When upgrading to a new phone, your old device retains significant value that shouldn't be discarded. The article compares two main methods of offloading a used phone: trading it in at retailers or manufacturers, or selling it privately through platforms like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Each approach involves different trade-offs between convenience, financial return, and effort required.

Trading in at chains such as Best Buy, GameStop, or directly with Apple and Samsung is the quickest and easiest option, eliminating the hassle of listing, photographing, and negotiating with buyers. However, convenience comes at a cost: an iPhone 17 worth $899 at retail, for example, yields a maximum trade-in value of just $585 from Apple, and payment typically comes as store credit rather than cash. Selling privately demands substantially more work—accurate descriptions, appropriate keywords, account monitoring—but permits significantly better financial returns and allows you to sell even slightly damaged devices. Regardless of method chosen, users must back up their data and perform a factory reset before completing the transaction.