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Eroding value. The older the phone, the less it's typically worth. That means fewer shekels in your pocket if you eventually resell and less value to a charity if you decide to donate. If you want the biggest bang for your buck, you should part with an old phone as soon as you get the new one.
CellforCash.com pays anywhere from $5 to $160 for select models, Mosieur said, with the average seller receiving a check for $27. RipMobile.com typically offers more for similar models, with sellers receiving points good toward gift certificates at CircuitCity.com, Starbucks, MSN Music and Karmaloop clothing, among other vendors. Recently CellforCash.com offered $67 for a Treo 650, for example, while RipMobile.com offered $115. On eBay -- where about 130,000 used phones change hands each month -- a similar model recently went for just under $200.
Another option: Check with your carrier. Wireless providers may offer a discount on a new phone -- typically $25 or so -- when you trade in an older model.
Even if a handset has little cash value, it still can benefit charities. Several posters on the Your Money message board said they donated old phones to battered women's shelters or other nonprofits.
"I donate mine to a domestic violence program," wrote poster jlf. "The phones can be used for not only 911, but the women are also given minutes on the phones so that they can be used as a way to contact or be contacted by assistance agencies."
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All four major wireless carriers have recycling programs, as do most sites that buy phones, and you can find other drop-off locations through WirelessRecycling.com. These options typically don't provide receipts for tax deductions, however. If that's important, look for sites like CollectiveGood, which recycles phones for charities and which offers tax documentation.
Before you pass on any cell phone, do the following:
- Discontinue your service. If you stayed with the same company or ported your phone number to a new provider, service to the old phone has almost certainly been disconnected. Otherwise, you should call your old provider and make sure service is turned off.
- Do a hard reset on your phone. This may be more complicated than the simple reset often used to erase data when you're having technical problems with the phone. For example, many Treo phones can be reset by pressing a small button on the back, but a hard reset requires pushing four buttons at once. Check your phone's user manual for the procedure. WirelessRecycling.com also offers instructions on its site for common models.
- Talk to your company: Some phones, such as the newest ones running Microsoft's mobile software, can be remotely wiped if the phone is lost or stolen. Other third-party software can delete a phone's information if a specially coded e-mail is delivered to it. Talk to your company about what technology it employs to protect its information and what is available.
Published Sept. 11, 2006
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