Want to upgrade your Android? Swappa can help sell your old one

Before it was a bit easier. Many carriers offered their loyal customers early upgrades. When the newest smartphone came out, you could trade in your old device and get the new one for a subsidized price. But now that we’re seeing new smartphone releases on a weekly basis, carriers have realized that the model just isn’t sustainable. We saw Verizon end their early upgrade program earlier in the month, and now Sprint has jumped aboard. AT&T has a hefty early upgrade fee. At this point you’re better off selling your device and using the funds to help pay for the next. Thankfully there is a website dedicated to exactly that. If you’re looking to sell your Android, or you’re looking to buy one off-contract, you might want to check out Swappa. The service works along the same lines as eBay, though it’s more of a classified listing than an auction. Sellers fill out information about their devices, including price. Interested buyers can then browser the site and see if there’s a device that matches their fancy. They then pay the listed price, which includes the seller’s asking price plus a fee to Swappa. The seller also has fees, which amount to the PayPal fees on the transaction. The site allows users to log in with Facebook or OpenID, so you don’t need to create yet another user name and password. Swappa uses PayPal as its payment system, which works well enough for now. They’re working on other payment methods, though. That will be a major aspect for growth. Right now the market isn’t rife with devices. That’s expected, since this is a fledgling service. It’s going to take the Android community to let it grow. After all, a marketplace dedicated solely to Android devices helps us all. The more devices, the better prices we can get on an off-contract Android device. It also allows sellers more opportunities to offload their phones and obtain funds to get a new handset. With a small user base that’s not going to work as well. So spread the word. Head to Swappa.com and check it out for yourself.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.