With popularity ever increasing, we continue to jump at any opportunity to upgrade to the latest mobile phones on the market or move over to a contract phone, being able to purchase phones that may not otherwise be available on pay-as-you-go tariffs.
In rushing to use our new mobile phones, our old ones are often either thrown into the nearest draw or under the bed, losing value day by day due. Now research conducted on behalf of T-Mobile shows that your phones could be worth an average ?22.40 per handset and totals ?1bn across the 52.3 million phones gathering dust in our homes.
Seeing a gap in the market; companies have set themselves up to purchase these phones, recycle them and then either dismantle for parts or pass the phones on to be used by others.
By disposing of phones in this way has been a massive help to charities especially, with companies donating parts of the profits to them, as well as giving consumers the option to donate the entire value too.
To recycle your phone in this way, you are best to search the many sites on the internet e.g. envirofone.com and mopay.co.uk where you can enter the model of your phone as well as the condition; this will then give you a price they are willing to pay. The whole process usually takes around 28days and results in a cheque being sent to you, providing the phone is as described when they receive it.
Another route many take is to is to sell their phone on an auction site like eBay. Unfortunately a price isn't guaranteed, unless you state a reserve, and can even result in a no-sale.
Whatever method you choose, it's always best to hold of your original packaging and do your best to protect it from any scratches, etc. This will help increase the price and saleability of your phone.
As mentioned briefly above, these phones will eventually end up in somebody else's hands and although the recycling companies always try to wipe the phones to their factory default, it's advisable that you delete any numbers, information or music off your phone, especially if you decide to sell your phone via an auction.
