21 of the Most Valuable Used Cell Phones You Can Recycle for Cash

Photo: Rick Stemmler / Getty Images

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When it comes to old cell phones, it really pays to recycle. Several companies will pay you cash to recycle your used cell phone – and sometimes they pay quite well. We looked at three prominent electronics recyclers and learned something obvious – it also pays to shop around. The payout from selling a used cell phone to one company versus another is often just $1, but for some models the difference is a $20 or $40, or even – in the case of the Samsung Soul, for instance – well over $100. That's serious cash!

The value of used cell phones is a reminder that recyclables all have value. It costs money to dispose of trash (4.5 pounds a day, per person, on average) – to bury it in the ground or burn it, usually. On the other hand, communities usually make money on recyclables because those materials are sold for re-use in new products. Sometimes it's cost-effective to rent, rather than buy, or to repair, rather than replace, and sometimes instead of recycling, you can upcycle your waste into art or a new product.

But recycling is at the heart of smart waste management. Anyway, what's better than getting paid for doing the right thing? That's why we wanted to find out what the most valuable used cell phones are. Surprisingly, perhaps, given the buzz, old iPhones aren't worth the most cash.

Here's how we came up with our list of most valuable used cell phones. First, we asked SecureTradeIn.com, YouRenew.com and Gazelle.com to tell us what old cell phones they paid the most cash for. SecureTradeIn happily complied, YouRenew referred us to its search engine and Gazelle just said that smart phones like iPhones and Blackberries typically are worth the most. So we took SecureTradeIn's list and compared it to the other sites, adding a few additional models after searching by brand on YouRenew. We assumed that the phone being traded in was in good condition, but not perfect, and that it could be mailed with the items in the original package, like batteries, cords, adapters, software and the like.

Take a look at our list, and remember that recycling pays.

Used Cell Phones Worth More Than $125

1. HTC Google Nexus One - $289 at YouRenew ($257 Gazelle, $225 SecureTradeIn)
2. HTC Droid Incredible - $244 at Gazelle ($200 SecureTradeIn)
3. HTC HD2 - $234 at Gazelle ($200 SecureTradeIn)
4. Apple iPhone 3GS 32G - $200 at SecureTradeIn ($189 Gazelle, $187 YouRenew)
5. Samsung SGH-d980 - $199 at YouRenew ($136 Gazelle)
6. Motorola Droid - $169 at SecureTradeIn ($168 Gazelle , $125 YouRenew)
7. Samsung SGH-INNOV8 - $182 at YouRenew ($149 Gazelle)
8. Samsung SGH-u900 Soul - $175 at YouRenew ($30 Gazelle)
9. Apple iPhone 3GS 16G - $169 at SecureTradeIn ($159 Gazelle, $158 YouRenew)
10. Apple iPod Touch 3rd Generation 64GB - $168 at Gazelle ($150 YouRenew)
11. Blackberry Bold 9700 - $166 at SecureTradeIn ($165 at Gazelle, $135 YouRenew)
12. Blackberry Storm 2 9550 - $161 at SecureTradeIn ($160 Gazelle, $135 YouRenew)
13. Casio Zone G Brigage - $161 at Gazelle ($150 SecureTradeIn)
14. Samsung Omnia 2 - $153 at SecureTradeIn ($152 Gazelle, $119 YouRenew)
15. Samsung SGH-f700 - $143 at YouRenew ($82 Gazelle)
16. HTC Imagio XV6975 - $142 at YouRenew ($129 SecureTradeIn, $128 Gazelle)
17. HTC PPCT7380 Sprint Touch Pro 2 - $136 at SecureTradeIn ($122 at Gazelle)
18. HTC Droid Eris at Gazelle - $131 at Gazelle ($130 at SecureTradeIn, $84 at YouRenew)
19. Samsung SPH M850 Instinct HD - $129 at SecureTradeIn ($128 Gazelle, $105 YouRenew)
20. Samsung SGH-i200 - $126 at YouRenew
21. Apple iPod Touch 3rd Generation 32 GB - $125 at YouRenew ($118 Gazelle)

If your phone isn't on the list, search SecureTradeIn.com, YouRenew.com and Gazelle.com to find out how much it's worth. Even if your cell phone is on the list, run the search anyway because prices fluctuate, so this list is really a snapshot in time.

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