SwappaReviews 3,179

I have used eBay for about 15 years and over the past several years it has gotten really expensive to sell the cheapest of things. With Swappa, you pay very little in fees($10 per device) and that's it. No hidden fees or anything else like that. I have sold several devices as well as bought several devices and haven't had the first issue yet. The employees of Swappa are always there to help if you need it as well. I won't sell my old/used devices any place else other than Swappa and I'd recommend everyone else do the same!

I pretty much just sell on Swappa and have had only 2 BAD experiences.

ONE: I told the seller the Home Button sometimes worked, about 85% of the time. He bought the phone and after a month complained that he wanted his money back because the Home Button didn't work?!? I asked for the phone back and when I got it, it looked like it had been kicked across the parking lot. Several NEW scratches, chips and dents all over the phone. I got Swappa involved but they said I had no real proof of the phones prior condition (ie pictures) to prove buyer ruined my phone. LESSON: Take lots of pictures before selling
TWO: Buyer purchased my phone to use as a GPS unit for Geocaching. I told her that that is not what cell phones are good for, that she should but a dedicated GPS unit. She complained for over a month that it wasn't accurate, telling me she was messing with the software of the phone. Finally sends the phone back because it won't boot up because of software issues, Duh! LESSON: Don't take returns unless item is not as described and even then deduct a 15% Restocking Fee to keep the loonies from returning due to Buyers Remorse.

Other than those TWO issues I have had 100% positive feedback on everything I have sold on Swappa and will continue to use Swappa for all my tech selling needs.

I've been with Swappa for almost 4 years now and it's the only place I'll sell a phone. It's really not a difficult process... you follow the listing guidelines. Attach pictures, input condition, IMEI, accessories, etc. and then finally take a verification photo once you have your listing ID. Sure, it's different than eBay. But if you want to sell on eBay, then sell on eBay and deal with high fees and a lack of customer service. I have 100% feedback on both eBay and Swappa, so I understand them both.

Their customer service is great and responsive. When I started selling on Swappa they were Android-only. When users of the site started requesting to list iOS devices, they listened and made it happen as well.

Their fees are much better than eBay. Actually, it's their LACK of fees that's better than eBay. If I list a phone for $400, Swappa adds $10, making it $410, and the buyer pays for the listing. It's a fair fee for all of those involved.

Another aspect of Swappa that I enjoy is the public messaging on the page of the listing. If someone wants to offer me $350 for my phone that I've listed, everyone sees that. This helps avoid lowball offers as well as keeps the communication open to the whole community. I may say that I'm willing to drop my price to $380 and someone else may want to take me up on that price.

After reading through the other reviews on the page I feel bad for those with non-working phones or that have issues with the sellers. What it seems that the others on this page don't realize is that those same things happen with eBay. You can get a phone shipped incorrectly by the seller, or you can have phone issues over time. Swappa isn't the entity selling you the phone, though, so they aren't responsible. However, any miscommunication or issue that I've had with others on Swappa has always been mediated very well by the staff there.

I have been using Swappa since the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012. I've sold 27 devices and I've purchased 3 in that time frame. I have reached out to customer service on a couple different occasions to clarify with buyers of my devices. Each time their customer service has responded within a couple hours and each time the issue was resolved positively.

Like any site a consumer/purchaser needs to read carefully. I've seen so many complaints on here about individuals receiving phones in less than ideal conditions. That is an easy fix. Even if the seller says they do not accept returns if the device is not as described they have to. You are still protected by PayPal in events of Fraud.

I sell on Swappa instead of Ebay/Craiglist because I know what I'm going to pay as a seller, $10. I have only had positive experiences with Swappa and I have recommended them to friends and family looking to purchase a phone. I even did an entire YouTube video about it for my YouTube Channel, unsolicited by Swappa.

I have never had an experience that left a poor taste in my mouth and I venture to say that if I had a poor experience the staff would go above and beyond to help me out and remedy the situation.

Great site for buying and selling phones!

I'm actually really really surprised at all the bad reviews. I had a more than satisfactory experience selling on Swappa.
I sold my like-new iphone 5 for a LOT more money than I could sell it for on any other site. It not only sold for a good bit of money, they only charge a $10 fee and my phone sold in about 2 or 3 hours.The only weird thing was that the buyer pays through paypal before you send the phone, which in my opinion opens the door for people to just take your money and not send the phone but I assumed they had some sort of system in place if that happened. Luckily it didn't with me, i would highly recommend using this site, at least to sell!

I've sold 100's of iphone on ebay and have 100 percent feedback, but there fees are high. So I tried swappa and they just have wayyyy to many wired rules. First off I list all my ebay iphones with imei esn displayed. Nope not with them u must not show it. Showing it gets me more money. My pics were too big and would not take. I took from an iphone. Last straw was I was selling an new iPhone but box did not match. It was a new iphone, warranty exchange from Apple, they said it not new if the box does not match. I checked the admin who questioned it, he's never sold a thing on his site, so I sold it on ebay. It's hard to have 100 percent feedback on eBay, I try hard, but these goofballs had me foaming at the mouth. Just so u know if I sell an iPhone on eBay, the buyer has 60 days to get e refund thru PayPal if there not happy and I ve never had a return. I take awesome pics, detailed, but when I transferred them to swappa, there like nope, u gotta take new pics. Swappa, you suck.

I bought an used Iphone 5,16Gb with a replaced screen for $ 195. It worked perfectly at first, then about 3 weeks later, it started running its own business by opening random apps, or jumping from place to place. I tried to reset it every time it got "sick", it was better after being reset for may be few hours or stay with me for the rest of the time. The funny thing is some day it worked perfectly and some it just went crazy, and uncontrollably. I didn't report anything cause i wanted to see it this insanity will end some time soon, since i still have the "reset" option, but turned out it's even worse. A few days ago it stop charging, I've tried all kind of chargers, or even cleaning the charged hole from the tips i found in google or youtube when people's phones don't charge. Nothing has changed so far.
At the end, I sent an email to the seller and asking for the solutions. Guess what! The answer is "There is nothing they'd do since it's been "too long", well for me 2 months is not a long period of time anyhow. Then I contacted w Swappa staff, wondering if i could at least get some % return, but the answer was no judgement, and now I have to file my own Paypal dispute. I don't think this is how a business should response to their customer.

Buyer beware, Swappa states online that it will assist with fraud or bad sellers, but when you contact them they will use personal opinion to judge the sale. If you are buying a GSM phone and try and use it on any other service besides the provider the phone is listed under they will disregard assisting with the bad sale even if the phone is actually faulty. Dont trust this site, its customer service is a joke.

*Update*
I will let it be known that I had purchased an LG G2 from a Swappa seller, and everything worked perfectly. I came back to Swappa to purchase my second LG G2 and that's where this issue stemmed from. The phone did not work out of the box perfectly, after a week I messaged about a return but the seller offered advice on how to resolve the issues I was having. I should have pushed for a return immediately, but I stuck it out. This was my mistake because I should have pushed for a refund immediately. After numerous comments throughout a month, I couldn't take it anymore and asked for a refund instead of crappy advice from the seller. The seller threw a fit, and things got mean. The Swappa Rep at the time said they wouldn't back me up on the return if the seller refused because I was not using the phone with the carrier the phone was for. I let the rep know the first phone I bought worked perfectly, so that should be a clear indication that something is wrong with the phone. The rep did not agree with me, and still stuck by the buyer. PayPal on the other hand did a proper investigation on the issue and I got my money back. If you buy through Swappa just follow these guidelines and know these things:

1. More than one rep will be handling your complaint, so be ready to be confused at times.
2. If the phone is not working properly in the first week of use, then return it.
3. Always pay with PayPal, it will save you if there is an issue.

I have been in a contact with a Rep since I made this review, and the Swappa Rep has been extremely helpful and polite. I just wish I got this type of treatment when I had tried returning the phone.

The customer service for this site is so awful I removed both my listings within 24 hours of posting them. Swappa appears to be run by hipster 20-somethings are better at shirking responsibility than getting you a great deal on your phone. I'll never, ever use them again. The back and forth I encountered with their customer service agents---wow. No words. Condescending, rude, unprofessional, and utterly tone deaf. Lucas Freeman was a particularly awful agent.

Ordered the above item, paid for on 9-2. No shipping information. When queried through paypal, the $10 was refunded by swappa. The $500 for the phone which swappa indicated with a usps tracking number is going to california, unfortunately for me, i live in florida. Swappa has bailed on responsibility. A fact, it only cost $10 to get rid of a problem. Oh, my original emails to swappa were not replied to at all, only after paypal got involved did i become important enough to send an e-mail.

Swappa paints a picture of being safe, but really isn't. Their IMEI check doesn't catch phones with outstanding balances and they allow phones that are reported as replaced under warranty and therefore should be out of circulation. I tried 3 transactions on Swappa. First one was still attached to a prior owners account that had a balance and could not be activated without that being paid off. Swappa refused to help and I ultimately had to have our credit card step in to get a refund. In my second purchase, the buyer created a shipping label and provided tracking number but never shipped. Had to get a refund for that one from paypal... again no help from swappa, except to pass me off to paypal. Third try, the seller lied about the condition of the phone and the ability to activate it. I'm in process of having to return that one to get a refund. Too much hassle. Avoid this site -- I've had much better luck on eBay, which is saying something.