Sell an iPhone that will not turn on.
Try four things first, because a surprising number of dead phones are not. If it stays dead, it is still worth considerably more than nothing.
A modern iPhone that will not power on is still a collection of valuable working parts in a housing somebody wants. The screen alone, if it survived, is worth a meaningful amount. That is why a dead phone gets a price rather than a refusal.
But try the list below first, because a genuinely surprising share of phones that appear dead are simply flat, or have a charging port packed with pocket lint, or need a force restart held for longer than feels reasonable. A phone that turns out to be alive is worth considerably more than one that does not.
And whichever way it goes, do not have it repaired first. A diagnostic plus a repair on a phone you are about to sell almost never returns what it cost.
Every one of these has two numbers.
What it is worth working, and what it is worth faulty. Both are real, both are yours in about a minute, and both depend on the actual device rather than a best case printed on a page. That is why the number lives in the calculator and not in a table here.
No response at all
Black screen, no charging indicator
Boot loop
Apple logo appears and restarts, repeatedly
Will not charge
Often the port rather than the phone
Detected by a computer
Alive with a failed screen, the good version
Dead after water
Priced separately, see below
If you are upgrading, you are not selling. You are part-paying.
The usual next step after a dead phone is a used replacement, which is what our main store sells. Trade-in credit adds 12%, which matters more when the base number is modest.
Take the payout as EpicDeals.co.za credit instead of cash and we add 12% on top. That is us paying you for not needing the money in your account today, and it costs you nothing if you were going to spend it here anyway.
The 12% is only worth taking if you were going to spend it. If you need the cash, take the cash, and we will not make the voucher hard to refuse.
What actually moves the number.
Charge it properly for a full hour first
A known-good cable and a wall plug, not a laptop port. A deeply drained battery shows nothing at all for the first several minutes, and people give up at four. This one step resurrects more phones than everything else combined.
Clean the charging port
Torch, then a wooden toothpick, gently. Compacted pocket lint is one of the most common causes of a phone that will not charge, it looks exactly like a dead phone, and it costs nothing to rule out.
Force restart, and hold it longer than feels sensible
Volume up, volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. Twenty seconds at least. Plenty of people let go at eight.
Plug it into a computer and watch
If the computer detects it, the phone is alive and the screen is the problem, which is much better news and a much better price. Worth checking even if nothing appears on screen.
Things that do not disqualify it.
Every one of these lowers the offer. Not one of them ends it. Pick the matching condition, say what is wrong in the notes, and the price you are shown already accounts for it.
- No response to charging or buttons at all
- Boot loop at the Apple logo
- Charges but will not boot
- Detected by a computer but screen stays black
- Died suddenly with no drop or spill
- Died after a drop
- Died after getting wet
- Swollen battery lifting the screen
Three ways to take the money.
Cash
Instant offer
Assessed within 1-3 working days of arriving, paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed.
+12%
Trade-in voucher
Take it as credit on EpicDeals.co.za instead and we add 12%. Useful if the plan was always to upgrade.
+10%
Consignment
We list it, we sell it, you get 10% more than the instant offer. Most sell within 13 days.
Trading since 2014 as Epic Deals, with 2,500+ reviews and 30 people who answer the phone. Not a stranger with a bakkie and a WhatsApp number.
iPhone that will not turn on questions.
Also selling one of these?
One minute, one number.
No account, no obligation, no salesperson phoning you at supper time.