Sell Old Mobiles Earn up to £150 for unused handsets.

Mobile Phone Recycling: Find which recycling site pays the most

Is your old mobile phone made from hidden treasure? Each year, networks commonly offer to upgrade phones meaning an estimated 80 million old ones sit in dark, dank parts of UK homes. This is a step-by-step guide to mobile phone recycling, including the mobile selling comparison tool, to find who pays the mos if you sell your mobile. You could get up to £150 per handset.

How 'old mobile buying' companies work

These are specialist, super-speedy, mainly web based companies, which will take an old phone and give you cash in exchange. You go to their websites, tell them what the mobile model is and they'll tell you the price they'll pay. If you accept they send you a jiffy bag to post it in. Better still, they pay much more than the ‘trade-in’ discount you receive when handing in your phone to a high street retailer.

What type of phones do they want?

Sadly, digging a mobile out of the wardrobe isn't a guarantee of decent cash...

Your phone needs to be in decent working condition, have no more than mild cosmetic damage, the original battery and be able to be switched on.

If your phone's only slightly under the weather, check how much you'd get for a fully working model. Often all it takes is replacing the battery, so it may be worth doing that yourself to get the decent sales value.

You don't usually need to provide the charger but most will recycle it properly for you (though you could keep it as a spare or flog it on eBay).

How do they operate?

They give you a price and, if you accept it, usually send a jiffy bag for the phone, which you can return freepost. Yet they don't accept responsibility for non-delivery so, depending on the value of the phone, it's worth sending it by ‘Recorded Signed-For' delivery, which insures it for up to £41 and costs from 74p on top of usual postage.

Send the phone charged, switched off, without the Sim or memory card and remove any security or pin codes that'll hamper its testing. To do this, just opt for ‘reset factory settings’ on your phone’s menu. Plus don't forget to wipe off any private data.

If it isn't up to scratch (usually only 20% of phones are rejected) you'll generally be contacted and offered a reduced price, which you can accept or have the phone returned free of charge.

Speedily find the top payer for your phone

Prices vary widely for individual handsets, so our Mobile Selling Checker compares all the main sites (excluding those with terrible feedback) for both working and non-working phones.

Also check the voucher codes below which can boost the checker's results.

Latest Vouchers...

The following legitimate codes and deals can boost the payout, for most ADD THEM onto the checkers results to get the total price.

• Extra cashback via cashback sites.
  You may be able to get a further £5 on top if you go through to the winning site(s) via a specialist cashback website. If you're new to the concept, do read the Top Cashback Sites guide first to see pros and cons; for existing users, the Cashback Sites Maximiser will show you which site pays the most.

Damaged phones

Most providers will look at non-working phones, offering a reduced price for these (expect to get around 10-50% of the working price) or at the very least will re-cycle them for you.

Typical examples of damage which might mean you'll get less whack include: badly damaged casing, pin locked or if it does not power up. Phones that are water damaged, physically broken or have unresponsive or cracked screens will probably get zero cash. Make sure you click the 'damaged' box when searching for the best quote.

Alternatively Greener Solutions (which also runs Mobile2cash) works in partnership with Tesco and offers 50 Clubcard points (worth £1.50 in Tesco Clubcard Deals vouchers - see the Boost Your Loyalty Points guide for how to maximise these) for non-working phones or donates 50p to Tesco's current nominated charity.

Other options to cash in your phone

Phone-buyers aren't the only option and, whilst they're by far the least hassle, with a bit of effort you may make even more cash.

• eBay or car boot
  The most profitable way to ditch your old mobile is DIY. There's a thriving old phones market on eBay*, earning you on average 20–30% more than the best ‘phone-buyer' sites. It's up to you to balance the extra cash with the extra hassle though and, of course, there are no guarantee of a sale.

  The best thing to do is go to eBay and search for a phone identical to yours and preferably in similar condition; then just check what price it's going for. This should give you a rough indication of whether it’s worth considering. For more info read the eBay Selling Tricks guide.

• Sell it to a friend
  If you don't want to give it to a friend, selling it can be mutually beneficial, both earning you more and costing them less than doing it commercially. The difficulty is deciding on a price without ruining the friendship.

  Our easy formula is, take the best price from the ‘phone-buyer' companies and add 10%. If there's a dispute, simply show them this guide, proving it's an unbiased party's assessment.

• Re-use it
  Just because the phone no longer has the package you want, it doesn't mean you need a new phone. Most phones can be legally and freely unlocked to work on any network (see the Unlock Your Mobile guide).

  This also means it can be used as an alternative handset for things, such as becoming a texting-only-mobile, using Sim cards offering cheaper texts; as a phone for your children or specially to use abroad (see Mobile Phone Cost Cutting and Cheapest Roaming Mobile guides).

• What about the charity option?
  Many people see ‘we’ll collect your old mobile for charity deals’ and think woohoo; yet I’m not a fan. This isn’t due to a philosophical objection to giving to charity, but more because this simply isn’t an efficient way to do it for mid to high value phones (it's not bad for lower value ones).

  These schemes work by simply giving the charity a cut of the cash you would’ve received; yet if you sell it, you get more than the charity does. So to maximise your donation, sell it yourself, then donate the cash to the charity; which means not only does the charity get more cash, but because of the ‘Gift Aid’ scheme (see the Boost Charity Donations guide) it can reclaim your tax too, which is an extra 28%.

• Trade in low value phones
  If you’re trying to get a new phone, and the recycling companies aren’t willing to give you much for your old one, you could try and trade it in with the company you’re buying a new one from (this mainly applies to high street retailers).

  Carphone Warehouse, for example, offers competitive prices on old phones. Check its trade in calculator to see how much you'll get. Don’t choose a phone from it on this basis but if you do fall into this category, it’s worth a look. For info on how to get the best mobile tariff read Mobile Phone Cost Cutting.

The Environmental Bit: Where they go?

Getting rid of your old phone isn’t just about de-cluttering though. There are potentially noxious substances in decaying phones. It's reckoned cadmium batteries can infect the water system and lead, brominated flame retardants and beryllium could harm the environment if incorrectly disposed of, so even if no one will give you cash for it, don't throw your old phone out with the rubbish.

What happens to the phones?

Once they’re tested, if the phones are decent, they’re shipped abroad and flogged. For example Envirofone sells phones in the Middle and Far East, Africa and South America.

The one thing to be aware of is, if it’s a particularly high value phone, there's a chance these companies will sell it on eBay* to get the most money. Therefore if you find your phone is high value, as noted above, you may want to consider doing that yourself and cutting out the middle man (see the eBay Selling guide).

If your phone is of a lower class then it'll be broken down and sold as component parts. And if it’s totally worthless, these companies will dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.