How to sell an iPhone in Sydney
Do these seven things in this order and you will get a better price, faster, with no awkward surprises at handover. It takes about half an hour.
Seven steps, in order
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1. Back up your iPhone
Back up to iCloud (Settings, your name, iCloud, iCloud Backup) or to a computer. Once the phone is sold there is no getting the photos back, and this is the step people skip and regret.
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2. Work out exactly which model you have
Settings, General, About. Read the Model Name and the Capacity. Guessing between a 128GB and a 256GB, or between a Pro and a Pro Max, is the most common reason a quoted price changes at the meeting.
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3. Check for damage honestly
Look at the screen and back glass in daylight, check Settings, Battery, Battery Health, and test the cameras, speakers and charging port. Telling a buyer about a fault up front costs less than having it found in front of you.
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4. Sign out of iCloud and turn off Find My
Settings, your name, scroll down, Sign Out. This removes the Activation Lock. A phone still linked to your Apple Account is worthless to any buyer and cannot legally be resold, so nobody will pay for it until this is done.
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5. Erase the phone
Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings. Do this only after the backup and the iCloud sign-out. Take the SIM card out as well.
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6. Get quotes and compare them properly
Compare what you actually receive: cash today, a bank transfer next week and store credit are not the same thing. Check whether a quote is firm or subject to inspection after you have already posted the phone.
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7. Meet safely and get paid
Meet in a public place, or have the buyer come to you with someone else home. Confirm payment has cleared before the phone leaves your hand: cash counted, or the transfer showing in your account rather than a screenshot of one.
What actually changes the price
Roughly in order of how much they move the number:
- Model and storage
- By far the biggest factor. A Pro Max is worth multiples of a base model from the same year, and storage tiers can differ by a hundred dollars or more.
- Screen and back glass
- A cracked screen comes off the price at roughly what the repair costs. It does not make the phone unsellable. That arithmetic is also the answer to repair it or sell it: paying a repairer first usually gets you back about what you spent, so get the repair quote and a sale price side by side before you decide. Nobody here repairs phones, so this is not us talking you out of one.
- Battery health
- Below about 80% maximum capacity the next owner will want it replaced, and offers reflect that.
- Activation Lock
- Not so much a price factor as a blocker. Still signed in means no sale, to anyone.
- Timing
- Every iPhone loses value the month a new one launches. If you are thinking about it, earlier is better than later.
- Box and accessories
- Nice to have, worth little. Do not turn the house over looking for the box.
What you cannot sell
No legitimate buyer in Australia will take a phone that is still iCloud-locked, still owing on a finance or device plan, or reported lost or stolen. Second-hand dealers are required to verify the seller's identity and record the handset, which is exactly how stolen phones get caught. Bring photo ID to any sale - a buyer who does not ask for it is the one worth worrying about.
If a phone is on a plan, call your carrier and settle the balance first. If you cannot remember which Apple Account it is signed into, Apple's account recovery is the only route. Nobody else can remove an Activation Lock, and anyone claiming they can is not someone to sell a phone to.