“On eBay today there are thousands of unlocked first-generation iPhones being offered for sale — individually or in lots of 10 or 20 or more — for prices ranging from about $450 to $700 per 16 GB phone,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt writes for Fortune.
“But if you want to sell yours, you’d better move fast, say people familiar with the business of buying and selling used iPhones,” Elmer-DeWitt writes. “‘I think the eBay market is going to dry up pretty quickly,’ says Aaron Vronko, service manager for Rapid Repair, an iPod and iPhone service bureau in Kalamazoo, Mich. ‘The market is very different today than it is going to be a month from now.'”
Elmer-DeWitt writes, “If you don’t want to take your chances on eBay or Craigslist, there are any number of resellers that will take it off your hands. BuyMyTronics.com, for example, will give you an immediate quote based your answers to their online form. For a 16GB iPhone in good condition with the box intact and all the extras (including working earbuds), they’ll pay $190.92.”
MacDailyNews Take: Who wants to put random used earbuds in their ears? Hello? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Elmer-DeWitt writes, “That’s if you sell it today. After July 11, all bets are off.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Journo” for the heads up.]
Keeping mine.
Calling “Antiques Roadshow” now. . .
Sold mine for $375 on eBay 2 weeks ago.
Paid $400.
Upgrading to 3G and keeping my original and unlocking it for foreign travel.
My Friend Mark is buying me an iPhone on July 11
Trev: do I know you?
Wrong Mark. He means me. And I’ve changed my mind since Trevor is obviously a cheating whore and I’m NOT buying him an iPhone now.
So Mark, A/S/L?
Umm yes, you got my sister pregnant!! Remember?
the helll……..
why? why would you sell it? the overwhelming majority of what the next version will have comes free with the old version! what is the point?!?
do these people really think 3g is all that impressive?
screw that, i just want the local AT&T;network to run as fast as the one in Seattle when i was there on the weekend. 15 times the speed we get here in a place that barely earns statehood…..
I’ll be using envirofone.com. Trade in for £111, quick payment, and it’s a sure thing.
Pyeman…
“5 times the speed we get here in a place that barely earns statehood”
you live in HI?
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I lived in Maui for a while… ahh… “poverty with a view” as one of my friends called it.
The Dude abides.
Damn… I need a new prescription…. that was shen’s quote… not pyeman. looks like my copy paste failed to grab the “1” on “15 times the speed…”.
Think I’ll just get back to work now.
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The Dude abides.
Anyone with a 1st gen iPhone has a classic on their hands. Keep ’em. They will be wanted by technology museums soon as the beginning of palmtop cloud computing.
if you have to sign a contract just to buy a 3G iPhone, then there will be a huge market for used phones and prices will favor the Sellers.
I’m thinking their value will go up, since it will become harder to buy unlocked ones. I would just hold it for a couple months and watch the prices. After all, it’s worth a cheaper monthly bill to someone who doesn’t need the new features.
Don’t restrict your eBay sale to the US. Other countries will be willing to pay more if they can’t get them there.
I still have an Apple II, Mac SE and an original, Rev A iMac.
My 1st Gen iPhone has more computational power than all of them combined, so why would I dump it?
Selling mine to my son for $75 and buying the 3G.
I would say that original iPhones would be less valuable next month.
First, you may not be able to upgrade the software on an unlocked phone.
Second, by the end of the year 70 odd countries will be offering services for the new iPhone.
Third, you will not be able to take advantage of the 3G network.
This will restrict the market to only those countries that haven’t done deals with Apple yet or those users who do not want to switch to the carrier for the iPhone.
Why pay over the odds for a legacy unit that is going to be limited in its usage.
Sold my 8GB within six hours of the 3G announcement. Got $260 for it! Sucker! If you’re thinking of selling it, do it now!
Oh yeah- I also own an eMate 300.
Sold my 8GB on eBay the week before the 3G was announced…got $379 for it even though I was an early adopter and bought it for $599. Still better than selling it to a reseller.
@ DogGone:
The appeal to the original iPhone is that it can be used on any mobile phone network once unlocked, and you can’t buy phones from retailers w/o activating a service plan first.
@DogOne
Why can’t the software be updated on an unlocked phone?
I’m totally upgrading. I just put mine on eBay.