What: uSell is a marketplace to sell your smart phone, iPad, iPod, tablet, Macbook, video games, video consoles and/or books to professional buyers
Expected pay: NA
Husl$core: $$
Commissions & Fees: Not applicable
Where: Nationwide
Requirements: Be of legal age (18 or older, depending on jurisdiction)
Review:
uSell acts as a go-between for individual sellers and professional buyers (in other words, resellers) of electronics and games. uSell is not directly involved in the transaction between buyers and sellers. As a result, it disclaims any responsibility for what those third parties do. Smart move.
According to numerous reviews, the professional buyers who pick up products here don’t always act honorably, often slashing purchase prices after sellers have sent their electronics. Although some buyers appear satisfied, a number maintain they were scammed out of getting a reasonable price — or anything close to the quoted price.
Realistically, when you are selling to a reseller, you are not going to get top dollar. After all, the reseller is going to pay uSell a fee for helping it find your products (everybody’s gotta eat, and uSell doesn’t charge you) and then the reseller has to turn around and sell your phone or tablet at a profit. That’s a lot of middle-men.
You’d do better to market your cell phones and tablets at sites where there are fewer go-betweens. We’d suggest Swappa, TheWhizCells, ItsWorthMore or Gazelle. If you want to sell video games, eBay or Craigs List would be better choices.
What their users say: From SiteJabber:
“I sent them in a phone in LG that was in Flawless condition didn’t so much as have a scratch on it the phone was barely two months old they turned around email me and told me it was damaged and down the price on what they would give me big time to $3 from $40 in perfect condition when it left my home I am now waiting for the return of it and it better still be in perfect condition because that phone was not damaged when I mailed it”
“This was a horrific experience, i was given a quote of about 100$ for my iphone i thought why not and decided to ship it to them, after almost 2 weeks i got the mailing packet finally and shipped it to them, no email no calls nothing for 2 weeks again, when i contact them myself they told me we sent u a check for 9$, i said what is 9$ i was quoted 100 and got the most vague excuse about the market going up and down and my phone has a scratch here or there basically saying total bs, i demanded my phone back and they said no read the terms and conditions which is longer then the declaration of independence right…. people need to be aware of this scam and avoid usell unless you want to send them your valuable phone for free.”
“Complete and total scam. If you send your phone in, you have two outcomes. 1. Get absolutely nothing. No check, no word about your phone, etc. 2. Wait months and months and months and months and get a check for under 10 bucks. What’s their excuse? Either they didn’t get it, or your phone was damaged. Stay away. Far away.”
From ComplaintBoard:
“Sent in a 64 GB Iphone 6 that I had for 3 months in an otter box case. Phone was IMMACULATE and usell claimed the “screen clicks when pressed on” which is an made up, factitious issue. I declined their “revised offer” and am now awaiting the return on my device. Extremely disappointed with this service. I would not recommend to anyone and will actively advise anyone I see to avoid this site/business.”
“I was very disappointed when I saw that USELL underrated my phone quote for “bad side keys” – which the phone did not have. (Lowered to $40 from $73) I requested my phone to be mailed back only to discover that the “unit” I received back had a cracked screen and a DIFFERENT SERIAL NUMBER. It looked like someone took a hammer and smashed it – AND it’s not even my phone. This is a bait & switch operation USELL is a scam….Use Gazelle or another similar reputable company instead.”
From ScamBook
“This is the text I have just sent to the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs. Next stop is the office of the New York State Attorney General. Since uSell will not lift a finger to contact their buyer, CellGiant on my behalf, I decided to let the system come after you.I sold my iPhone 6 online to uSell on November 13 and received a return packet to ship the phone to their buyer, CellGiant in Orrstown, Pennsylvania. It took two days for CellGiant to pick up the phone at the Lamberville, NJ Post Office, and to date (it is now 8 days since they picked-up the phone at the post office), I have heard nothing from them. I have sent three e-mails to Imani at uSell who keeps sending me the same stock e-mail response…keep your eyes on your e-mails, etc. They refuse to contact their buyer to expedite this and this is getting very frustrating. They promised me $140.00 for the phone but I have a feeling that I will never see it as I have not heard a thing in over a week. Other cell phone buying companies like Gazelle do not do this to their customers. My next stop is the NY State Attorney Generals Office as I need to bring this to everyone’s attention and we can stop uSell and CellGiant from doing this to any more New York consumers.”
From Reseller Ratings:
“Always a bait & switch with these guys. Never get the amount quoted. I would beware and use more reputable companies such as Gazelle.”
“They offered me 65 dollars for my water damaged iPhone and when they got it they continued to tell me they hat the find my iPhone was on and they would cut my bill in half. I sent them numerous emails only for them to not respond. I finally just told them to send it back. Then they gave me a new offer of a $6.50 for my phone. So I finally got the phone back after a week of waiting and I took it to the ecoATM in Walmart and sold it to them for $20 for my phone that was water damaged and didn’t work at all. Don’t use usell it’s a rip-off, even Walmart will give you a better deal.”
“Customer service was trash, representative was rude and very unprofessional. Sent me a “quote” of nearly $60 and then brought it down to $20. Representative got mad when I said send my phone back, they are trying to low ball and scan you out of your money. I would get more money and better customer service selling my phone at the flea market. I will never try to sell anything through this company again. ”
A rep from uSell, usell.com responded
“Hello there, I am terribly sorry to hear of the disappointing experience you had in selling your device to Second Hand Cellular, one of the buyers in our marketplace. I checked our records and did not see any correspondence exchanged between you and uSell Customer Care; however, I am aware that you were emailing directly with Second Hand Cellular. After reviewing the details of your order, I see that you were selling a damaged iPhone. According to our Terms of Service, the buyer can issue a revised offer if a damaged item is missing parts, bent in half, etc… This would be considered “extreme damage”. Although this is normal procedure, I can certainly understand why you would be upset about it. We have a risk-free guarantee in place for this reason. If you disagree with a buyer’s assessment of your device, they will return it to you free of charge. Our records show that your device was returned in accordance with this agreement. We want you to get the best deal for your item, even if it isn’t through our marketplace. Again, we do apologize that this transaction did not meet your expectations and we will continue to work with the buyers in our network to ensure they deliver the highest level of professional customer service.”