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.
The dead iPhones we buy.
Any model, as long as it is signed out of iCloud. Dead after water is the one we cannot take.
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
The one we cannot buy, see below
Upgrading? Put it towards the new one.
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 offer 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 affects your offer.
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.
We still buy it with these.
Choose the closest condition in the calculator and mention anything that is wrong. Your offer already takes it into account.
- 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 a repair done somewhere else
- 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.