Sell a water damaged iPhone, including the one that seemed fine afterwards.
The harshest fault there is, and the one most often not declared. Say it up front and the price already accounts for it.
Water is the worst thing that happens to a phone, and not because of what it does on the day. A drop cracks one component. Liquid gets everywhere, starts corrosion that continues for months, and produces a phone that works perfectly for six weeks and then does not.
That is why this page exists separately from the other faults, and why we ask you to declare it even if the phone dried out and has been fine ever since. Every iPhone has internal moisture indicators that turn red permanently, we check them, and they do not care how well it is working today.
None of that is a refusal. It is a price. What it is not is something worth hiding, because a declared soaking is a number and an undeclared one is a phone call three days later.
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.
Dropped in water, works fine now
Still declare it
Worked, then failed weeks later
The classic pattern
Dead since it got wet
Priced on what survived
Went through a wash cycle
We see this constantly
Sea water or pool water
Harsher than tap water, say which
If you are upgrading, you are not selling. You are part-paying.
Water damage is the fault most likely to have you buying a replacement the same week. Trade-in credit adds 12% toward it.
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.
The moisture indicators tell us anyway
There is a small strip inside the SIM tray slot that turns from white to red on contact with liquid, and more of them inside. They are permanent. Declaring is not about honesty policing, it is about the price being right the first time rather than revised after testing.
Salt and chlorine are worse than tap water
Sea water and pool water are conductive and corrosive in a way clean water is not, and they keep working on the board long after the phone has dried. If you know which it was, say so. It genuinely changes the assessment.
Rice does nothing, and can make it worse
It is the most persistent bad advice in phone ownership. Rice does not draw moisture out of a sealed device, and it introduces starch and dust into the ports. If it is recent, power it off and leave it alone rather than reaching for a bag of rice.
What still works is what you are paid for
The offer is built from the parts that survived. A phone that took a splash and kept a perfect screen is worth appreciably more than one that came out of a pool and lost everything. This is why it gets tested rather than assumed.
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.
- Dropped in a bath, sink, pool or the sea
- Went through a washing machine
- Caught in heavy rain and never quite recovered
- Speaker or microphone muffled since it got wet
- Charging port corroded or green inside
- Screen with water marks or shadows behind the glass
- Worked for weeks after the spill, then died
- Moisture indicator already red
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.
water damaged iPhone questions.
Also selling one of these?
One minute, one number.
No account, no obligation, no salesperson phoning you at supper time.