What: SellCell is a comparison site for shopping your cell phone. 

Expected pay: NA

Husl$core: $$$

Commissions & fees: Not applicable

Where: Nationwide

Requirements: none

Review:

SellCell is a shopping comparison site for people who want to peddle a used cell phone. When we first tested the site, it appeared to bring up the same group of not-so-terrific buyers. But, at their request, we revisited our review in early 2019. That test found that the site accurately reflected offer prices from at least a half-dozen sellers, several of which are well-regarded. As a result, we hiked SellCell’s Husl$core.

That said, because SellCell is not the actual buyer, the site does not take responsibility for the transaction. From the site’s terms: “Information on this Website is provided for general information purposes only, should not be relied upon by you...” In other words, you may click on the highest offer listed at SellCell, but its an estimate not an offer. And the offer is not coming from SellCell.

You need to independently check out any buyer you select before you send in your phone. Some of these third-party sites have engaged in what consumer say are bait-and-switch tactics, where they rescind seemingly high offers once the cell phone is in their hands. To be sure, subjective decisions about the condition of a used cell phone can have a significant impact on pricing. But, some sites are far more likely to generate complaints about those subjective decisions than others. 

What of SellCell’s  guarantee that you’ll get the most cash for your cell through this site or they’ll double the difference? In our opinion, this guarantee is worthless. The terms of the deal require that you (a) sell your phone through a link on their site even though you know you could do better; (b) file a claim within 24 hours; (c) meet a bunch of other terms and conditions. And THEN, says their guarantee: “The decision whether or not to honour a claim is at the sole discretion of SellCell.com Ltd.” 

Also troublesome: Given that SellCell shows up high in Google searches and has been around for years, you would expect to see lots of reviews from happy/unhappy clients. But, search for reviews of SellCell and you’ll find almost nothing. The reason why may be reflected in the reviews –and response from SellCell — below. The short version: SellCell introduces you to potential buyers. It is not affiliated with them, nor does it take responsibility if the transaction sours. If it is mentioned in a complaint with a reseller, it may ask to have any mention of SellCell removed from the site.

Finally, SellCell lists only offers from resellers, such as ItsWorthMore, MaxBack and Gazelle. These sites expect to turn around and resell your cell phone at a profit. If you’re willing to do some work, you are likely to get more by selling direct to the final buyer through sites such as Swappa and Amazon. 

What their users say: (from RipOffReport)

“I SIGNED UP WITH FLIPSWAP ON APPROX 6/06/2011; I SUMMITTED 2 CELL PHONES FOR THEM TO PURCHASE FROM ME WHICH WERE A SAMSUNG SCH-R600 HUE II AND A MOTOROLA V120E BOTH CAME WITH ACCESSORIES CHARGERS AND ADAPTERS BOTH WERE WORKING WELL NOT DEFECTIVE. PER THEIR ADVERTISEMENT THEY SENT ME THE FREE LABELS TO MAIL MY PHONES TO THEM AND THEY SAID THAT THEY WOULD HAVE MY PAYMENT SENT TO ME IN 3 WEEKS;THEY GAVE ME AN RECEIPT INVOICE# 3009544 FOR THE MOTOROLA AND INVOICE # FOR THE SAMSUNG IS#3009553.
WHEN I CALLED THEY SAID; THEY HAD NO RECOLLECTION OF MY ACCOUNT AND THAT I SIGNED UP WITH THEIR SISTER COMPANY SEECELL.COM WHICH I DIDN’T ;I EXPLAINED THAT I HAVE THE RECEIPT WHICH STATES FLIPSWAP.COM AND THE INVOICES#”S AS WELL TO CONFIRM THEN THEY ASKED ME WHAT DID I EXPECTED AS PAYMENT FOR THE CELL PHONE; I TOLD THEM THAT I PAID APPROX 250.00 FOR EACH INCLUDING THE ACCESSORIES I’M EXPECTING AT LEAST HALF OR 40% OF THE VALUE AND THAT I WASN’T GIVING IT TO THEM FOR FREE; THEN THEY SAID THAT THE PULLED ME UP BY USING MY EMAIL AND I SAID; YES THAT WHAT I SIGNED UP WITH THEM WITH; THEN THEY HUNG UP; I CALLED BACK THEY HUNG UP AGAIN. I HAVE THE RECEIPTS AND I WANT MY MONEY OR MY CELL PHONES BACK IN PERFECT CONDITION AS I SENT THEM WITH THE ACCESSORIES AS WELL ; I EVEN TOLD THEM THAT AM A MINISTER AND THAT THEY ARE CON ME OUT OF MY ITEMS AND TRYING TO GET THEM FREE AND THAT I WAS GOING TO GO TO THE CONSUMER COMPLAINT BOARD AND THE ATTORNEY’S GENERAL FOR CONSUMER FRAUD AND MAKE A COMPLAINT AGAINST THEM AND THAT I WANT MY ITEMS OR MONEY AS THEY PROMISED FROM THEIR ADVERTISEMENT TO ME. I HAVE ALL THE RECEIPTS AND A COPY OF THEIR ADVERTISEMENT AND PROOF I WENT THROUGH FLIPSWAP.COM. PLEASE HELP ME TO GET JUSTICE AND MY MONEY OR MY PHONES AND ACCESSORIES BACK PLEASE. “

SELLCELL’S response:

This report contains false information. It states that www.SellCell.com is a sister company of www.Flipswap.com. This is wrong. SellCell.com is a completely separate company with no ownership connection to Flipswap.com whatsoever. SellCell.com is owned by a UK company called SellMyMobile.com Limited. SellCell is a cell phone recycling price comparison site. It compares the prices from various cell phone buyers but the user clicks through from SellCell.com to the phone buyer site to place their order, SellCell does not ever handle any mobile phones itself so this person definitely did not send their phone to SellCell.com so this complaint is incorrect. This can easily be demonstrated by going to the www.SellCell.com website and you will clearly see SellCell is a price comparison site only and does not accept phones direct. Please remove any mention of SellCell.com in this complaint as we have no legal connection to Flipswap.com

A similar complaint, also from RipOff Report

“Orange Offer and SellCell. This company is a rip off scam artist. This is a federal crime. Please tell the government if you too have been scammed by them. This company like many other companies specializes in paying for good used smart phones.  However this company is a scam,  they use mail fraud to rip you off of your phone.  Then they use wire fraud to collect on UPS for a phone they sell. They will take your phone and pay you nothing.

SELLCELL response:

“In this report we have been connected with Orange Offer for the services they provide. As an employee of SellCell.com I wanted to file a rebuttal to make clear that SellCell.com is a completely separate company to Orange Offer. SellCell.com acts as a comparison website for cell phone recycling, and compares a range of phone recycling companies such as Orange Offer.”

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