Like many, I answered the siren call of the iPhone 4S, and went down to the nearby Best Buy to meet my new girlfriend Siri. And like many, I needed to be able to justify to my wife the financial expenditure involved in securing my new relationship. So, I decided if I sold my old iPhone 4 I’d be able to justify the remaining costs, and I wouldn’t be sleeping in the guest room for a month.
I began to explore how best to sell my unwanted device. I could sell it on Craigslist, but I’m not a fan of armed encounters in the local Denny’s. I could sell it on eBay, but that’s a pain in the butt. I was buying my new iPhone from Best Buy, so why not sell it to Best Buy!
I went online to the Best Buy website. Best Buy has a handy-dandy trade-in estimator app on the site. I plugged in all the info about my iPhone 4, good condition, working battery, no water damage… $147.00 (It has since dropped down to $127.00.) Excellent, with the two BB gift cards I received as Christmas presents I’ll be the owner of a 4S with little, or no out of pocket cash.
I checked with the local Best Buy. They had the model I wanted in stock, so I immediately went to the store. I explained I was trading in my phone. The blue shirt said “great” took my iPhone, went behind the counter, did some calculations, and said, “We can give you $84 trade-in.” I was shocked! After picking my jaw up off the ground, I explained about the estimate I received on their site. He explained it was because of a scratch on the front of the phone. (1/8 of an inch long.) I decided to go ahead and purchase the 4S, but decided to hold off trading in the 4.
On the way home I remembered an ad I’d heard on a podcast a few weeks ago, “Leo La-Somebody or the Other” had said, “Don’t sell it! Gazelle it!” At this point I figured I had nothing to lose, and I went to the Gazelle website.
I received an envelope containing a shipping label, a packing slip, and a small shipping box. (You supply your own padding materials.) I packed the device, included all accessories I still had, (sync cable, wall charger, and headphones, the apple stickers were long gone,) and sealed the box and took it to the post office.
Three days later I received an email notice saying they had received my phone and would be inspecting it soon. If they needed to adjust their offer I would receive an email notifying me. Otherwise, they would email me letting me know they were making a deposit to my PayPal account.
Expecting to be told they would need to reduce their offer, I was pleasantly surprised when the next notice I received was of the Gazelle deposit to PayPal. Easy-Peasy.
I highly recommend Gazelle to anyone wanting to sell their old electronic devices with little to no hassle. As well as phones, Gazelle will also buy MP3 players, laptops, Blu-Ray players, tablets, and many other electronic devices.
In my case, “Don’t Sell it, Gazelle it!” was the perfect solution. Have any of our readers had similar, or differing experiences? If so. please post about your experience in our comments section below.