Are mobile phone recycling sites giving you a fair price?

Essentially this is a classic case of supply and demand. Those companies are probably involved in reselling a few phones and on-selling for crushing the rest for the metals. Metal prices move, and peoples view of good condition may be slightly warped/optimistic. So assuming they are the most honest of people they are in a world of rapidly changing prices and they need to make a profit.

The example above of a price shifting upwards of a £5 when a buyer decides he wants his phone back is really an appreciation of the cost of the company getting embroiled in low monetary value high hassle factor.

I am not an apologist for the industry but I would dearly like some sense of how a business has to run when banging on how unfair business is to consumers. For anyone who is currently working or has worked in a commercial organisation you must appreciate that businesses have to make money to continue and pay staff. If you part with the item to sell it you are trading convenience for yourself against the fact you have weakened your trading power. It is your choice to enter into the transaction and you must be aware of the terms and conditions – and the pitfalls.

Very large companies like Amazon are unfair to UK taxpayers/buyers by simply avoiding paying full tax in the UK. The Guardian estimated £100M unpaid over 3 years compared to a normal UK company. Of course you can also go for grants:
” Last week it emerged that, despite £4.2bn of UK sales, the company paid only £2.4m in corporation tax in 2012. In the same year it received £2.5m in government grants. Which makes it a net benefits scrounger.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/19/david-mitchell-amazon-tax-artwork

Perhaps when looking at rogue companies Which? could look for bigger targets.

I agree that selling phones on eBay is a good idea. However, buying phones on eBay can be very risky unless the seller has a long term positive feedback. There have been many cases of people selling phones on eBay, waiting for eBay/PayPal’s purchase protection period to expire and then reporting the phone lost or stolen in order to commit insurance fraud. The buyer then finds that the purchased phone has been blocked by all networks and the seller can no longer be contacted. Caveat emptor.

I had never sold a mobile phone until yesterday. Checked out all the prices on the internet for an HTC One S, I chose Fonebank not the highest payer, a couple of pounds difference, the reviews for the highest paying site were awful, frankly not worth bothering with. Posted my mobile yesterday, today I received an email confirming receipt and that the amount advertised was being BACS to my account. Great service Fonebank

I think I can beat you: My Motorola V series 66 bought in the USA, is about to celebrate its 10th birthday. It makes and receives phone calls and text messages on all continents. Its displays are in very legible black and white (can be adjusted to user’s need).. It can guess in what language I am about to spell out my text message. Its (second) battery lasts for a week (whoopee, no need to carry yet another charger during those quick business trips). It has a brilliant diary and alert/alarm system and has a seemingly inexhaustible addres book. It takes voice recordings. It’s such a small clamshell, I can slip it into the tiniest trouser pocket and no thief will know that I carry a phone. IF I need something “more sophisticated”, this one will go to a place that will re-use it.

I’ve used Mazuma twice and obtained what I considered to be a fair price and was paid speedily and without fuss.

I used Mazuma which I got from the web site at http://www.stoprecycledstolenphones.com/members.asp as if I had a problem then there is a code of practice to fall back on – that said I was happy with the offer and payment I got.

Used these services after three times selling the phone on Ebay and each time the auction winner pulled out. Sold phone on apple with no problems. iPad was received by them damaged in the post but their insurance paid up. O2 offered more on another iPad was sent to them in their packaging. Again damaged in the post. Be very careful how it is packed.

For the past several years, I have been collecting mobile phones which are donated to our registered charity and I recycle them through various companies in order to raise money for the charity and to be honest, had very little problems, only a couple of phones being revised in prices but most of the phones recycled are under £30. I use a number of different comparison sites to search for the best price for the phone once i have tested it and ensured that the phone has not been reported stolen. Generally the companies have returned payment within a few weeks and it has been a good and easy way for the charity to raise money for good causes.

On the 14th November 2013, I posted a Nokia 6303c to cash4phones in one of their envelopes they sent to me following the appropriate completion of the details on their website through my account. I accepted that the amount of £14.00 would be paid in return for the phone being sent to them

By the 21st November, as I had not heard anything and my account was not even updated to state that they had received the phone, I emailed them to be advised that ‘We can confirm that your handset is currently with our Technical Department’. Since this date, I have not heard anything despite emailing them several times. When trying to log onto my account online, (something I had previously done on a number of times) the website states my account is not recognised. I have tried to request the password but again when I submit my email address; it states that no account is associated with the email address, something I find rather strange as I have logged into the account a number of times previously.

There is no telephone number for the company and with no way of contacting them, although I have yesterday sent a letter to their registered address on their website. Whilst not a major amount of money, its the pronciple of the matter, having sent a phone to them and not receiving either the money or the phone return. Can which look further into this company?

I used cash4phones in November 2013 to recycle my immaculate IPhone 4 I was quoted £117.00 for my phone so I sent it off by recorded delivery it arrived two days after to the company but never received the money for my phone I sent constant emails to the company I even wrote to them but never heard anything back I’m registered disabled unable to work & that money was to pay some bills which I still had to find the money for. The company emailed me to tell me they had received my phone but that due to the run up to Christmas they were very busy and we’re running behind I never heard anything since. I am now out of pocket by double the amount because I still had to find the money for the bills and I lost my phone what do I do now I cannot afford to be out of money by well over £200 this is not right or fair. Advice please

I’m am currently in dispute with Igadgetsrecycled.Co.uk, they offered £86 for my samsung s3 fully working no scratches to screen or back, screen protector was still on the phone when sent 31st Oct having not heard an thing since I emailed on 12th Nov for a reply to say they emailed on the 4th Nov offering me £50, i didn’t receive this email so declined the offer, attempted to contact by phone..There line has a fault and unable to take calls no reply to my emails other than my phone has now been recycled as I only had 72 hrs to reply to an email I never received, which I find amazing that I received all other emails except the one in which I’m offered a lower amount..yet I’m still also to receive the funds and have my phone call returned after 3 emails requesting to speak with someone in person. I think it shocking that they can do this at no point did they request info on the phone regarding scratches etc other that working, which it was. Will never use any recycle companies again.

igadgetsrecycled (also operating as webuyanyphone) are one of the worst currently. Nobody that has sent phones to them in the last few months has received payment despite repeated promises. They insist that customers write glowing trustpilot reviews before they receive payment (which never arrives) in order to fish more people in. Do not send these people your phone, you’re far better off selling it on Gumtree or taking a bit less money and using someone like Mazuma.

I have sent an iPhone 5 to Mazuma mobile recently. It was in perfect condition and I took the liberty of taking photos of the phone and the packaging I shipped it in for my records as this was the first time I’d used such a service.

They had offered me £100 for the phone which was slightly less than I could get on eBay but I decided for convenience I’d accept the loss.

They contacted me saying they would only offer £25 for the phone as the camera was damaged. They sent proof of this showing a slight blur in a photo taken on the phone. However I had taken a photo on the phone prior to packing and it was fine.

I explained it had not left in that condition and the response was “We do not deliberately damage phones” which came as a surprise as I never suggested that it was deliberate, just that the damage had either happened in transit or at Mazumas premises. However the line about the deliberate damage does get you thinking!

They returned the phone which didn’t come well packaged at all and was able to freely move inside which could have caused further damage. They said it wasn’t their fault and to raise a claim with Royal Mail.

I did this but Royal Mail require the original packaging to assess the damage, mazuma didn’t return it in its original packaging. So now my phone valued at £100 is now around £25.

The quality of a company can be determined on how it responds to its problems. Going on this experience Mazuma mobile is to be avoided at all costs!

My experience with music magpie was in a word unbelievable
They offered my 76 quid for a Sony xperia z2 in working order I provided them with just that a z2 unlocked and in mint condition I sent the mobile recorded delivery it arrived with them at 0810 on a Thursday I never heard nothing from them after 5 days I rang for a update this is what I got told ” your phone has passed all the relevant tests but a revised offer has been made ” I asked “why?” Got told ” my new offer is £7 as they don’t like the look of the mobile” my answer was very clear ” send it back to me you shark” then she proceed to tell me ” standard delivery is 15 working days” and then said “bye” and hung up they are complete jokes these company’s and because they are not governed by no standard they just take the biscuit everything and the fat cats at the top are getting fatter

Hi Jack, I’ve had a similar experience with Selltronics. They quoted an attractive price first, then after my sending the phone to them, they reduced it by 57% claiming there was “heavy wear” on the back. But my phone had a protective plastic cover on all the time. I even have pictures to prove that there’s absolutely no heavy wear anywhere on the phone. And they didn’t even offer a higher price after my contesting their ridiculously low offer, my only options were to accept, or to pay the return fee.

It is obvious that their first offer was deceptive, because they never ever had the intention of even considering paying that price. And yes, as people are saying, customers feel their phones are being held hostage, and their possibilities are limited: pay the ransom or accept the humiliating terms.

Please continue your investigation, it would be great to put an end to this kind of one-sided business, where the only party that is protected is the recycling company.