QWIKFONE

September 7, 2026

How to Prepare Your Phone for Sale or Trade-In: The Complete Checklist

by Ishaan Seth September, 2026

You’re ready to sell your old smartphone to get cash or credit based on the buyback service you’re choosing to sell your phone to. While the process of selling an old smartphone is straightforward, it can also go wrong with a mistake that leads to delaying your payment, reducing your quote, or your phone not being processed at all, and you get sent back the device. 

In this guide, you’ll find a complete checklist that you can follow step by step to get your phone ready for selling or trading in correctly right away.

before you do anything: check these first

Before getting started in the phone preparation process, make sure you choose the right buyback service. 

Firstly, choosing a professional buyback service or mobile phone buyer will save you a lot of time, energy, and peace of mind, compared to selling it to another user directly, as it saves you: 

 

No wasting time or money on listings 

Selling the phone to a buyback service gives you a direct selling point. You don’t have to post the phone on a second-hand platform and wait for offers. 

 

No haggling or scamming 

A professional buyback service is committed to providing a quote within 24-48 hours and paying instantly as soon as the device is accepted by them.

 

More convenient for non-excellent devices

If a person is in the market for a second-hand phone, they still expect it to be as good as new, and the smallest flaw can cause them to back out of the deal. Buyback services accept devices with flaws and even damage, as they are usually recycling services. 

your first steps: checking the phone yourself

All buyback services ask you to describe your phone’s condition, inside and out. This means that you need to be objectively aware to be able to describe how the phone looks, the battery condition, and how the device functions overall. 

This is important because this is the first mistake that leads to payment delays and quote disappointments among people selling their phone. 

For example, if you’ve been very careful while having and using the phone about keeping it looking pristine with no scratches and no dents, but you didn’t pay attention to the battery health causing it to degrade faster, the initial quote based on your description of how the phone looks will be much higher than the final quote that you’ll get from the buyback service once they receive the phone and inspect it to find out it needs a battery replacement that you didn’t know about.

So, before getting the first quote, make sure you clearly know and describe the condition of the phone to get a close-to-reality quote from the buyback service. 

  1. Check the screen under a strong light to clearly see any scratches that you may otherwise miss.
  2. Test the touch sensitivity and accuracy by dragging an app icon around the screen to see if it tracks accurately or not. 
  3. Check the phone’s back, frame, and camera glass to uncover any scratches or dents. 
  4. Check the battery health from the Settings app on iPhones and the Samsung Members app on Samsung phones. A battery below 85% is degrading and will need replacement. 
  5. Check the physical buttons by clicking them. If the click feels soft or unresponsive, the buttons may be worn. 
  6. Check the speakers and mic quality; notice any muffled sounds indicate clogged mesh, which might need cleaning or replacement.
  7. Check the sensors such as Face ID and Fingerprint to make sure they perform accurately. 
  8. Check the charging port by plugging the phone into a charger; if it starts charging instantly without interruptions, the charging port is fine. 
  9. Check if the phone is locked to a certain network. Some buyback services quote locked phones lower than unlocked ones. To get ahead of this issue, contact your network to unlock your phone for free before selling.

 

If you find any fault that will reduce your phone’s quote from the buyback service and your phone is still in the warranty period, you can have it repaired for free by the manufacturer to maximise your phone’s price, but be aware that declaring any faults accurately in your trade-in submission is always the correct approach, and an accurate description upfront leads to a fairer initial quote. 

If the phone has passed its warranty period, buyback services like QwikFone accept phones with faulty or broken parts as long as you know that it will definitely be reflected in the final quote.

 

Getting the First Valuation of Your Phone

Now that you know the actual condition of your phone, head to the buyback service website and choose the model of your phone. Then, carefully read their description of the different conditions and choose the one that your phone belongs to. This is an important step, as each service has its own condition naming and description. 

Choose the condition with the description closest to your phone’s current condition, and choose other identifiers such as internal memory storage, colour, and network or “unlocked” to get the initial estimate of your phone’s price directly from the buyback website through the Instant Valuation Tool, which is usually on the home page. 

 

Note: The timing of your sale affects the price you get for the phone just like the phone’s condition does. The best timing to sell is 2-3 months before the launch of the new model of your phone based on its brand. After the launch, there’s an influx of trade-in devices that lower the prices. So, do your best, and know the time to sell before everybody else is also selling.

 

Getting Multiple Estimates to Compare 

Since mobile buyback and recycler website provide their instant valuation tool on the home page, where you can see what your phone could be worth with a few clicks, to make sure you’re getting a good price, try more than one website and choose the one that offers the best price

how to prepare your phone for sale

Step 1: Back up Your Data

While this may seem like a given or an intuitive step that anyone selling their phone or even giving it to a relative should begin with, it either slips most people’s minds or is done incompletely. 

What to back up 

  1. Photos and videos: Back up to a cloud service like Google for Android phones and iCloud for iPhones. Another option, if you don’t have cloud space, is to copy the photos and videos to a computer or a USB drive. 
  2. Contacts: These are usually automatically linked to your iCloud or Google account, but it's important to confirm that all your contacts are already there and upload the ones that are not uploaded.
  3. Messages: Messaging apps such as SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, and any other messaging app that you want to keep your messaging history on must be backed up. This can be achieved through the settings of each app and through the Settings app for your phone’s native messaging app, such as iMessage on iPhones. 
  4. Game progress: While this may not seem as important, if you have a mobile game that you’d like to continue from where you left off, back up your progress by signing in to your cloud gaming account on the game itself. 
  5. Notes and documents: Another item that is often overlooked. Go into the Notes app on your phone and make sure you have an online version saved to the cloud or manually copy them. For documents, open the file manager on your phone and upload your important documents to the cloud as well. 
  6. Two-factor authentication apps: The way to back those apps up is to install them on another device before the factory reset.

Step 2: Remove Your Accounts

Once you make sure all your data is backed up, log out of all accounts, especially Google, iCloud, or Samsung accounts. This is the most critical step because, if you forget to remove those accounts from the device, it becomes unusable once it leaves you. So, if you forget to remove those accounts from the phone, its value becomes £0. 

So, to keep the sale process going smoothly, remember to remove your accounts.

How to remove your iCloud account on iPhones

  1. From the Settings app, tap on your Apple ID name at the top of the screen, scroll down to the bottom, and tap “Sign Out”. 
  2. You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID password, then tap “Sign Out” one more time in the top right corner to confirm.

Important: On iPhone, removing your Apple ID must be done before the factory reset. The factory reset does not remove the iCloud lock. A phone with an active iCloud lock cannot be processed by any buyback service.

How to remove your Samsung account on Samsung phones

  1. From the Settings app, tap on your Samsung account name or profile picture at the top of the screen, scroll to the bottom, and tap “Sign Out”.
  2. Enter your Samsung account password when prompted to complete removing your account.

How to remove your Google account on all Android phones

  1. From the Settings app, choose either “Accounts and backup”, “Passwords & accounts”, or ”Users & accounts”. The option’s name changes based on the phone’s brand.
  2. From “Manage Accounts”, select “Google account”, then tap on “Remove account”.
  3. Enter your phone’s PIN or biometric, such as fingerprint or Face ID. 
  4. Repeat this process on any other Google account you have logged into on the device. 

Step 3: Factory Reset the Phone

First, if your phone has an SD card, make sure to remove it completely from the device. Then, perform the factory reset from the Settings app on your phone. Once the process is done, leave the phone on the initial setup screen; do not set it up again.

Step 4: Remove Accessories and Clean the Phone

Remove accessories such as screen protectors and phone cases. Also, remember to remove your SIM card from the phone.

Use a microfibre cloth to wipe the phone to remove any smudges or fingerprints gently. A good tip is to wipe in a single direction rather than in circular motions. Once you’ve finished, check the phone again under a strong light. This step is important as it helps the buyback service clearly see the cosmetic condition of your phone when they receive it, unaffected by dirt or smudges. 

Step 5: Follow the BuyBack Packaging Instructions

Make sure to check the buyback website and follow their instructions and requirements for the phone packaging before you send it. Most buyback services want you to send the phone alone; no charging cables, adapters, or even the original box should be included in the package. 

At QwikFone, we provide a prepaid shipping label that must be securely attached to the outside of the package for tracking.

Make sure your phone is wrapped in at least two layers of padded material such as bubble wrap. If you have a padded sleeve for the phone, that works too. Then use a sturdy cardboard box to package the phone. Finally, make sure the phone has no room to move inside the box as it's being shipped by adding extra paper to secure the phone in the box. 

the complete checklist: quick reference

Before you start:

  • Get a trade-in quote
  • Check battery health
  • Check warranty status

Step 1: Back up:

  • Photos and videos backed up and verified
  • Contacts backed up
  • WhatsApp and messaging app chat history exported
  • Two-factor authentication apps transferred to new device

Step 2: Remove accounts:

  • iCloud and Apple ID removed (iPhone)
  • Google account removed (Samsung)
  • Samsung account removed (Samsung)
  • Screen lock PIN or password noted for removal after reset

Step 3: Factory reset:

  • SD card removed (Samsung)
  • SIM card removed
  • Factory reset completed
  • Device showing initial setup screen

Step 4: Clean and present:

  • Screen protector removed
  • Phone case removed
  • Device cleaned with a microfibre cloth
  • Condition assessed honestly against grading definitions

Step 5: Check the package:

  • Device only, no cables, cases, or accessories
  • SIM card removed and kept safe

Step 6: Ship:

  • QwikFone prepaid label printed and attached
  • Device wrapped and boxed securely
  • Proof of postage obtained and kept

what happens next

Once you send the device in, allow time after the shipping process is done for the buyback service to receive your phone as they inspect it to confirm its condition. QwikFone's team begins the inspection process once the device is received. Every device is screened against the CheckMEND national property register and put through a 40-point diagnostic before the condition grade is confirmed.

Then, you should receive the final quote email, which you either accept within the specified window by the buyback service, which is 14 days with QwikFone, or the phone will be sent back to you if you decline the final quote or do not respond within that window. 

Once you accept the final quote, you’ll receive the payment for the phone via the account you provided, whether it’s a bank account or a PayPal account.