade-In app is available now for Android and iPhone.
