Selling a used phone: how to price it and what to wipe first

Selling a used phone quickly and at a fair price takes three things: pricing it against the market band for the same model, removing it from your accounts and fully resetting it, and writing a listing that answers buyers' questions up front. As of 27 September 2026, Prayk's Smartphones section has 19,988 listings: 12,408 from private sellers and 7,592 from shops. The median price of the 100 newest private-seller listings is 300 AZN.

Short answer: price by the median of Prayk listings for the same model and storage: a phone in good condition with battery above 85% and its box sells between the median and the upper quartile, while a scratched phone or one with battery below 80% sells near the lower quartile. Based on iPhone data from 27 September 2026, each new generation makes the previous one roughly 25–33% cheaper. Before selling, sign out of your Apple Account or Google account, fully reset the phone and post at least 5 clear photos.

How do you price a used phone?

The most reliable reference is real listings for the same model with the same storage. In Prayk's listing form, a "What price?" block next to the price field suggests three bands when there are enough similar listings: quick sale, market price and upper band. The price calculator in the smartphones hub works on the same logic. The median is the middle price when listings are sorted: half of the offers are cheaper, half dearer.

The phone's condition decides which side of the median to price on:

• Upper band: no scratches on screen or body, battery above 85%, no parts replaced, box, receipt or warranty kept.
• Around the median: normal signs of use, battery 80–85%, no box.
• Lower band: battery below 80%, screen or battery replaced with a non-genuine part, problems with Face ID, the camera and so on.

The effect of age is clear from iPhone Pro models. Based on the 500 newest listings in Prayk's Apple iPhone section on 27 September 2026:

In other words, putting off a sale by a year often costs a quarter of the phone's value, especially after a new model launches. Prices for other models are in our used iPhone buying guide and our piece on the most-listed smartphones.

How do you wipe your data before selling?

This step protects both your data and the buyer's trust: a phone still linked to your account cannot be activated by the buyer.

1. Back up — move photos, contacts and chats to the cloud or a computer.
2. On iPhone: sign out of your Apple Account via Settings → [name] → Sign Out, then run "Erase All Content and Settings". Apple's guide on what to do before you sell also covers unpairing a watch and turning off iMessage.
3. On Android: make sure you know your Google account username and password, remove the account and reset to factory settings. Google's official guide recommends checking your account details before a reset and consulting the manufacturer's site for device-specific steps.
4. Remove the SIM and memory card, and sign out of banking and messaging apps.
5. Show the buyer the reset: the phone should start with the "Hello" screen — the most convincing proof for a buyer.

What should you write and which photos should you post?

We compared how smartphone listings on Prayk are written by private sellers and shops as of 27 September 2026 (the 100 newest listings in each group):

More than half of private sellers do not select storage as an attribute and over 60% do not mention battery condition — even though these are a buyer's first two questions. Filling that gap makes your listing stand out immediately:

• Title: brand, model, storage, colour — e.g. "iPhone 13, 128 GB, blue".
• Attributes: choose storage and condition in the form fields, so buyers using filters can find you.
• Description: battery percentage, any replaced parts (screen, battery), box and receipt, warranty, IMEI registration, scratches and damage. Do not hide faults — a fault discovered at the meeting kills the deal.
• Photos: at least 5 clear shots — front, back, edges, the screen switched on and the battery health screen. Prayk's "Listing doctor" warns when a listing has fewer than 3 photos. Do not show the IMEI or serial number in photos.

For more tips, see our pieces on the rules of a fast-selling listing and 10 strategies to sell faster.

Meeting and payment: rules for a safe sale

• Do not share your number too early. On Prayk the number is masked in the listing and protected from spam calls; hold initial talks in the listing chat.
• Beware of outside links and "courier payment" offers. A "buyer" who sends you a link to enter card details may be a scammer. Prayk chat automatically flags messages that demand payment or contain a card number.
• Meet in a public place — a shopping centre or near a phone repair shop where the buyer can test the phone.
• Get paid before handing over the phone and check cash on the spot; for a transfer, confirm in your banking app that the money has actually arrived.
• After the sale, mark the listing as sold so the calls stop.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate the price of a used phone?

Find Prayk listings for the same model and storage and look at the median; the "What price?" block in the listing form shows this automatically when similar listings exist. Then adjust for condition: good condition and the box push it into the upper band, a weak battery and replaced parts into the lower band.

How much value does a phone lose per year?

Based on iPhone Pro listings on Prayk on 27 September 2026, each generation sells for roughly 25–33% less than the next: the median iPhone 16 Pro is 1,600 AZN, 15 Pro 1,195 AZN, 14 Pro 900 AZN and 13 Pro 599 AZN.

Do I have to sign out of iCloud before selling?

Yes. An iPhone still signed in to an Apple Account keeps Activation Lock, and the buyer cannot activate it. Sign out, then run "Erase All Content and Settings". On Android the same rule applies to your Google account.

Do the box and receipt affect the price?

Yes: the box and receipt confirm the phone's origin and matching IMEI and reduce buyer suspicion. On 27 September 2026 only 13 of the 100 newest private-seller smartphone listings on Prayk mentioned a box — if you have one, say so and post a photo.

Should I accept a swap?

Swaps come up often in private sellers' listings (in 20 of the 100 newest). If you agree, check the other phone just as you would when buying: account sign-out, battery, IMEI and genuine parts.

Sources and methodology

Listing counts and prices come from Prayk's public catalogue API on 27 September 2026: the Smartphones section (19,988 listings), its private-seller (12,408) and shop (7,592) listings, the 100 newest listings in each group, and the 500 newest listings in the Apple iPhone section. Medians and 25th–75th percentiles use AZN prices only. Photo counts come from each listing's image list, description length from the text stripped of HTML tags, and mentions of battery, box and swaps from keywords in titles and descriptions. The new/used field is rarely filled in this section (only 6 listings were marked "new" on 27 September 2026), so we compared private sellers with shops instead. Official guides: Apple — before you sell your iPhone, Google — reset an Android device to factory settings.