Sell Your Used Mobile Phone — 0% Fees

A used mobile phone typically sells for £40 to £350, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. A phone listing that does not name the exact model will barely be seen, because every buyer searches by model — so identify it precisely before anything else.

The short version

Typical range: £40 – £350 — see the full mobile phone 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.

Find the make, model and storage in the phone’s settings and write them down exactly.
Remove all accounts — Google, Apple or otherwise — then factory reset so the phone reaches a clean setup screen.
Test the essentials: both cameras, the speaker, the microphone, the charging port and every button.

The photographs that sell a mobile phone

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.

Front, screen on, showing the home screen
Back and sides in daylight
The settings screen showing model and storage
The charging port and any damage, close up

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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

Make, model, storage, unlock status: “Sony Xperia 10 IV 128GB Unlocked”. Never list a phone as just “mobile phone”. If it is an older or budget model, saying so honestly attracts the buyers who actually want a cheap spare or a first phone for a child.

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

Exact make, model and storage
Unlock status and original carrier
Battery condition and realistic daily life
What is included: charger, cable, case, box

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a mobile phone. 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 it unlocked?”

Test with another network’s SIM if you can, and say what you found. This is the first question on almost every phone sale.

“Does everything work?”

Test the cameras, speaker, microphone, charging port and buttons individually, and list anything that does not.

“Is it reset and ready to use?”

Remove your accounts and reset before listing, then say so. It removes the buyer’s main worry in one sentence.

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 mobile phone 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 £195 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a mobile phone — 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	£195
Poshmark	−£39	£156
eBay	−£27	£168
Mercari	−£20	£175
Etsy	−£13	£182

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 at realistic prices. Budget and older handsets have a steady market as spares, children’s phones and travel phones, provided they are described honestly.

Small and easily disputed. Photograph the exact handset and accessories going into the parcel, and confirm payment has cleared before sending.

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

What is a used mobile phone worth?

Typically £40 to £350 depending on make, model and age. See the mobile phone value guide for the range by condition.

Is an old phone worth selling?

Usually yes. There is a real market for cheap spares, first phones for children and travel handsets. Describe the condition and battery honestly and price it low, and it will sell rather than sit in a drawer.

What should I do before selling a phone?

Back up your data, sign out of every account, remove the SIM and any memory card, then factory reset. Removing the accounts before resetting is the step people miss and it locks the phone to you if skipped.