Buying or selling an old smartphone is often a stressful process that involves using online classifieds and trying to sniff out the legitimate buyers or sellers from the scammers. Phonetradr wants to alleviate the stress and the risk by ensuring you get the best deal on a secondhand handset, or get the best return when selling yours.
Phonetradr specialises in handsets from three of the big-name manufacturers: Apple, Huawei and Samsung. Buying a phone is as simple as choosing one on the website, paying for it, and awaiting delivery. All handsets bought using the platform come with a 12-month warranty from Phonetradr, and the company subjects every phone it sells to a 45-point quality inspection, so you can rest easy knowing you’re not buying a dud. And, if something does go wrong, every phone purchased comes with a repair voucher that gives you up to a R2,000 discount on repairs.
If the price of that iPhone 7 Plus you’ve been eyeing is still a little steep for you to afford in one sitting, there’s also the option to buy on credit and pay off the device in monthly instalments, over 12 months, by signing up for a Mobicred account. As for payment mechanisms, in addition to using a bank card you can pay for your purchases using Snapscan or Zapper.
Selling a phone via Phonetradr is similarly simple. Specify which phone you’re selling, provide details on colour, storage capacity, condition and which accessories you’re selling with it and you’ll get an instant valuation on the website. If you’re happy with what you’re offered Phonetradr will arrange to collect the device from you (just about anywhere in South Africa), list it on its website, and will pay you for it as soon as its been sold. If after a few weeks your phone hasn’t found a buyer you can also opt to adjust the price. Thanks to Phonetradr’s warranty with every device it sells, if something goes wrong with the handset after you’ve sold it you needn’t worry about it.
Another concern when buying secondhand devices is whether or not they’re stolen. Phonetradr’s got you covered on that front, too. It checks the IMEI number of each handset with mobile operators to make sure all of the handsets it sells are legitimate.
What can you expect to pay for a handset? At time of writing, Phonetradr has a 64GB Samsung Galaxy S8 in excellent condition listed for R8,699, a 16GB iPhone 6 Plus in similarly excellent condition for R4,599, and a 64GB Huawei P10 (also in excellent shape) for R8,609. If those are still too expensive — or too recent — for your taste, you can pick up an iPhone 5c in good condition for R1,759 or a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge for R3,519.
The latest and greatest handsets may be the most desirable, but like new cars they make far less financial sense than buying a generation or two back and doing something sensible with the money you save. With Phonetradr, that’s now a whole lot simpler — and less stressful — to do.
