That drawer in your kitchen probably has two old iPhones, a tablet no one touches, and maybe a busted gaming controller you keep meaning to deal with. You're not alone. The average U.S. household is sitting on several unused devices at any given time, and most of them still have real cash value, especially if they're less than five years old.
eBay is the obvious answer, but it's not always the right one. Fees run around 13.25% of the sale price plus a transaction fee, and you're responsible for listing, photographing, communicating with buyers, and shipping. For a lot of people, that's more work than the payout justifies.
The good news is there's a whole ecosystem of specialized platforms built specifically for used electronics, and some of them will pay you more than eBay with a fraction of the hassle. Here are 12 worth knowing about.
Swappa
Swappa is a peer-to-peer marketplace where you list your device and sell directly to another person. It covers phones, laptops, tablets, MacBooks, gaming consoles, smartwatches, cameras, and audio gear. The platform manually reviews each listing before it goes live, which keeps out scammers and junk devices, and means buyers are actually looking to buy rather than just browse.
Fees are low. Sellers pay a flat 3% of the asking price, buyers pay 3% on top of that, and listing is always free. Compare that to eBay's 13% and you're keeping meaningfully more per sale. Payment comes through PayPal or Stripe before you ship, so you're not waiting and hoping.
The tradeoff is that it takes some effort. You'll write a description, take photos, and respond to buyer questions. Items can also take days or weeks to sell depending on demand. But if you have a recent-model phone or laptop in good condition and you want the most money for it, Swappa consistently beats the buyback sites on payout. It's the platform most worth trying first before you accept a trade-in offer anywhere else.
ItsWorthMore
ItsWorthMore is a buyback service that buys your device directly, which means no listing, no waiting for a buyer, and no strangers to meet. You enter your device type, model, and condition, get an instant quote, and ship it in using a free prepaid label. The company covers phones, tablets, MacBooks, iPads, gaming consoles, cameras, smartwatches, and more.
What separates ItsWorthMore from most buyback services is that it sometimes increases the offer after inspecting your device, rather than dropping it. That's genuinely unusual in this industry and explains why reviewers on Trustpilot consistently mention accuracy and honesty. The company has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and has operated since 2012.
Payment options are broader than most: PayPal, Zelle, direct deposit, check, or gift card. If you choose PayPal or Zelle, you typically receive funds within two days of inspection. One thing to know: if ItsWorthMore revises your offer downward, you have three days to accept or decline it. If you don't respond, they treat it as an acceptance. Read the confirmation email.
Gazelle
Gazelle is one of the oldest and best-known phone buyback services in the U.S., in business since 2006. The process is simple: get an instant quote, accept it, and use their prepaid shipping label to send your device. Once inspected, you get paid via PayPal, check, or Amazon gift card, usually within a day of inspection. Gazelle also holds your quoted price for 30 days, so you have time to decide without rushing.
The catch is that Gazelle's offers tend to run lower than some competitors, particularly ItsWorthMore and Swappa. The trade-off is familiarity and simplicity. It accepts iPhones, Android phones, iPads, MacBooks, and a few other Apple and Android devices, though the range is narrower than some newer services. Customer reviews are mixed, with some sellers reporting that the final offer after inspection was significantly below the initial quote.
Gazelle makes the most sense if you want a name you recognize, a fast process, and your expectations are realistic. Before accepting any quote from Gazelle, run your device on SellCell (see below) to compare what other buyers would offer.
Gizmogo
Gizmogo was founded in 2020 and has built a solid reputation for accepting an unusually wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, lenses, drones, smartwatches, headphones, and speakers. If you have something that other buyback sites won't touch, Gizmogo is often worth a try.
The process mirrors the industry standard: get an instant quote, ship for free using a prepaid label, and get paid after inspection via PayPal, Zelle, check, or Amazon gift card. Payment typically arrives within one to two business days of acceptance. Gizmogo offers a 30-day price lock, so your quote is good for a month. The company also performs data deletion on every device received.
Reviews are generally positive, with sellers citing responsive customer service and quotes that hold after inspection. Some negative reviews mention delays in processing during busy periods. If the revised offer doesn't meet your expectations after inspection, you can decline and have your device returned for free, which is standard practice across buyback services worth using.
BuyBackWorld
BuyBackWorld is a buyback service that covers a broad range of electronics: phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, cameras, drones, gaming consoles, and musical instruments. The instrument and drone acceptance is a genuine point of difference, as most buyback services stick to consumer tech.
The process is consistent with other buyback services: get a quote, ship free, get paid. Payment options include PayPal, check, direct deposit, or gift cards. If you have a device that doesn't appear in the standard quote flow, BuyBackWorld offers custom quotes for unlisted products, which is useful if you're sitting on something unusual.
Payout tends to be competitive, and in some side-by-side comparisons BuyBackWorld offers more than Gazelle for phones. As with any buyback service, your actual payout depends on condition. Be honest about scratches, dents, and functionality, because every service will inspect the device and adjust the offer if your description doesn't match.
Mercari
Mercari is a general marketplace app where you list items and sell directly to buyers. It handles electronics alongside clothing, collectibles, household goods, and more, which means a wide and varied buyer pool. For electronics, it works well for phones, consoles, accessories, smartwatches, and smaller gadgets. Larger or heavier items can get expensive to ship.
As of January 2025, Mercari charges sellers a flat 10% fee on the item price plus buyer-paid shipping. Listing is free. Buyers pay an additional 3.6% buyer protection fee. There's no separate payment processing charge anymore. Shipping is flexible: you can use Mercari's prepaid labels at discounted rates, or arrange your own.
Mercari works best for mid-range items where you want a simple fee structure and a platform that isn't purely electronics-focused. Items sometimes take a while to sell, and because Mercari holds payment until the buyer rates the transaction, there's a brief delay before funds clear. It's a solid alternative to eBay for anyone who wants to set their own price without committing to a full listing operation.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is where a lot of used electronics actually sell quickly, particularly phones, gaming consoles, and laptops. The platform has over a billion users, and for in-person local transactions, there are no fees at all. You keep everything you charge. That makes it the highest-payout option available if you're willing to meet a buyer locally.
For shipped sales, Facebook Marketplace charges a 10% commission with a minimum of $0.80, which is lower than most marketplaces. The main practical issue is that you're communicating with buyers through Messenger, managing the transaction yourself, and handling shipping independently. Scams do happen, particularly fake payment confirmations and overpayment schemes. For local sales, cash or verified payment apps and a public meeting place reduce the risk significantly.
Facebook Marketplace suits electronics well because the audience is enormous, buyers are local, and there's no barrier to listing. If you have a phone or a console in decent shape and you want to move it in a few days, this is one of the fastest options available.
OfferUp
OfferUp is a mobile-first marketplace that works similarly to Facebook Marketplace for local sales, with a cleaner interface and built-in buyer and seller ratings. It's popular in major metros and tends to attract more intentional buyers, especially for higher-value electronics. Local sales on OfferUp have no selling fees.
For shipped sales, OfferUp charges 12.9% with a $1.99 minimum, which is higher than Facebook Marketplace's shipping fee. That makes it less competitive for mailing lower-priced items. It has a TruYou identity verification system that adds a layer of trust, which matters if you're selling something expensive and want buyers who are serious and verified.
OfferUp performs particularly well for phones, tablets, gaming gear, and tools in cities with active user bases. If you're in a smaller market, the local buyer pool can be thin. The sweet spot is high-value electronics sold locally to a verified buyer, where OfferUp's reputation system gives both parties more confidence than Craigslist typically offers.
Craigslist
Craigslist is free, with no seller fees and no platform commission. You post, a buyer contacts you, you meet and exchange cash. That simplicity is the entire appeal. For bulky electronics like TVs, desktop computers, or large speakers that would cost a lot to ship, local Craigslist sales often make more practical sense than any shipping-based platform.
The downsides are real. There's no seller protection, no built-in payment processing, and no dispute mechanism. Scammers target Craigslist electronics listings regularly. The standard precautions apply: meet in a public place, accept only cash or in-person Zelle or Venmo transfers that you can verify, never ship an item to someone you haven't met, and don't accept overpayment checks.
For people comfortable with those realities, Craigslist remains a practical option for selling larger electronics quickly without losing a cut to any platform. Electronics in the $50 to $300 range tend to move fastest. Anything high-value, like a MacBook or a camera, gets more scrutiny and is probably better handled through a platform with buyer verification.
Amazon Trade-In
Amazon's Trade-In program accepts phones, tablets, Kindles, Echo speakers, Fire TV devices, laptops, gaming consoles, headphones, and a range of other electronics. The process is free: get an instant quote on Amazon's trade-in page, ship using a prepaid label, and receive an Amazon gift card once your item is inspected. Amazon also sometimes offers a bonus discount toward a new qualifying device on top of the gift card value.
The key limitation is that trade-in value is issued as Amazon credit only, not cash. If you were going to spend that money at Amazon anyway, that's fine. If you want actual money, this isn't the right platform. Trade-in values also tend to run lower than dedicated buyback services. Amazon Trade-In is most useful for Amazon-branded devices like Echo speakers and Kindles, where Amazon actively incentivizes trade-ins with bonus discounts, and for people who just want to tidy things up and don't care about maximizing the payout.
One thing to watch: Amazon can claw back instantly-issued credit if your device fails inspection or doesn't match your description. Don't spend the gift card before the inspection process completes.
Best Buy Trade-In
Best Buy's trade-in program is worth using if you prefer to walk into a store and be done with it in fifteen minutes. You can also initiate trade-ins online and ship the device using a prepaid label. Best Buy accepts phones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, and smartwatches. In fiscal year 2025 alone, the program facilitated over 777,000 trade-ins.
Payment comes as Best Buy store credit, not cash. If you're planning to buy something at Best Buy anyway, the in-store trade-in can make a new purchase more affordable in a single transaction. If you want cash, look elsewhere. As with Amazon, the trade-in values here tend to be lower than dedicated buyback services or peer-to-peer platforms, because that's how these programs sustain themselves.
The genuine advantage is speed and simplicity. Hand over the old device, get a credit applied to your purchase, walk out with something new. For people upgrading a device and already shopping at Best Buy, it's an easy choice. For people who want the highest possible dollar amount from their old tech, it's not the right tool.
SellCell
SellCell isn't a buyer itself. It's a comparison site that pulls real-time quotes from over 40 vetted electronics buyback companies simultaneously and shows you the highest offer for your specific device. Instead of checking Gazelle, then ItsWorthMore, then Gizmogo one by one, you enter your device details once and see every offer side by side in seconds.
The site is free to use, and SellCell backs results with a Best Price Guarantee: if you find a better quote within 24 hours elsewhere, they'll pay you double the difference. Every buyer listed has been vetted and reviewed. You see customer ratings alongside prices, so you can weigh a slightly lower offer from a highly-rated buyer against a higher offer from someone with worse reviews.
Using SellCell before accepting any buyback offer takes about two minutes and routinely surfaces meaningfully better prices than whatever the first site you tried happened to quote. It won't help you sell peer-to-peer, and it focuses primarily on phones, tablets, and laptops rather than all electronics. But for anything in those categories, it's the most efficient first step you can take before committing to a buyer.
One more thing worth knowing before you ship anything: back up your data, sign out of all accounts, and do a factory reset. Every reputable buyer will wipe devices anyway, but you don't want personal data leaving your hands in a recoverable state.
