Categories: Services

Does uSell.com Really Work?

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You might have seen an ad for uSell.com on the TV and wondered if it’s a good way to sell your phone or other electronic item. They say that they allow you to sell your items with confidence, knowing that their database is finding you the best prices for your old goods. We took a look at how well this service really works, and what kind of money can you expect for the items that you once loved, but are now looking a little shabby compared to the newest models.

Overview
Moore’s law makes it so our gadgets are getting more and more powerful, and companies are relentless putting out new and improved models each year. Apple is notorious for it, with lines of rabid fans stretching for blocks to get the latest and greatest. But other companies are the same way, tinkering with and improving upon their best sellers, coming out with new versions just when you’ve figured out what all the buttons do. So it makes sense that there is a growing aftermarket of unwanted phones and other electronic devices.

The Claim
They say they’re the only smart way to sell your cell phone, but competitors like Gazelle would surely like to chime in on that. But while Gazelle will buy your phone directly, uSell.com is all about matching you up with the best buyer out there. In addition to finding you the best price they can, they also say that they screen each of the buyers for quality, and that they monitor your transaction throughout to ensure that it goes smoothly.

The Hype
A lot of sites are popping up these days offering to give you a good price for your used phones and electronics. At first glance it sounds like a great idea, especially if you’ve been eyeing one of the new releases and regretting your newly outdated phone or tablet. But in most instances you can get a better price than what you’ll get offered, you just have to be a little more patient and willing to put up with a bit more hassle. If you’re in a hurry or just don’t want to mess with selling it on your own, your trade off will be the lower price, which is where they make their money.

The Cost
It doesn’t cost anything to use uSell.com, and if you end up liking an offer you don’t even pay for shipping. The buyer will send you prepaid packaging so that you can send your item in for a final offer. There is an opportunity cost involved, as in you’re missing out on a higher selling price by taking a faster offer. You’re also agreeing to their terms, and you can’t counter-offer, it’s a take it or leave it situation.

The Commitment
Just because you get an offer doesn’t mean you have to take it. Even when you send your item in, you can back out by rejecting their revised offer, once they’re able to see what sort of condition it’s really in. In this regard, you’ll want to be as accurate as possible with your estimation of what sort of shape it’s in. It’s in your best interest to lean more towards the better shape, and let them downgrade it, because if you say it’s in

Evaluation
uSell.com is an aggregator that takes you through the screening process to see what sort of offers you can get for your phone or other piece of electronic equipment. It’s important to note that they aren’t the ones that buy your items, they are simply collecting a commission by referring you to buyers that do the actual purchasing, and make the actual offers.

They have a very wide range of products that you can attempt to offload. They even have the ability to find you buyers for old video game units, including handheld portables like a Nintendo DS or a PSP. This can come in handy around Christmas time, when all of the video game manufacturers up the ante and put out their latest and greatest in an effort to get you to upgrade to the next generation gaming system.

Final uSell.com Review

uSell.com works! It does what it says it does, quickly and accurately matching you up with the most beneficial offer that they can find for your unwanted items. Is it necessarily

the best price overall that you can get? No, but you’ll get offers on things that might sit around for weeks or even months before being sold, and will save you from having to deal with wishy-washy buyers like you’ll find on craigslist. The offers we looked into were exceptionally low, but compared to trying to line up a buyer for old worn out goods, it makes sense just to get the quick cash.

Our Recommendation
It doesn’t hurt to get a ballpark low-ball estimate about what you can get for your goods. It gives you a place to start from, and can help you come to the conclusion of which method you want to sell your items. If the offer is so low that you can’t imagine parting with your item at that price, you can pursue other options. But if you like what you see and are antsy to go buy something new, you can take the quick payment and be that much closer to your next gadget conquest.

What do you think? Does uSell.com work or not?

View Comments

  • They tried to pull a "bait and switch" with me, declaring the phone I mailed in to have LCD damage. This changed their offer from $86 to $10. After filing with the NY BBB, they FINALLY mailed a package out to me-with a DIFFERENT PHONE.

    Now this phone is truly damaged. It is dirty, smudges on the front, spots on the back, and damage to the front button!

    Please file with the Attorney General- we can't let them get away with this sort of behavior! This, by the way, was an experience directly with Usell, not with a third party.

  • Sold my used Samsung Galaxy Note 5 on uSell.com. I told them the condition was like new, and they offered me $199. When they received it I got an ugent email telling me there were some scratches on the glass and back, and they revised the offer down $30 to $90 because of this. Not wanting to be bothered by having them ship it back to me, I reluctantly agreed to the new offer.

    I am very disatisfied with them as the phone was much better than they discribed it. What, were they looking at it under a magnifyng glass? I am very sorry I fell for what I think was a scam. They had no intention on giving me the amount quoted. Also, it will take up to a week to issue payment for the phone.

    I have sold multiple cell phones and iPads on Gazelle, and had the opposite experience. Only on one occasion did they not agree with my item rating, and that was to upgrade my rating of good to like new, and they paid MORE than what I was quoted. Furthemore, payment was received within 24 hrs. of receiving my item.

    I do not recommend uSell.com, and think this is a common thing for them to do: lure you with a good price, then downgrade your rating in order to pay you less, realizing that most sellers will not dispute this, nor want to be botherd by having the item sent back to them, so they just back down as I did, and accept a lower payment.

  • I had an iphone 4s 32 gb damaged phone the quote was for $75 when they received the phone they revised their offer to $12 the people at usell are frauds and if you have a phone you need to sell you should use ebay if you want to get a fair price for it. Usell is a bait and switch operation.

  • Don't believe usell..or anything the comment above me(Kelsey)..I just read the exact comment word for word on another review site not 5 minutes ago except the commentod name was Brian...either someone is copying and repasting using another name or it's a Usell employee posting the same comments but with a different name everytime..I choose the latter...

  • I was skeptical and figured it was one of those "too good to be true" type things, but it seemed worth a shot considering I doubted I'd get much anywhere for my water-damaged, useless iPhone. It was super fast and I got paid the full $134 as promised, way faster than I expected. I first requested the quote and shipping label on October 22, and on November 1 I already received my money instantly to my PayPal. I would recommend to anyone especially anyone else with a damaged iPhone on their hands!

  • I used Usell a few months ago. I was skeptical however I had seen the ads on TV. Anyways, after sending my device (in good shape) they contacted me saying it was damaged even when I knew it really wasn’t. I had two options, take a lower dollar amount or have the item sent back. At the end of the experience, I wasn’t a happy camper. A few nights later a neighbor told me about American Buy Back. He said he had used them to sell his company’s IT and computer equipment.

    After a few weeks, I sold them 5 of my obsolete electronics including an original iPhone that was cracked, a damaged BlackBerry, and my retired iPad 2 that I had cracked by dropping it. I went through their site’s catalog to find each of my items then sent them in using a pre-paid (free) shipping label. I chose to get paid via PayPal since I trust their security and have used PayPal a ton in the past. Long story short, I was paid exactly what their site stated within 3 days from shipping. I simply couldn’t believe it. Some of the other ‘buy back’ sites have tried playing games before by saying an item I say is in good condition is really in poor or similar. The entire experience was terrific and their communication was top notch.

  • It sounds to me that this is almost like an auction with limited options. While it is convenient for me to just put an item for sale and having usell do everything, my only choice after that is to either take a deal or wait for something better. So if they're not buying the items themselves, does this mean that much older electronics wouldn't sell since there are only small potential buyers for old items?

    • Look at it this way. In today's market, where in the world can you possibly sell old electronics? Aside from ebay there aren't really good options. If you've ever sold stuff on ebay then you know that selling things on ebay isn't always straight forward and it does take time and effort to even list anything on it. It's one thing to just list something for auction, but it takes time to make an auction look appealing. In my opinion usell makes everything a lot simpler for you and as far as what will sell you'll just have to try to find out.

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