Cex and Mobile Phones

[Chanfron]

Anyone know what sort of checks Cex do if you want to sell them a phone.

I had a look in my local branch last week and they had like 20 - 30 Galaxy S4's, 10 Xperia Z's and two HTC One's, most were stickered as unlocked and a few were on various networks.

I find it slightly suspect that they are selling phones which have been out for like a month second hand, why would a person buy a £500 + phone then sell it to Cex a couple of weeks later.


The biggest lol was that they also had a Nexus 4 for £319.00, did not say if it was 8 or 16 Gb but assume 16, £40 dearer than buying a new one.

They also had a Evga GTX 680 SC Sig 2 for £399, currently £383 on scan.

[Guy]

I'd say most if not all of them would have been upgrades or new contracts taken out and people don't want them or would prefer the money so have sold them to Cex or Mazuma etc.

Also plenty more costs associated with having a high street presence so they've got to try and claw some of that outlay back.

[Smudger]

I tried to sell my HTC Sensation to them. Went into 2 different shops, they both said 'we don't have any cash if you want to sell it'. I think they push you towards trading them, so they keep the money themselves. Seems daft that a shop based around buying stuff off you doesn't have even £100 in cash...
Perhaps the people that had the S4s and Ones traded them in for something else, ie had been iPhone people, tried android, didn't like it, traded for another iPhone...

[Rob_B]

As for checks, they wipe them then check network/condition and grade/price them accordingly (but check yourself to see if you agree with their grading)

They check MEND as well although of course this doesn't mean the phone wouldn't be blocked after they check it. I'd imagine if people are taking out expensive contracts then trading in straight away they have 18/24months of payments left, if they fail to pay then the network would likely block the phone.

[Kovoet]

As for Cex lets be honest they have gone down hill compared to what they used to be

[Chanfron]

I wonder how they work out prices, pricing second hand items for more than new ones is rather baffling.
I can understand people trading in old phones if they get a new one, but was just supprized by how many S4's they had, I suppose some people may have got one as a free upgrade, kept there phone and sold the new one.
My phones have always been pay as u go so don't know what sort of deals you can get with contracts.

[davey_bob]

There's usually quite a few incentives for taking out contracts against the latest phones [including cashback. free TV's, Xbox's etc] so I guess if you're happy with your current phone selling the phone could net you a 'free' contract. I would've thought you'd got more from Ebay or the like however.