Do I have to turn off Find My iPhone?

Yes, and it is the one step where there is no way around it. A phone still signed into an Apple Account is Activation Locked, and a locked phone cannot be tested, reset or resold by anybody, so we cannot buy it at any price. The same goes for a work phone still enrolled in a company's device management. Sign out of iCloud, erase the phone, and remove it from your device list. The calculator will decline a device you tell it is still locked, which is deliberate: better that than couriering in something nobody can buy.

Does a cracked screen mean it is worthless?

No. A cracked screen is a repair cost, not a disqualification, and on a recent iPhone that cost is a lot smaller than what is left over. We buy phones with shattered glass, dead batteries, faulty cameras, ports that will not charge, water damage and phones that will not switch on at all. Say what is wrong in the calculator and the number you are shown already accounts for it.

Must I bring my phone to you?

No need to go anywhere, and no, there is nowhere to bring it. We send a courier to you, wherever you are in South Africa, and it costs you nothing. One working day from Johannesburg or Pretoria, two from other major cities, and up to five if you live somewhere the GPS just shrugs. Everything goes to a secure warehouse that is not open to the public, which is why there is no counter to walk up to.

Does battery health change the offer?

A bit, and less than most people expect. Under 80% is where it starts to matter, because that is where Apple itself starts calling it degraded and where a buyer starts expecting a replacement. Between 80% and 100% the difference is small. Check it under Settings, Battery, Battery Health, and tell us the number rather than guessing. Guessing high is the most common reason an offer changes after testing.

Someone on Facebook Marketplace offered me more. Should I sell to them?

Maybe. If they turn up, if they pay, if the notes are real, if they do not ask to "just check it takes a SIM" while walking away from you, and if the meeting spot is not a petrol station at 9pm. That is a lot of ifs for a few hundred rand. Our offer is lower than the best-case private sale on purpose: you are being paid for certainty, a free courier and not having to meet a stranger holding your phone. What we will not do is quote a good price online and then discover a mysterious fault once your iPhone is already in our building. That behaviour is common in this industry and it is why we do not have to advertise much.

What happens to my photos and messages?

Every device is wiped before it goes anywhere. But erase it yourself first, properly, under Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings. That is what actually removes your data and releases the Activation Lock. Back up to iCloud or your Mac before you do it, because that step is final in the way people only discover afterwards.

How do you price the extras I send with it?

Anything you send alongside the device, a charger, a case, an Apple Pencil, a Magic Keyboard, gets its own line rather than being absorbed into the device's number. The figure you see at that step is an estimate. We confirm what each accessory is actually worth once it arrives and has been tested, exactly as we do with the device itself, and if it is worth more than we estimated you get the higher number. If you send something unusual, type it into the box at that step and we will price it by hand.

Do you buy MacBooks and iMacs too?

Yes. The calculator on this site prices every Apple device we buy, Macs included, so if you are selling a MacBook alongside a phone you can do both here in one go and one courier collects the lot. The written guides on this site are about iPhones, iPads, Watches and AirPods because that is what most people arrive here for, and there is a whole site dedicated to Macs at SellYourMac.co.za if you want the detail. Same company, same warehouse, same offer either way.

What about a Samsung, or a PlayStation?

Those we do not price here. Samsung goes through SellYourGalaxy.co.za, and PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC handhelds through SellYourConsole.co.za. Same company, same warehouse, same courier and the same payment run, just a different shelf, so you are not being handed off to a stranger.

Can I see some of those reviews?

Yes, and they are genuinely ours. This is Epic Deals, trading since 2014, running a storefront specifically for Apple devices, so the reviews are our own rather than borrowed. Over 2,500 of them under Epic Deals on HelloPeter, Facebook and bidorbuy.

No surprises. That is the entire product.

Here is exactly what happens, in order, with the actual timings rather than the comfortable ones.

Start with a number

Get a number

Pick your iPhone, describe the state it is in, and the calculator gives you a real figure in about a minute. No account, no obligation, and nobody phones you afterwards to talk you into it.

The offer is built from what you describe, so the closer the description, the less there is for anyone to discuss later. That is the whole mechanism, and it works in your favour: we are not looking for a reason to change the number.

Accept it and we book the courier

Accept, give us your address, and we arrange a courier at no cost to you anywhere in South Africa. 1 working day from Johannesburg or Pretoria, 2 working days from other major cities, and up to 5 working days if you live somewhere genuinely remote.

There is no shop to visit and nowhere to drop it off. Everything goes to a secure warehouse that is not open to the public, which is the whole reason the courier is free.

Back up, erase, and pack it

Back up to iCloud or a computer, then erase the phone under Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone. That signs you out and releases the Activation Lock in one step. Pack it with its cable and the original box if you have them, wrapped in something soft. A phone rattling around a box arrives worth less than it left.

Screen too broken to do that? Sign in at iCloud.com, Find Devices, Erase, then Remove From Account. It works without touching the phone. Forget entirely and we will phone you rather than quietly sitting on a device we cannot test.

We confirm and we test it

We confirm arrival within 24 working hours in Johannesburg and 48 working hours elsewhere. Then it gets tested properly against what you told us, usually within 1-3 working days.

If we find something real that was not declared, we call you, explain it and agree a revised number. We do not silently reduce the offer and pay you less than you expected. That practice is common in this industry and it is precisely what this business exists in opposition to.

You get paid

Once your offer is confirmed, payment goes out within 5 working days, in the 4pm every working day payment run. Cash by EFT, a 12% trade-in voucher for EpicDeals.co.za, or 10% more on consignment.

Consignment means we list and sell it for you and pay you 10% above the instant offer once it sells. Most sell within 13 days.

So how long, really?

Collected in Johannesburg on Monday, with us Tuesday, tested by about Thursday, paid within 5 working days of that. From other cities, add a day for the courier.

The one thing worth knowing: the payment clock starts when your offer is confirmed after testing, not when the courier collects.

Questions, answered honestly

We test your phone first, usually within 1-3 working days of it arriving, then pay within 5 working days once your offer is confirmed to match what you told us. Payment runs go out at 4pm every working day. You can also take the money as credit on EpicDeals.co.za if what you actually want is a newer iPhone rather than cash.

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