I have an iPhone 3G 8GB that I am going to sell, having upgraded to an iPhone 4. At the moment it is locked to Tesco mobile – they will unlock it for free in a month (or £20 now but the instructions won’t be straight-away apparently), but I figure that I will get a better price if I sell before Christmas, so am planning to sell it ASAP.

I was considering using an online unlock service, but from what I understand, an unlocked phone can lock again following an Apple software update. Therefore, I was thinking of selling it locked to Tesco, then the new owner can deal direct with an unlocking site (- that then guarantees to clear up any issues relating to future updates).

Could anyone advise on this? Am I right? Would it be better to unlock now? Who to use, etc.?

Dunno about the specifics of unlocking iphones, but now is a bad time to sell IMO. People won’t want to rely on the post getting it in time for xmas etc.

Don’t bother with unlocking it, you won’t get any more money for it, it’s a waste of time.

Contrary to what others may say, when you stick it on eBay, get the auction to finsh in the evening but MIDWEEK rather than weekend. It seems everyone has theirs finishing at the weekend, so the prices drop a bit IME. I got £190 for mine finishing on a Saturday, but identical ones had been going for £200-£220 during the previous week 🙂

Be careful with selling it on Ebay, as iphones are one of the biggest targets for scammers on there.

Here’s an email I got:

Hi Seller,
I have made the payment and paypal sent me mail that your money have been deducted from my paypal account and it will be credited into your account as soon as you send them the shipping information(tracking number) to them.As you can see that my money is under pending in paypal cos they are waiting for you to send the prove of shipment.Kindly get the item shipped now via royal mail first class to my frend as a BITHRHDAY GIFT and get back to paypal with the shipping proof and your account will be credited insantanly…Do get back to me as soon as you get the item shipped..
Here is my Friend shipping address below…..

Total rollocks. Pure scam. Another bloke ‘won’ the auction, which specified PayPal only, then wanted to meet up in town to pay cash. Yeah right, with a couple of mates to rob me. Reported him. Turned out he was a known scammer.

Be careful…

Thanks for the replies – your advice is always appreciated! Interesting that you mention scamming as I had several offers from Nigeria for my iPod that I sold on Amazon … fortunately, they were pretty obvious and it has sold legitimately to a very happy UK based customer.

I may well advertise the iPhone on here first, as I’ve sold a couple of bike bit here without any hassle. Nevertheless, I was thinking of “Buy It Now” or “Best Offer” on the Bay, as I can then sell it quickly and use Special Delivery. I never sell abroad and also insist on Paypal – I’m quite wary!

I’m hoping to get the new phone this afternoon. If all goes well, I’ll advertise it tonight here. Price somewhere in the region of £200?

It’s got to be perfect and boxed for £200+

Price somewhere in the region of £200?

I would imagine that is pushing it a bit.

That would be best case scenario 😉

You’d get £122 for it without the hassle here:
http://www.envirofone.com/Apple/iPhone+3G+8GB/details.aspx

Or O2 also do a recycling scheme, which is handy if you are getting your new phone from them.

Wow. That Envirofone website only gives you an extra £10 on the 32GB 3GS over the 16GB version. Would have thought it would be a bit more.

Thanks for the advice. I may try here later (perhaps more in the £160-£180 range), although it is in very good condition. I am a big fan of Zagg InvisibleShields!

I’m not touting for business, but if anyone might be interested, PM me – I’ll be advertising sooner or later 😀