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Selling iPhone, steps required?

I plan on selling my existing iphone 3GS as I will upgrade to new iphone4. What are the necessary steps I should take before handing it off to potential buyer?
Also, in many of the email inquiries I am getting for my phone I am getting asked if the phone is unlocked/jailbroken? I am not super techy so do not want to get involved with this. Is it fair enough to say that the onus would be on the new buyer to take care of that?
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Pat

Comments: 7 Responses to “Selling iPhone, steps required?”

    13 years ago

    I'm not sure. I've never done it. I'll see if someone else has an answer.
    As for unlocking/jailbreaking -- well it sounds like you haven't done that, so just say that you haven't and leave it to them.

    Sidharth V
    13 years ago

    Greetings Pat,
    First of all, the onus as a seller is on you to make sure you give the phone in the best possible condition. Physically speaking there not much you can do to improve its performance other than wiping it spanking clean. Functionally, the least you could do is to make sure you restore it to the latest iOS version and make sure you do not sync any apps from your account onto the device. Plus that takes care of the jailbreak/unlock, even if it was jailbroken or unlocked before.
    It is also good to mention whether the device is still under warranty or not (that increases the value of the device too). Make sure you mention that it is not the iPhone 4 and that it is the 3GS. You'd be surprised how many people just jump onto your ad thinking they're buying the latest iPhone despite you mentioning it is the 3GS, so explicitly mention it is the 3GS and NOT THE IPHONE 4..lol...
    Hope this helped...

    Regards,
    Sid...

      Kyle
      13 years ago

      Coming from someone who has, and is interested in, jailbreaking this is BAD advice. Many people want jailbroken phones (which may require an older OS) and some people want an unlocked phone (which can have even more restrictions as to what device/OS you have)

        Kyle
        13 years ago

        Additionally, the newest OS is often not unlockable or able to be jailbroken right out of the gate. Older is better. Anyone can update it by connecting it to the computer. But once you update you may not be able to go back.

    Pat
    13 years ago

    Thank you Sid and Rick!!

    Pat
    13 years ago

    I also found this interesting tip: "One thing that most people forget is to sign your apple account out of the store. Even after a restore and reset you are still logged in. Thankfully you still need to enter your password to sign in, but still, it a little bread crumb that some people want cleaned up. I’m surprised that the iphone software does not do this already and it leaves me wondering what other little crumbs are left around." http://www.everythingicafe.com/how-to-sell-your-iphone-safely-and-quickly/2010/06/17/

    Elias Sanchez
    13 years ago

    Yes, I sold a few days after getting my iPhone4 my iPhone 3. I kept the phone in pristine condition and also kept all the original packaging as well. I reset the phone to factory settings and sold it without a problem on eBay. I was able to get good money which allowed me to recover about 60% of what I had to pay for my new iPhone 4. There are people out there that will buy your iPhone but be careful in doing transactions overseas. I had people tried to buy my phone but trying to sell it overseas was a major headache due to shipping cost and unreasonable demands buy the buyer/s. As other have posted here there are places that will buy your device and will sell it something you could look into.

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