Proper etiquette in selling your iPhone: what should I do?

[DJJustice]

I'm in the process of selling my 8gb iPhone 3G, and I'm wondering what steps I should take before hand. Some specifics - the person buying my phone is sending it overseas (for what, I do not know). He's picking it up on Monday, so I'll be without a phone until that Friday.

- Do I remove my SIM card?

- Should I cancel my AT&T service for the next 5 days so charges don't get applied to my account, or does removing the SIM card prevent that from happening automatically?

- I'm going to wipe all the apps off of this current phone so it's as close to factory as possible, but are there extra steps I should take?

Any help would be awesome, thanks guys.

 

[Ashyukun]

I'm kind of curious about some things along the sames lines as I'm planning on selling my 16GB 3G and getting a 3GS.

As I understand it- yes, you will definitely want to remove the SIM card. From what I know/have heard (anyone who definitively knows different, please correct me...) the SIM card is the only real thing that ties your number to the phone. You should (I hope) just be able to take the SIM card out of the current phone and then drop it into the new phone, likely go through the activation process to get the phone itself working, and then go from there- no cancelling/changes to your account necessary. If you send the SIM card off with the phone, whoever gets it would be able to use it on your account- so you would need to cancel the service in that case.

I'm curious about wiping the phone as well... I was planning on just going through and using the 'erase all content and settings' in the Settings app to clear everything off, but I wanted to get some confirmation that doing so would put the phone back to essentially its original state- or whether I should be doing something along the lines of a DFU restore to possibly more thoroughly clear it off.

 

[AiralynRose]

- Do I remove my SIM card?

Yes. You can put this sim card in your new phone with your number already activated and ready to go. If they're going overseas, they won't be using an ATT sim anyways.

- Should I cancel my AT&T service for the next 5 days so charges don't get applied to my account, or does removing the SIM card prevent that from happening automatically?

If you cancel your service you will have to pay an ETF and you will probably lose your phone number. Are you sure you can go 5 days with no phone? Personally, I would go pickup a cheap ATT Go Phone ($10-20) and throw your sim in that in the meantime so you have a phone to use during that time and as a backup later.

- I'm going to wipe all the apps off of this current phone so it's as close to factory as possible, but are there extra steps I should take?

The best way to delete all of your data with no chance of someone recovering it you will want to go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. It takes about 2 hours on a 16GB phone to fully erase.

 

[uberamd]

Yes. You can put this sim card in your new phone with your number already activated and ready to go. If they're going overseas, they won't be using an ATT sim anyways.


If you cancel your service you will have to pay an ETF and you will probably lose your phone number. Are you sure you can go 5 days with no phone? Personally, I would go pickup a cheap ATT Go Phone ($10-20) and throw your sim in that in the meantime so you have a phone to use during that time and as a backup later.


The best way to delete all of your data with no chance of someone recovering it you will want to go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. It takes about 2 hours on a 16GB phone to fully erase.

What he said is exactly right.

/thread

 

[AiralynRose]

What he said is exactly right.

/thread

She. But thanks.

 

[dukebound85]

I'm in the process of selling my 8gb iPhone 3G, and I'm wondering what steps I should take before hand. Some specifics - the person buying my phone is sending it overseas (for what, I do not know). He's picking it up on Monday, so I'll be without a phone until that Friday.

- Do I remove my SIM card?

- Should I cancel my AT&T service for the next 5 days so charges don't get applied to my account, or does removing the SIM card prevent that from happening automatically?

- I'm going to wipe all the apps off of this current phone so it's as close to factory as possible, but are there extra steps I should take?

Any help would be awesome, thanks guys.

wait so is he picking it up in person? or are you sending the iphone to a buyer overseas?

if its the latter, its a scam

 

[rmorningst1]

You should most definitely take out your sim card and put it in an old at&t phone. Do NOT cancel the data package, just hold onto it for the next couple of days. I have owned 5 iphones, and resold them. My wife and I owned original iphones, i actually owned a 4 gig and a 8 gig, and we both owned 3g's and sold them last week. I would restore it in itunes before selling it, this takes it back to factory settings. When you do this, don't put your backup back on it, start it as "a new phone". as Dukebound Said, there are many scams claiming to buy the phone, sending their personal carrier, and claiming to send it to their nephew in africa. DONT TRUST IT!!!!! Sell to an established buyer on ebay, and only send to confirmed paypal addresses.

 

[ratbatblue]

What he said is exactly right.

/thread

Good info. One more question. Does the SIM have to be in the phone to wipe the phone, and if it does, do the contents of the SIM not also get wiped? Logic would suggest removing the SIM and wiping and that should work, but I thought I'd better ask. I'll be doing the same "sell 3G, activate 3GS" next week, myself.

 

[duky]

You should most definitely take out your sim card and put it in an old at&t phone. Do NOT cancel the data package, just hold onto it for the next couple of days. I have owned 5 iphones, and resold them. My wife and I owned original iphones, i actually owned a 4 gig and a 8 gig, and we both owned 3g's and sold them last week. I would restore it in itunes before selling it, this takes it back to factory settings. When you do this, don't put your backup back on it, start it as "a new phone". as Dukebound Said, there are many scams claiming to buy the phone, sending their personal carrier, and claiming to send it to their nephew in africa. DONT TRUST IT!!!!! Sell to an established buyer on ebay, and only send to confirmed paypal addresses.

Why not cancel the data package and save a few $?

 

[rmorningst1]

Good info. One more question. Does the SIM have to be in the phone to wipe the phone, and if it does, do the contents of the SIM not also get wiped? Logic would suggest removing the SIM and wiping and that should work, but I thought I'd better ask. I'll be doing the same "sell 3G, activate 3GS" next week, myself.

Oddly enough, the iphone stores nothing on a sim card. It keeps everything stored on the phone. When you take the sim card out of the iphone and put it in another phone, there is nothing stored on the sim card. I am not positive, but i believe that when you "restore" it or wipe it through itunes, it has to have a at&t sim card to even get that far.

Why not cancel the data package and save a few $?

If you end the data package I believe you will be going against the 2 year contract you signed.....either way, pro rate $30 for 5 days...........you save yourself $5......Just leave it as it is.

 

[chelegirly]

Can someone tell me what to do step by step? I want to sell my 1st generation iphone (which is going for a lot on Ebay for some reason - 16gb) and buy the new iphone 3GS. Can I sell it first and THEN buy it? If so, how? How do I preserve all apps, info on my phone? Clear it all out for the next owner? Help and thanks!!

 

[rmorningst1]

Can someone tell me what to do step by step? I want to sell my 1st generation iphone (which is going for a lot on Ebay for some reason - 16gb) and buy the new iphone 3GS. Can I sell it first and THEN buy it? If so, how? How do I preserve all apps, info on my phone? Clear it all out for the next owner? Help and thanks!!

I guess i'm not sure where you are confused....ofcourse you can sell your old iphone before you buy the new one, Just make sure to take your sim card out of the old one. You need to "sync" your old phone to your computer, which backs everything up. Then you need to restore it through itunes. Once restored, take your sim card out and sell it.

 

[DJJustice]

wait so is he picking it up in person? or are you sending the iphone to a buyer overseas?

if its the latter, its a scam

Oh god no, he's picking it up in person and then sending it overseas. I put the phone up on Craigslist maybe 5 days ago and got about 40+ emails from scammers asking for it to be shipped to Korea or Africa (very frustrating).

Also, thanks for all the help from everyone that replied. You guys are great!

Edit* After talking to the first buyer on Friday, I made a post on SAMart and got responses from fellow goons, I'll just be selling it locally. I decided that I really didn't want to go 5+ days without a phone, and the first buyer was particularly unflexible. Still, thanks from everyone.