Top Five Mobile Phone Recycling Sites
If you’re strapped for cash on the weekends, here’s an idea that may help pay for your next few rounds at the pub. By doing a quick search online, you can find a range of companies that recycle your old mobile phone or MP3 player, and pay you for the privilege of your old tech.
If you’ve got an old handset lying around in a cupboard somewhere, or if you’re planning to upgrade your phone when your contract runs out next month, it is well worth taking a look at these sites to see what they can offer you.
I recently sold my old Nokia 6111 (yes I admit I owned this…) to a phone recycling company and was surprised at the range of prices that were offered from different sites.
I ended up receiving a best price of £10 for my working handset, but I had to check through sites that were offering £7, £5.50 and one cheap site offering only £2.10! That won’t even cover lunch.
To help you get as much money as you possibly can, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 mobile phone recycling sites below and ranked them in terms of overall cash-back on your phone.
As quotes vary from handset to handset, I’ve searched for quotes on a low-end model with the Nokia 6310i, as well as from the other end of the scale with the latest Samsung Omnia i900.
The results were very interesting with Mobile Phone Xchange offering the least amount of money for a low-end handset, but the most amount for the high-end phone.
In a similar vein, MoPay offered the second best price for the 6310i, but the worst cash back for the Omnia.
Our overall winner however was undoubtedly FoneBank who offered the most for the low-end phone, but was only £1 off the best price for the high-end model.
Let’s see how much cash we can make in the space of a few minutes, counting down to the overall best cash deal for the two phones combined. These prices are based on working handsets.
5. MoPay
Nokia 6310i: £11.05 or up to £13 worth of vouchers.
Samsung Omnia: £80 or up to £96 worth of vouchers
4. Envirofone
Nokia 6310i: £ 6.58
Samsung Omnia: £99.99
3. Mazuma
Nokia 6310i: £8
Samsung Omnia: £118 or £129.80 in Argos vouchers
2. Mobile Phone Xchange
Nokia 6310i: £1
Samsung Omnia: £119
1. Fonebank
Nokia 6310i: £ 11.50
Samsung Omnia: £118
The moral of the story is, that it pays to spend a few minutes on different sites doing your research as prices vary dramatically depending on how old your handset is.
If you’ve stumbled upon another site that will buy your old phone, leave a comment and let us know.
UPDATE 28/05/09
Since we’ve written this piece, we’ve come across a few more sites that are worth mentioning to help you get more cash for whatever old brick you have:
Earth Mobile
Nokia 6310i: £ 11.20
Unfortunately the Samsung Omnia isn’t listed on this site so we’ve looked at the more or less comparable HTC Touch Diamond: £78.00
Money 4UR Mobile
Nokia 6310i: £0
Samsung Omnia: £90
Sell Old Mobile
Nokia 6310i: £7.05
Samsung Omnia: £119.10
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Comments
This is what MoPay say they use the old phones for:
“In certain parts of the world like Africa, the mobile phone is fast becoming the number one form of communication because landline access is limited in certain areas and owning a mobile is the most convenient way to communicate and do business.
Any phones that we receive which cannot be reused we recycle them in accordance to the WEEE Directive and break them down for parts which can be reused such as metals including copper, silver and gold. Any plastic casing is melted down and used for mouldings such as road cones!”
So it sounds like you’re doing a good deed, and getting some cash for your old phone!
My favourite phone recycling company is http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk/, because they seem to pay more for my mobiles. It’s nice to get paid for recycling!
Recycling cannot get any easier than with ‘Money For Your Phone’ a new mobile phone recycling company who are offering incredible prices. Check what yours is worth at mfyp.co.uk
The site at cashformobiles.info looks interesting that it has a new take on mobile phone recycling comparisons.
i am wondering what site i go on to sell my old c.ds, d.v.ds and computer games.could you please help me? shelley townsley
If you are thinking of reclycing your old mobile, do not think of using selloldphones, they are a rip off. If you research them on the internet you will find lots of people like myself have sent them mobiles and are still waiting for money. I am still waiting after 4 months. I have used 2 of the ones mentioned in this review and they were excellent, so please aviod selloldphones at all costs and tell anyone else thinking of selling too as they appear to offer the best price if you can get your money from them.
I have a very bad experience with Mobilephone xpress
Sent in a perfectly working Nokia 95, with no scratches on the display (and yes the display was working fine), I even protected the display with the original Nokia packing material for the display.
On their web site they offered £95.
The check came in with a mere £25, reason was a damaged display (very nicely the most expensive part of the phone)
I phoned them and the guy said that this was the price because they couldn’t start the phone, i.e. was PIN locked.
I explained him that I had tested all features of the phone and disabled all PIN’s (and the battery was fully charged).
He would look at it.
I have not been able to get them on the phone since.
I decided that I would NOT accept their offer (that’s what it is, an offer and I don’t have to accept it) and wanted my phone back (in the same condition that I sent it to them, with registered mail and special delivery). I have sent the check back to themwith registered mail and special delivery. I’ve checked the RM website and they have signed and accepted all my letters.
Surprice surprice they never reply or communicate at all.
I’m very close to go to the small claims court as I have enough of this cowboy outfit.
selloldphones.co.uk are a rip off. They don’t have a telephone number to call them! I should have noticed this before using them as it would have started alarm bells ringing.
Nowhere does it state that they want the charger, other sites clearly state what to send and most say no charger please. Only after alot of looking did I find the terms and conditions where they state “phone and charger”.
I was using a nokia n95 8gb for two years and sold it after an upgrade, the cheque came back saying they downgraded the phone as it had faulty lcd lines accross the screen! There was nothing wrong with it! The cheque was for £50 less than stated on the website. I can’t get hold of them to complain or ask for the phone back.
TOTAL CON – DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!
Good review Tazz – is there any research on who actually pays up the prices quoted – this would be even more helpul as i have experienced some sites that are a bit misleading on what they consider a “working” phone – i would also like to know what they do with the phones as i’ve heard some horror stories about land-filling of broken ones?