We run a buyback service, so treat this with appropriate suspicion. What follows is our honest attempt at the comparison anyway, including the cases where selling privately is clearly the better call.
The short version: a private sale pays more, and it costs you things that are not money.
What a private sale actually pays
More than a buyback. That is straightforwardly true and there is no point pretending otherwise. A private buyer is buying a phone to use, so they can pay closer to retail than a business that has to test it, warrant it, and resell it at a margin.
But compare selling prices, not asking prices. The listings you see on classifieds are what people hope to get. A listing that has been up for two months is evidence of what a phone is not worth.
What it costs that is not money
The things that do not appear in the price comparison but do appear in your week:
- Time. Photographing, listing, answering the same three questions from six people, arranging to meet.
- No-shows, which are the norm rather than the exception.
- Meeting a stranger while holding something worth thousands of rand. This is the real one.
- Payment risk: reversed EFTs, fake proof of payment, and notes that are not notes.
- Being contacted about it for months afterwards.
The scams worth knowing about specifically
Phone sales attract a small number of well-practised tricks, and they are worth recognising whichever route you choose.
The buyer who wants to 'just check it takes a SIM' while walking a few steps away. The instant EFT that has been sent but somehow has not arrived, with a convincing screenshot. The buyer who arrives with a friend. The one who insists on collecting after dark. None of these are hypothetical and all of them are why we ended up in this business.
When a private sale genuinely wins
The case people expect to see here is the immaculate, boxed, current-generation Pro, because that is where the private premium is widest. It is also the case where consignment does the same job better: we list it, we deal with the buyer, and you get 10% more than the instant offer without meeting anyone. Most of the premium, none of the evening in a car park.
That aside, a private sale is genuinely the better call if:
- You already have a buyer you know and trust. Most of the risk in a private sale is the stranger, and you have removed it.
- You are not in a hurry and you actively do not mind the admin.
- Your phone is something unusual that a specific collector will pay a premium for.
When a buyback wins
The reverse cases, which cover most phones most of the time:
- The phone is broken, cracked or dead. Private buyers heavily discount faults out of uncertainty, while we price them from experience.
- It is older or lower-value, where the private premium is a few hundred rand and not worth a fortnight of messages.
- You want it done this week rather than eventually.
- You are clearing out several devices at once.
- You would rather not meet anyone, which is a completely reasonable position.
The third option people forget
If you are selling in order to buy something else, taking the offer as trade-in credit rather than cash adds 12% at our end. Consignment adds 10% and works differently again: we list and sell the phone for you and you get paid once it sells, which is a middle path between the certainty of a buyback and the higher price of a private sale.
Neither is right for everyone. Both are worth knowing exist before you assume the choice is only cash or Facebook.
The short version
A private sale pays more and costs you time and risk. A buyback pays less and costs you nothing but the phone. For a mint, current, boxed Pro, consignment sits between the two and is usually the better trade. For almost anything else, particularly anything faulty, the gap is smaller than it looks and the hassle is larger.