How much money could your old phone be worth?

Did you know that there are over 55 million phones laying in drawers, going completely unused in the UK. Bonkers, isn’t it?

That means there is one unused mobile phone for nearly every person in England, stashed in a drawer somewhere. And more to the point, those phones could be worth some cash.

A whole new world of forgotten handsets

Nearly 30 million people in the UK hang on to their old mobile phones, despite using a brand new model day-to-day.

Some want their old phone as an emergency backup (32%), others are worried about losing personal data (22%), and a small percentage (12%) cling on out of sentimental value.

However, over two thirds (67%) of these hoarders haven’t used their old handset in the past year. It’s just been sat there, unloved and (more often than not) destined for the landfill.

If only they knew how much cash that old phone could be worth.

Can I get money for my old phone?

More than likely, your forgotten handset could be worth a tidy sum of cash. At giffgaff, we pay over £100 for some models of phone. But don’t hang about. The longer you wait, the less you’ll cash in, because the value of your phone goes down over time.

To illustrate our point: our latest survey revealed that hoarding your old phone for more than 12 months could literally halve its value. And, with 13 million Brits guilty of handset-hoarding, phone users across the country could be missing out on their share of an estimated £3.4 billion.

Savvy giffgaffer, Jeff_elephant, has the right idea:

“I donated all of my old phones years ago. And now when I buy a new smartphone, I sell the old handset after my new phone is up and running. Otherwise, you just end up with smartphones worth money sitting in your closet just going to waste. Kudos giffgaff for encouraging people to do something with their old phones!”

How much is my old phone actually worth?

The average giffgaff trade-in value of a recyclable used handset is £111. But there are a lot of variables when it comes to deciding the true value of your handset, including:

• The make and model
• How old the phone is
• Working condition
• Whether it’s locked to a network

There’s not a lot you can do about most of these. But the time it takes you to cash in could still make a huge difference to your pay out.

We hope member, Amieb90, manages to make some savings from her stash:

“Absolutely brilliant idea. Hopefully these 6 phones I found in my drawers will able me to afford to buy a working phone for my lad. Thank you!”

It’s not all about the money

Recycling your old phones doesn’t just help your pocket, it also helps the environment.

That’s because when we throw our phones in the bin, they become e-waste. The World Economic Forum estimates that just 20% of global e-waste is recycled, while the other 80% ends up in landfill or incinerated. That’s huge!

Recycling phones is a small but significant step to reducing the UK’s e-waste. So even if your phone is only worth a few quid, it’s still well worth trading in.

Alternatively, if your phone’s a bit too old or damaged to be refurbished, we can help you find your nearest recycling point via our mates at Recycle Your Electricals.

How do I sell an old phone to giffgaff?

It couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is head to the giffgaff Sell My Phone page, enter your phone’s IMEI number and voila, you’ve got an instant quote. Not sure how to get your IMEI number? Alexmgg2 is on hand to help:

“You should be able to get the IMEI from most phones, even without a SIM by entering the code *#06# on the phone keypad. If the phone is too old for that, it probably has a removable battery, so take that out, and look on the label underneath.”

Best of all, you don’t need to be a giffgaff member to sell to us. Our service is open to anyone, on any network.

Sell your phone to giffgaff today at giffgaffrecycle.com. And to save yourself a bit of money when you upgrade, you can put that extra cash from your old phone towards a top refurbished phone.