School kit costs a small fortune, and a decent chunk of that money is probably sitting in a drawer upstairs. If you want to trade in a phone for back to school, the route is short: grade it honestly, lock in a guaranteed quote, post it free, and get paid the day it arrives and is verified. Do it in August and the cash lands before the uniform, the laptop and the travel card do.
We've rehomed thousands of devices for people doing exactly this, and we're rated Excellent with over 10,000 reviews across Trustpilot and Reviews.io. So here's the straight version of how to turn a household's old tech into term-time budget.
Why trade in a phone for back to school rather than later in the term?
Because August pays better than October, and the reason is the calendar rather than anything clever.
Apple launches new iPhones in the autumn, and every launch pushes the previous generations down a price step. The phone in your drawer will not change between now and half term, but the number attached to it will. Selling into the pre-launch market instead of the post-launch one is the single easiest bit of timing available to a normal person.
Here's the thing though, you don't have to rush the posting. A Reboxed quote holds for 14 days, so you can lock a price this week, finish shifting photos and accounts across at your own pace, and send the device when the house is calm again.
What's actually sitting in your house?
More than you'd guess. Do a proper sweep before term starts, because the free postage pack covers up to two devices and a forgotten tablet can quietly double what you get.
| What you've found | Best move | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Last-gen iPhone or Samsung replaced this year | Trade in now | It will never be worth more than it is today |
| Phone you planned to hand down to a child | Do the maths first | Handing it down spends its resale value silently |
| Tablet the kids stopped using | Trade in | Tablets hold value well and rarely get used again |
| MacBook or Apple Watch from an old upgrade | Trade in | High value per item, and easy to forget you own |
| Cracked, faulty or dead phone | Trade in | Still worth money for repair and parts |
| Ancient feature phone with no resale market | Recycle it | Better recycled properly than left in a drawer |
That hand-me-down row is the one worth pausing on. Most families never do the sum. A three-year-old phone passed down to a child is a phone whose resale value has been spent without anyone noticing, and it will often need replacing again within a year or two anyway. Selling it while it still carries a real price, then putting that money towards a cheaper refurbished handset with more life left in it, frequently leaves you better off on both counts. If that's the route you fancy, refurbished iPhones are the other half of the same idea.
And yes, broken phones count. A cracked screen or a tired battery lowers the price rather than erasing it, because refurbishers want those devices for repair and parts. If a device genuinely can't be saved, it gets responsibly recycled instead. Every device we rehome also gets five trees planted, which is a nicer end for it than the drawer.
How do you trade in before term starts?
Five steps, no faff:
- Back it up. Get photos, messages and contacts safely onto the new device first. This is the step people skip and then regret.
- Sign out and reset. Remove iCloud or the Google account, then factory reset. Our TechCheck® engineers securely and permanently wipe every device on arrival anyway, but you should always reset before posting a phone to anyone.
- Grade it honestly. Answer the TechCheck® questions: does it work, is the screen damaged, what's the cosmetic condition, is it network locked? Accuracy here is what makes the quote stick.
- Post it free. Free sales pack, QR code or prepaid label, covering up to two devices, with an insured option for anything high value.
- Get paid the same day. The day your device arrives and is verified, Monday to Friday before the 2pm cut-off, the money goes out by bank transfer or PayPal.
Start with your model on sell my iPhone or sell my Samsung, or read the full process on how it works.
Will the quote drop once the phone arrives?
Let's be honest, this is the fear that keeps perfectly valuable phones in drawers until they're worth half as much. The trade-in industry has trained people to expect a lovely headline number followed by a mysterious revised offer once the device is out of their hands.
Our straight answer: we don't chop quotes to play games. Downgrades do happen, and roughly 90% of them come from customers over-rating their phone's condition at self-assessment rather than from us moving the goalposts. We've all done it. "Good condition" feels true right up until you look properly at the corners under a decent light. That's exactly why TechCheck® asks specific questions up front. Grade it accurately and the quote you accept is the quote you're paid. If a device really doesn't match what was described, you get a revised offer to accept or decline, and it comes back to you free if you'd rather keep it.
Worth knowing: anyone can advertise a big number to win the click. The price that actually reaches your bank account is the only one that counts, and that gap is exactly where the back-to-school budget gets lost.
When Reboxed isn't the right choice
If you want the absolute maximum and don't mind the work, selling privately on eBay or Facebook Marketplace can net more, particularly for a newer model in great condition. You take on the listing, the haggling, the fees, the postage risk and the odd time-waster, but the ceiling is higher. Fair enough if that's your thing. Equally, if a child genuinely needs a spare handset in September, keeping the old phone as a backup may be worth more to you than the cash. And if what you've unearthed is a fifteen-year-old brick with no resale market, a local recycling point is the sensible home for it. For everyone who'd rather have a fair, guaranteed price with no hassle, that's what we're here for.
Ready to turn the drawer into term-time budget?
Check what your old tech is worth in 30 seconds at Reboxed. Guaranteed quote, free postage, same-day payment, five trees planted.
FAQ
Q: When should I trade in a phone for back to school?
A: August, before the autumn iPhone launch. New releases push previous generations down a price step, so the same device typically fetches less in October than it does now. A Reboxed quote also holds for 14 days, so you can lock the price and post the device later.
Q: Is it better to hand my old phone down to my child or sell it?
A: Do the sum before you decide. An older phone handed down still has real resale value, and selling it towards a cheaper refurbished handset with more life left often works out better. If your child needs a device immediately and the old one is in good shape, handing it down is perfectly sensible.
Q: Can I sell more than one device at once?
A: Yes. The free postage pack covers up to two devices, and there's free courier collection or drop-off for 10 or more. Tablets, MacBooks and Apple Watches are all accepted alongside phones.
Q: What if the old phone is cracked or won't turn on?
A: You can still trade it in. Damaged and faulty devices are repaired or refurbished where possible and responsibly recycled where not. Just describe the condition accurately when you get your quote.
Q: How quickly will I get the money?
A: The same day your device is received and verified, Monday to Friday before the 2pm cut-off, paid by bank transfer or PayPal.
