- The time has come.
I'm coming clean.
I've had the S7 for two years now.
And being someone that films the latest
and greatest tech everyday,
it's gotten me wanting a new phone.
The thing is, I don't wanna spend $1,000
and I don't necessarily need something
that came out yesterday.
So I'm gonna show you how to buy a good, used phone.
(light music)
Okay, I'm buying an S9+.
Now, I am not here to tell you what phone to buy
and I'm sure you'll sound off in the comments
about your favorite devices and what you would buy,
but what I am here to do is to tell you
the best buying practices for a used device.
The safest and most reliable ways.
Before we get to any of that, though.
You have to remember that phones come out in cycles
and there are better and worst times to buy certain devices.
So I hit up Chris Welch, a reporter here at The Verge,
and I was like, Chris, is it a good time to buy an S9+?
- [Chris] So there are pretty clear timelines for when
it's a good idea or bad idea to buy a phone.
New iPhones come out every September
so you really shouldn't buy one if it's July or August.
Samsung puts out the Galaxy S at the start of each year,
March or April.
Then the Note follows that up in the summer.
Google does Pixel updates in October.
In general, Apple and Samsung both change their designs
every two years.
Then in between,
there's a more powerful version of the same phone
with better specs, nicer camera, stuff like that.
That's what we call the S year.
So the question comes down to:
do you want the new flashy design right away?
Or can you wait one year for the more powerful,
more refined version of that same phone.
Now Google is a bit different because
the Pixel generally hasn't used the same design
more than once.
But maybe you'd be totally happy with last year's phone.
You don't need a neural engine to browse Instagram,
or a Snapdragon 845 to play Spotify.
So in your case,
you'd be totally safe to buy the S9+ right now.
And since it's less than a year old,
buying it used will save you at least $100
and still get you a great phone.
- Okay, so we are in luck.
It is a good time to buy a used S9+.
But, where do you start?
I mean there's a million different options.
Personally, I always look at eBay and Craigslist first.
Craigslist can be a little bit of a slippery slope.
If a phone is stolen and then you go to turn it on
and the serial number's flagged as stolen,
you'll be out the phone and the cash.
And you'll have no connection to the seller.
So for this video, I'm gonna skip it entirely.
But let's have a look at eBay.
eBay has a ton of listings
and I went onto Samsung's website to see
what a brand new S9+ would be,
it was around $840.
So I'm gonna try to beat that.
Now, for my sake, I'm going to search by Verizon
because that's my carrier.
There are unlocked devices,
but you'll have to do research on your own
to figure out if they'll work on your network.
I've looked through a bunch of listings
and I found this one.
This is the most promising.
It's a Samsung Galaxy S9+, 64 gigs, for $549.
For me this looks nice because the photos are very clear,
I can tell that there's no scratches on the device.
Wow, they have a lot of five star reviews.
760 positive reviews and only six negative.
When a seller has a lot of positive feedback like this,
it's usually a pretty good sign that
they're safe to buy from.
Also when searching I've noticed a lot
of stock photos used for the photo of the phones,
this is something you wanna stay away from.
It's really important to see your device in the photos
and maybe that means reaching out to the seller
and asking for a photo of a specific thing.
Just to be sure that's the device and that he has it.
So $549 on eBay.
That's pretty good but if you know anything about me,
you know I'm all about the deal.
So I'm gonna keep shopping.
There's this website called swappa.com that I really like.
You're still buying person-to-person
so there is a level of risk,
but there's a lot more safeguards in place
to ensure that you're getting the device
that you're actually looking at.
There's a few listings for the S9+ on here.
They range from about 500 to $800.
That mostly has to do with the storage
but I'm looking for the 64 gigabyte model
so it's not a huge problem for me.
I'll be at the lower end.
Okay so this one looks pretty good, it's $514.
If you look at the photos you'll notice
that there's a code in there.
That's one of the safeguards that Swappa has.
It basically is the code for the sell.
So the phone that you're seeing in the photo,
is the phone for that listing.
I'm gonna scroll down,
I'm gonna read some of the comments next.
Maybe I'll go in and I'll see who the seller is,
if he sold things here before.
Kind of all the same steps as eBay.
Okay so this looks pretty good
and another safeguard is that Swappa doesn't allow the sell
of broken or unusable devices.
Now since you are buying used,
it doesn't come with a warranty.
So say down the line something happens to your phone
or it glitches out.
You're on your own to get it repaired.
If you wanna little bit more reassurance when
buying a used phone,
you might wanna look at refurbished models.
They come with a guarantee.
So if there's a defect down the road,
they'll replace the device for you.
You can buy refurbs from a few different places,
including the manufacturer and your carrier.
But there's also sites like Gazelle or Best Buy.
They often have cheaper prices on these.
All right, Best Buy's website is a little confusing
in trying to find refurbs,
but if you scroll all the way down
to the bottom where it says buying options,
that's where you'll see them.
Now you can open-box online, it's a little more expensive,
or if you got into the store, they have cheaper options.
But it's probably because
they want you to actually look at it
and know what you're getting before you leave the store.
So gazelle.com has certified pre-owns as well,
here's an S9+, 64 gig, through Verizon for $639.
That's cheaper than Best Buy,
but it's still not as cheap as Swappa or eBay was.
So buying a refurbished device is definitely the safest
way to buy a used devices.
But, for me, I'd rather have the cheaper price
and take the risk.
So Swappa is the most appealing to me.
The price was the lowest and although it doesn't come
with a guarantee, the seller seems like he's sold things
on here before and he has really good reviews.
And I feel good about it.
So I'm gonna go with Swappa for this one.
And I'm gonna waive that whole guarantee
so if something goes wrong, I guess it's on me.
But what I will use Gazelle for is selling my old phone.
It's not in great condition,
but I definitely want it recycled properly
and I no longer need.
So you can go on their website, enter some info,
if it has scratches, if it turns on at all,
and then they'll offer you a price.
They're gonna give me 10 bucks for this thing
and free shipping, so I guess that means lunch on Gazelle?
(soft music)
All right, so sound off in the comments of your favorite way
to buy and sell devices.
And who's got the oldest phone out there?
Anyone got me beat?
Also, like and subscribe.
We'll see you next time.