‘Major differences in smartphone sales to purchasing sites’

Anyone who wants to sell their smartphone to so-called purchasing sites instead of private individuals will still have to deal with major differences, according to an inventory by the Consumers’ Association. On average, the price difference between the highest and lowest bid is 36 percent.

The Consumers’ Association offered various used smartphones at six purchasing sites: WeBuyIt, GSMloket, Rebuy, Huurjetelefoon, Recycle Michael and Zonzoo. Among others, an iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S6 were offered. On average, the difference between the highest and lowest amounts offered was 36 percent, with the Galaxy S6 standing out in terms of the relatively large difference in bids: Recycle Michael offered 222 euros for that device, Rebuy a maximum of 100 euros.

For the iPhone 6 and Galaxy Note 4, the average bid was around 200 euros the most, a 2.5-year-old Lumia 535 that cost 120 euros new, only brought in 14 euros. The association noted major differences not only in terms of price, but also in terms of handling.

For example, Sales Your Phone never returns smartphones if it does not meet their expectations: they then pay a quarter of the original offer or nothing at all, which they do report on their site. Most sites return a smartphone free of charge after rejection, but GSMloket charged an amount of 12.50 euros. There are also differences in the payout. Usually that takes a week, but at Recycle Michael and Zonzoo the association had to wait 3 weeks.