There are many ways to earn a living. Considering that, many people are earning money doing what they enjoy by buying and selling electronics. If you’re looking for a popular type of electronic device to work with, consider buying and reselling smartphones. When it comes to popular smartphones, it’s hard to find one more in demand than the iPhone.
First launching in 2007, the iPhone has quickly become one of the most popular smartphones in the world. With a sleek design and lots of features, iPhones remain extremely popular among people from all walks of life.
With that in mind, buying and selling iPhones can be a great way to launch a successful business. But, before you get started, it’s helpful to learn more information about how to flip iPhones.
In this article, you’ll find out more about:
The many benefits of buying and reselling iPhones
Where to buy wholesale iPhones
How to properly buy iPhones online
How much it costs to start buying iPhones in bulk
Deciding whether you should repair iPhones or hire someone else’s help
The best places to sell your iPhones
Tips to help you avoid getting ripped off
What Are the Benefits of Buying and Reselling iPhones?
Before you start diving deep into the topic of reselling iPhones, you might want to know why this type of work is so beneficial? You might be surprised to learn that there are several major benefits of buying and reselling iPhones.
An Extremely Popular Brand
When you’re looking for a product to find, buy, and resell, it’s helpful to choose items from popular companies. Some of the world’s most popular businesses have lots of brand recognition. When lots of people recognize and support a brand, they’ll likely buy products from the companies they support.
In regards to brand popularity, you’d have a tough time finding a company more popular than Apple. Each year, you can find Apple alongside some of the most beloved companies in the world. With such support from the public, you shouldn’t encounter much trouble while selling iPhones.
Being in a Popular Industry
There’s no denying that Apple (maker of the iPhone) is an incredibly popular brand. However, it’s also important to take a step back and look at the consumer electronics industry. Fortunately, this industry’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down.
Entering into such a fast-growing industry is great because it gives you a lot of freedom. If you realize you no longer enjoy flipping iPhones, there are plenty of other popular electronics to work with.
Lots of Products To Choose From
Another benefit of working with iPhones is that you have a lot of products to choose from. Since 2007, Apple continues releasing multiple types of iPhones. You can find these products in various colors, memory capacities, and a wide range of generations.
When you have lots of items to choose from, it can become easy to build up a nice collection of inventory. With lots of inventory to carry, you also give your customers plenty of potential products to choose from. Having lots of items to choose from is perfect for any customers that value having many options while they shop.
The Potential To Earn a Nice Living
No one wants to start a new business that isn’t going to make them decent money. Fortunately, there’s a lot of potential to earn a great living buying and selling iPhones. Since Apple’s smartphone remains so popular, many people and companies are willing to spend lots of money to have these items.
The key to success regarding iPhone flipping is how much work you’re willing to put in. If you expect to not do any work and make lots of money, you’ll want to rethink your strategy. Instead, be prepared to put in the work it takes to successfully launch a business. You might find yourself owning a profitable company faster than you might think.
Where Can I Buy iPhones Wholesale?
An essential aspect of flipping phones is having devices to work with. Considering that, you’ll be glad to know that there are many places to buy wholesale iPhones online. By learning about these sources, your business can begin having the inventory it needs to get started.
Trade-In Tech
If you need to buy wholesale iPhones online, you’ll want to learn more about Trade-In Tech. This company is a wholesale electronics platform designed for anyone in the consumer electronics industry.
Since starting in 2012, Trade-In Tech continues to be a great place for anyone who wants to buy and sell iPhones online. Our company works with some of the largest retailers, distributors, and wholesalers in the electronics industry. Because of our amazing members, Trade-In Tech lists lots of inventory from some of the most popular electronics companies like Apple, Google, Samsung, and many others.
To take advantage of everything Trade-In Tech has to offer, you’ll need to become a member of this platform. Don’t worry; becoming a member of Trade-In Tech isn’t complicated. However, we will need to find out a bit more about your company or personal venture. Through this verification process, we’re able to keep our platform free from scammers.
After you meet our membership requirements, you’ll be able to start connecting with buyers and sellers from around the world. Since we work with so many people and companies, being on Trade-In Tech is great whether you’re buying small or wholesale quantities. And, if you’re unable to find what you need, you can create a customized buyer’s request.
With buyer or seller requests, Trade-In Tech allows its members to reach out to our entire network. After typing in what you’re looking for in a request, you can immediately send this out through our network.
Trade-In Tech is also the perfect place to start building your brand and marketing your business. On Trade-In Tech, you can create custom business profiles, list your inventory on Trade-In Tech’s electronics marketplace, and promote your company to a massive audience!
Craigslist
You might also find the iPhones you’re after by buying them on Craigslist. This website is a popular place for almost anything on the internet. People can use Craigslist to meet people, find jobs, and buy a wide range of items.
If you need to find legit iPhone suppliers, it’s possible to find them by checking out the listings on Craigslist. To get started, you’ll need to search for iPhones from your location. On this platform, you’ll need to find people in your area to buy iPhones from. If you live in a fairly remote area or one with a low population, there might not be many people selling iPhones.
However, if you live in a populated part of the country, it’s possible to find lots of iPhones through Craigslist. Since you’re meeting people in person, it’s always good to keep your personal safety in mind. Never agree to meet someone in a situation that isn’t comfortable for you or seems strange. Many people prefer to bring others with them to meet a seller, just to be on the safe side.
eBay
If meeting people in person isn’t for you, consider buying iPhones on eBay. As you probably know, eBay is a popular website that originally started out as an internet auction platform. Since eBay began, it’s also become a popular place for people to buy and sell items while setting their own prices.
As you look through eBay’s many listings, you’ll find wholesale lots of iPhones waiting to be purchased. To help ensure you find quality items, it’s a good idea to look at each seller’s eBay rating. This rating is based on the number of reviews a seller receives. You can also take a look at what others are saying about working with sellers based on their individual reviews.
When you’re buying iPhones on eBay, you’ll need to choose between either bidding on these items or buying them on the spot. Considering the popularity of eBay, be aware that many scammers flock to this platform. If you research who you’re buying electronics from, you shouldn’t run into any issues.
Facebook Marketplace
Many people and companies buy their electronics through Facebook’s Marketplace. With so many people using social media, it makes sense that many of Facebook’s users feel comfortable using this platform to buy or sell electronics.
When it comes to buying iPhones on Facebook Marketplace, there are a few tips you’ll want to follow. One of the best steps we recommend is to research who you’re potentially buying iPhones from. Fortunately, it’s easy to do this on Facebook. All you’ll need to do is visit a seller’s commerce profile.
On Facebook Marketplace, commerce profiles are where you can view the ratings and reviews sellers receive. You can also see any pictures these sellers post as well as how long they’ve been on Facebook. If you find a seller that is a new Facebook member with zero ratings, it might be best to steer clear of these profiles.
Part of what makes Facebook Marketplace so great is that you can use this social media company’s messaging system while speaking with sellers. Through this system, you can ask questions about items a seller is selling.
How To Buy Wholesale iPhones Online
Knowing where to buy wholesale iPhones is great. But, it’s also important to understand how to buy iPhones the right way. Throughout our many years in the wholesale industry, we’ve learned some helpful tips about buying electronics. By learning the tips below, you’ll ensure that you’re wisely purchasing iPhones.
Prepare Your Budget
Before you start buying wholesale iPhones online, it’s helpful to prepare a budget. With a prepared budget, you can avoid overspending on inventory for your new business. First, you’ll need to determine how much money you have available to spend.
You can get this number by taking how much money your business has available, minus its operating costs (besides inventory). After coming up with your answer, you have a rough idea of how much you have to spend on iPhones.
Research What You Plan on Buying
By now, you’ll know how much money you have available to spend on inventory. With that in mind, the next step is to start researching the price of iPhones. As you can imagine, the wide range of iPhones on the market means that it’s helpful to research the exact types of iPhones you plan on selling.
For instance, some sellers only want the latest and greatest iPhones in their respective stores. But, keep in mind that having new iPhones isn’t going to be cheap. However, the popularity of new iPhones also means you won’t have much trouble selling brand new iPhones.
If you want the perfect balance between selling new or used iPhones, you can find like-new smartphones. Typically, these types of smartphones are fairly new and are in great overall condition. They’re not brand new, but like-new iPhones can still help you make lots of profits.
See How Much iPhones Are Selling For
One of the best ways to price your products is by learning how much they’re selling for. But, how can you know how much iPhones are worth if you’re not the person selling them? Fortunately, you can get these prices by looking at previously sold listings.
Consider checking out eBay to find out how much iPhones have sold for in the past. Doing this is easy - all you need to do is visit ebay.com. From there, type what you’re looking for into eBay’s search bar. In this case, you’ll be looking for iPhone listings that were previously sold.
You can check out previously sold listings by clicking on eBay’s Advanced tab near the search bar. From there, make sure to check the Sold Listings checkbox and complete your search. At this point, you should only be seeing listings that were previously sold on eBay.
How Much Do Wholesale iPhones Cost?
Understandably, most people who are new to buying iPhones want to know how much they cost. In an earlier section of this post, we covered how to prepare a budget for your business. Now, you’ll need to take this budget and start buying iPhones.
The first step you’ll need to take is to decide what type of buyer you are. Will you purchase a few iPhones at a time? Or are you planning to be a wholesaler? If you didn’t know, a wholesaler is someone who typically buys large quantities of items at once. So, an iPhone wholesaler would often buy and sell multiple devices at a time.
Wholesale prices for iPhones can vary wildly. This is because of order quantities. You can find sellers listing a single iPhone online. It’s also possible to find electronics wholesalers listing tens or hundreds of iPhones in one listing. So, looking at prices per lot isn’t going to be helpful unless you calculate a per-unit price.
Your per-unit price will be how much a single iPhone costs. For example, let’s say that you find a lot of 5 iPhones for sale that cost $1,040. In this case, your per-unit price would be $208 per iPhone. You can get this total by dividing the price of a lot by how many items are in it.
From there, you would need to determine how much profit you want to make by selling this smartphone. It’s a good idea to look at your company’s competitors and see how much they’re selling this same item for. By doing this, you’ll quickly begin learning how much profit you can expect to make from each sale.
Should You Repair iPhones or Find Someone To Do It for You?
After you purchase iPhones, there’s still one more thing to focus on before selling them. This step is to get your phones ready to resell. To take care of this concern, you’ll either need to learn how to repair smartphones or hire someone to do it for you. Before making this decision, take a moment to answer the questions below.
How Much Time Do You Have?
When deciding whether or not you need help flipping phones, it’s important to consider your spare time. If you want to learn how to start wiping data from phones and repairing them, it’s going to take some time.
Consider taking a closer look at your weekly schedule. If there are openings to learn more about phone repair, learning this subject could save your business lots of money.
Is There Room in Your Budget To Hire Extra Help?
It’s also important to think about whether you have the budget to hire outside help. If not, you might have to repair and wipe data from your smartphones by yourself. As your business ramps up and profits continue rising, you should find it easier to hire the help your company needs.
When you have time, pull up your company’s budget. If you have any wiggle room, hiring a phone repair person could open up your business to many more opportunities.
Do You Want To Learn About Smartphone Repair and Data Wiping?
Another thing to consider is whether you want to learn about repairing and testing smartphones. If you have no interest in these subjects, it might be better to have someone else take care of these concerns. You could try and force yourself to learn how to repair phones. However, it’s not going to be easy if this subject doesn’t interest you.
What Are the Best Place to Sell iPhones Online?
At this point, you’re probably wanting to know where you can sell iPhones online. We’re happy to let you know there are many places that allow you to do this. However, it’s a good idea to research any companies you’re thinking about using to sell electronics. Without this research, you could find yourself on a platform that’s not right for you.
Trade-In Tech
You previously read about why Trade-In Tech is a great place to buy electronics. However, you might not know that it’s also the perfect place for selling your iPhones. With such a large membership base, we have thousands of members looking to buy iPhones on Trade-In Tech.
Since Trade-In Tech has members throughout the world, including the United States, Dubai, South America, the United Kingdom, and many other locations, there’s always demand for iPhones.
When you’re ready to start selling your iPhones on Trade-In Tech, you have many ways to achieve this goal. The most popular solution to this problem is checking out Trade-In Tech’s marketplace. This is our central location for people to create and post their listings.
You can also start selling iPhones by checking out Trade-In Tech’s chatrooms and private groups. These are great ways to let others know about the smartphones you’re wanting to sell. What’s also great about selling iPhones on Trade-In Tech is not worrying about fees. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly - Trade-In Tech charges zero fees for our buyers or sellers.
Electronics Distributors
Another great way to sell iPhones is by partnering with other electronics distributors. Through these partnerships, you can quickly expand the network of your business. The right electronics distributors can help ensure you have access to a wide range of products. They can also have access to many markets, which is helpful when it’s time to start selling your iPhones.
Before you can start benefiting from partnerships with wholesale distributors, you’ll need a place to network with others in the electronics industry. Fortunately, it’s easy to find the distributors you’re looking for on Trade-In Tech. Our wholesale platform connects retailers, distributors, and other electronics professionals from around the world.
eBay
You might also think about selling your recently bought iPhones on eBay. We’ve mentioned why this website is a great potential place to buy iPhones. Now, let’s give you some helpful tips to keep in mind while selling iPhones on eBay.
The first thing you’ll want to know is that eBay is extremely competitive. So, creating bare-bones listings isn’t going to get you far on eBay. Instead, you’ll want to ensure that your listings are descriptive and that you’re including high-quality pictures in them.
Another tip to help you increase your smartphone sales is to be responsive. With eBay being so popular, items that customers want are going to get attention. Sometimes, before a customer makes a purchase from you, they might have some questions.
If you’re not responding to questions from your potential customers, they’re likely to visit another seller with their questions. Should this person meet a seller that’s responsive, you could start missing out on sales.
Apple
Another potential way to sell iPhones is by selling them back to Apple. You can do this by joining Apple’s trade-in program. No, unfortunately, Apple doesn’t pay anyone money for their smartphones. Instead, you can “sell” back your iPhone to get credit from Apple.
Again, this option isn’t going to be the best for most people. If you want money to further your business, obtaining Apple credit is going to make this goal difficult to achieve. However, if you find Apple credit beneficial, you could consider trading in a few of your iPhones.
Avoid Getting Ripped Off With These Tips
Considering how popular it is to buy and sell electronics online, you’re going to find a lot of listings for iPhones. With that in mind, not every listing you’ll find will be legit. Unfortunately, some people throughout the internet earn a living by scamming unsuspecting buyers. However, you won’t have to worry about falling for these scams after you learn these important tips.
Sending Money Outside of a Platform
There are many platforms on the internet that allow people to buy and sell goods. To help keep their members safe, companies have their customers complete transactions through the platforms of these businesses.
With that in mind, you might find a seller that’s urging you to pay them off of the platform you’re using. For example, let’s say that you were selling iPhones on eBay. Normally, any interested customer buys your items and pays for them through eBay’s payment interface. However, you get a buyer that’s messaging you to accept a wire payment.
Is there a guarantee that the seller who’s asking to pay with a wire payment is trying to scam you? Not necessarily. However, there normally shouldn’t be any reason why an interested buyer can’t pay you in the same way anyone else would.
An Offer That Looks Too Good To Be True
This next scam targets iPhone buyers. While you’re looking for new and used iPhones to add to your inventory, you might find a listing with a rock bottom price. If the phones are in good condition and all of the information in this listing checks out, you’ll be understandably tempted to buy these iPhones from an electronics dealer.
With that said, it’s possible for certain sellers to scam people by creating listings with extremely low prices or something else that makes them stand out. After an interested buyer makes an offer or purchases this listing, they never receive what they paid for.
The main way to protect yourself against this scam is to research anyone you’re thinking about buying electronics from. On most platforms, you should be able to see how many reviews a buyer or seller receives. This information can help you determine if the person you want to buy iPhones from is trustworthy.
If you see one of these enticing offers and the seller either has a history of bad reviews or no reviews at all, it’s probably best to avoid working with them.
Aggressive or Pushy Sellers
You’ll also want to watch out for aggressive or pushy sellers. If you’re working with a reliable and successful person or business, they’re unlikely to be aggressive or pushy. After all, these companies likely have products that sell well. Because of that, they don’t have to resort to cheap tactics to make a sale.
If you feel that you’re getting pressured to buy something, consider working with another seller. You should never have to work with anyone that makes you feel uncomfortable.
As you can see, finding and flipping wholesale iPhones online can be a great type of business to start. Before achieving this goal, you’ll need to find places to buy and sell iPhones. Once you find these sources, you’ll be able to quickly watch your iPhone flipping business thrive. For more ways to make money in the electronics industry, visit Trade-In Tech’s wholesale electronics blog.