Sell Your Used Apple Watch — 0% Fees

A used apple watch typically sells for £70 to £300, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Apple Watch buyers check three things: the series, the case size, and whether Activation Lock has been cleared — and the last one makes the watch worthless if you get it wrong.

The short version

Typical range: £70 – £300 — see the full apple watch value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Electronics

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Unpair the watch from your iPhone using the Watch app, which backs it up and removes Activation Lock automatically.
Note the series, case size in millimetres, case material, and whether it is GPS or GPS plus Cellular.
Check battery health in Settings, and inspect the screen edges and case corners for the chips these watches collect.

The photographs that sell an apple watch

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

The watch face on, showing the display
The back crystal and sensor array
The settings screen showing series, case size and battery health
The bands and charger included, plus any chip or scratch

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Series, size and connectivity: “Apple Watch Series 8, 45mm, GPS + Cellular, Midnight Aluminium”. All four details are searched. Say the watch is unpaired and Activation Lock is off — it is the single biggest reassurance you can give on this product.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Series number, case size in millimetres and case material
GPS or GPS plus Cellular
Battery maximum capacity percentage
Which bands and charger are included, and whether Activation Lock is cleared

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about an apple watch. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“Is Activation Lock removed?”

Unpair through the Watch app on your iPhone, which handles it properly, and confirm in the listing. A locked Apple Watch cannot be used by anyone else.

“What is the battery health?”

Read the percentage in Settings and photograph it. Below about 80% expect the buyer to price in a battery service.

“Which bands are included?”

List them and give the size. Bands are a meaningful part of the value and fit differs between 41mm and 45mm cases.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The apple watch value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £185 sale — roughly the middle of the range for an apple watch — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£185
Poshmark	−£37	£148
eBay	−£25	£160
Mercari	−£18	£167
Etsy	−£12	£173

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Sells quickly year round, with a Christmas peak and a January fitness bump. Values step down each September when new series launch.

Small and valuable. Confirm cleared funds before handover, and make sure the watch is genuinely unpaired first.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove Activation Lock from an Apple Watch?

Unpair it using the Watch app on the iPhone it is paired with, which erases the watch and removes Activation Lock in one step. Do this before listing — a locked watch is unusable to a buyer and effectively unsellable.

What is a used Apple Watch worth?

Typically £70 to £300 depending on series, size and cellular capability. See the Apple Watch value guide for the condition breakdown.

Does the band affect the value?

Somewhat. Official Apple bands, particularly the more expensive ones, add real value, and including several helps. Always state the case size so buyers know which bands will fit.