Im debating taking my s24ultra. It has water damage (cameras r foggy) a pen from an s23u is stuck and also the phone signal just doesnt work.. $400ish supposedly though
The whole point of these machines (same apply for "Cashies" shops) is convenience, sure you get paid next to nothing, but whatever the machine offer you, you are garanteed to get. You can get much more on Ebay, but you can also get scammed and get nothing at all (or even negative with all the fees/postage). Only problem I see is older people who are unaware they can get paid more elsewhere and who will use these machines before other alternatives.
As someone who used to service the money side of those machines, we never put $20s in them. Only $1s, $5s, and $10s. So payouts aren't gonna be all that high.
Is gazell paying you? Were you the ones collecting the phones? Did you ship them off? I'm interested in hearing more about your role in these machines.
@@bigk777 no, I used to work for an armored car company. We handled the "ATM" aspect of the machine only. "Supposedly" they did the phones at first too, but that contract changed long before I got there. We were just a 3rd party contractor that was responsible for replacing and replenishing the physical cash inside the vault, and replacing the roll of stickers that it dispenses to place on the devices.
It is around $380 to $450 they ofter for a s24 ultra, which is still lower then eBay, or Facebook but more then half of used market value. As just looked up online as you can check without even needing to go to the machine Those machines are not recommend as for convenience and you can get way more selling it yourself, or using as a trade-in if you upgrade down the road. The only benefit is for those that want to literally recycle a old smart phone and don't care about the money back, or those that literally rather not deal with eBay, or Facebook period and it a new highend phone, then ar least you get a little over half the used market value and don't have to deal with the hassle of reselling it yourself and risk fraud buyers. Better then most pawnshops, or 3rd party cellphone stores in that regard. Budget phones not worth even trying to resell except for on eBay.
Sometimes I'll hang near the ecoATM on a busy day, waiting for someone to get a shit offer so I can swoop in and offer them marginally more in cash. I've gotten some great deals on devices that way
@@zxqhyr once you decide to sell it, it gets pushed off the glass and it falls into a box in the bottom of the machine. A vendor regularly services the machine to collect the devices.
Man, the cheap phones saga should be a series, everyone would watch them, like grocery phones, chinese phones, unbranded smartphones from untrusted sellers being to put to the test of, can It even run Android?
Well given how without it, it would just be easy to pickpocket walmart shoppers and sell the items to this shop like its a easy walk away fence shop. Do ya really want something like that encouraging folks to make a small profit by stealing phones?
@@joeyghostx Access is needed, though. Some phones won't let you in even after a pre-boot wipe, unless you log into a paired Google account. Although... you could always submit it as "does not power on" for less money.
I have a very rare good experience with Eco ATM. Had a busted up IPhone XR, never bothered trying to sell it on eBay so it sat in my desk. Ended up getting 40$ for it when it was just collecting dust and had cracks all over the back with glass falling out.
Maybe it's their way of saying "we don't really want to buy it but we'll give you something, because something is better than nothing". Again, better to just have a load of cash, wait near these machines, then offer people more than what the ecoATM offers. Then you might get a good deal on a phone.
@@TheSpotify95weird too as Motorola phones are much more premium and sought after than iPhones better battery camera security customers service and features you'd think the moto would be worth triple the iPhone or Samsung
@@jomsies there very good they make phones with top of the line specs and waterproof while still keeping headphones jack and sd card slot which isn't obsolete as there are 2tb sd cards which is a significant amount of storage for a phone as backup and if your phone gets totaled you can just take the sd card out to save your files
when I was younger, I had an old Samsung Galaxy S6 edge that I would use every time I went to my grandma's house. this phone was mine for years, and I had so many pictures (and surprisingly a minecraft pocket edition world I spent YEARS on) and one day I visit just to find out she took it to an eco atm. this phone had some of the last pictures of my childhood dog who recently had passed away on it, and a lot of important photos I had yet to back up. the worst part is, since the battery life was bad, and the screen was slightly cracked, the eco atm didnt even give her money for it... she recycled my phone without my permission (only reason I left it there was I had no internet at home at the time, and I was a kid, I didnt have cell service.)
You would be surprised how many of your supposedly "lost" souvenirs parents and other family elders just throw away as you are growing up. xd They just don't realize how a child can be so deeply attached to some items and/or how can it fully own things. Though, that same child doesn't realize this fact and that it has to somewhat protect/preserve them. It's kinda funny to think their own childhood thingies could have been treated the same in the past.
I got a used 2nd gen SE for 90 USD. 64gb unlocked and in perfect condition. SE3 is really not worth it especially with the SE4 on the way. Oh and its also 2 years old yet still being sold as new. Lol
a kiosk that attracts petty thieves with nominal cash payments, holds your stolen property for 30 days, and collects information for law enforcement to pick them up; it's fully automated austerity capitalism!
I sold an iPhone 15 pro Max 256 GB to it for $565.... It only offered me $9 for my Motorola edge 2024 256 GB which just came out less than 2 months ago and was a $600 phone...
I've used ecoATM almost a decade ago and I remember getting a good chunk of change for my old phones. Nowadays, I only see the roughest of individuals using them.
I also want to say that my tablet which is called a sky pad 10 is just one of my favorite tablets in my life so if you have time to order it online, and unbox it then it will make me very happy. I also want to tell you that this tablet works with the Sim card and try inserting another Sim card in it to see if it works with it because I have heard that this tablet is unlocked and I need proof.
the weird part is ive sold phones to the eco atm before and it didnt ask for a signature or fingerprint ever! that feature might depend on the laws in your area... because in akron ohio it dont do either of those...
These are pretty much honeypots for uh gentlemen who are addicted to spicy substances. Except that it's not a police thing and you still lose the phone they stole from you.
I wonder if you could root and spoof like a low end phone to pass off as a high end flagship phone so that the machine gives you way more than the phone is worth...
Motorolas are nice and cheap, but they get deathly slow after a year or two. Plus, if your phone ever dies and you have apps installed on a SD card, there is a chance that it gets soft locked
Just an FYI none of these phone reseller companies actually "recycle" unsold phones. They hand them off to a "recycler" that for a fee ships them off to Africa or Asia for them to "deal with" aka throw in a landfill.
Where I’m from these budget phones could get you well over $300 each. The iPhones tho broken could have gotten you at least $400 for the one with no Touch ID, the one with the broken screen could get you like $350.
It's so bad it wouldn't even be worth stealing someone's phone in the store and cramming it in, which I assume is how most transactions with these machines haplen.
They want your name, license, adress, email, photo, signature & fingerprint and offer only few bucks for all this private information? And on top of that they want a Phone, too?
"...I don't think it's worth it. Some iPhones, some Samsungs are alright..." Yeah but that's true with ANY resale sites for phones (and other tech) if it's more than a few years old and/or not in perfect condition, they really don't want it and will give you pennies.
I was thinking about this the other day, but considering the increasing quality of fake phones, and the fact that I think you can easily spoof the information of a cell phone connection, I don’t know how people don’t just throw in a shit ton of fake ones
Possibly the machine takes an xray to ensure the internal components match up? That's probably another reason why it closes the big door. It also needs to look at a unique ID (probably the IMEI) on the phone (which is why that Samsung one didn't work, it probably couldn't get that IMEI). The IMEI will tell you a LOT about a phone, such as what model of phone, and also more importantly, if it's stolen. Even if you fake the IMEI, it's gonna have to be the EXACT SAME phone model, as well as (by my speculation) a matching xray (which can be difficult to fake). If you manage to fake all that, well it has your ID so it can report you to authorities, ESPECIALLY if you try sneaking many phony bricks past them.
They offered me 230 for an unlocked mint condition I phone 13 pro yesterday. When I told them no thanks, they said "today only we will offer you 276" wow such a generous offer .. it's sickening. They still retail for 800-900. And used 600-700 at the lower end. I guess if you're desperate you do what you need to do. Took my flawless Samsung s21 ultra there in desperation a couple years ago and they offered $130. The eco atm is definitely predatory
if you wanna sell a phone quickly, head to a small third-party repair shop, they often buy phones. You're obviously not going to get anywhere near ebay prices but you're going to get farrrrrrr better than what these shitty ecoATMs will give you. Many walmarts for example will have a shop inside that would buy your phone. Even if it's totally smashed, the shop I work at in particular will swap a temporary screen onto the phone so we can give you more money if everything else checks out decently.
I wonder if you could use like a raspberry pie in a phone-like case with a cheap lcd, and some phone software on it to fool it into thinking it’s a real phone
LOVED the security measures at the end. But as I expected, the machine kept screwing you up for your phones, seems like it's good place to get some spare cash for phones that don't really have any value left. I had a bunch of phones at one time and ended up giving them away to my older relatives that use them for Facebook 😂
Idea: buy phone shells then put putty into them to make them look like a phone, put some shiny material on it for the screen then put it in the machine, it will think it’s a real phone and profit
@@emirbaran08 the Touch ID is paired to logic board. So if you throw original home button away and replace with a new one- you will lose Touch ID and the home button only works as a button. No Touch ID. Fixing this issue is expensive. Often More than the phone is worth
Considering it had broken home button which is paired to logic board and wasn't in best shape, it was not that bad of a offer. Would likely be more of a hassle for him to sell on eBay.
If I indulged in this with my ancient devices, odds are I'd be having to pay IT to take them off my hands. A slider served me well for a long time until the battery contact points gave up trying so it was more or less dead with a charged battery. My first smartphone was a Huawei H868C which actually may still turn on. It was replaced because using a device with such meager onboard and external space these days is impossible since essential apps (to schedule appointments) are 50-200MB in size. Or more. Even its replacement was outmoded. I just use that as another clock/alarm. Considering I've never paid more than $35 for one and have been using my current one for 7 years now, it's no loss to me. The increasing size of apps still irks me to no end. It's the equivalent of Adobe Reader which is unnecessarily huge for what it is and all the program does is open documents and allows editing. It's not freakin' PhotoShop.
My first flagship phone was a Note 2 that I used for over 5 years. Then bought a new old stock Note 3 and that was the biggest dissappointment in my life!
Yea if I remember correctly. The early models didn't have all that security on it when selling a phone. But, I do remember all the smart phone being picked up at all the thrift stores around the time those machines came out. Then yes, I saw people standing at them going through a box of phones to get money. Also reminds me of the troll line. They rip you off and don't pay you anything. Same for selling used cd's, children clothing, etc, etc. House for cash. :)
Moto G Stylus 2023 4G I bought one, and unlocked it, but I can't find anyone building custom firmware for it :( Also kinda sucks you can't use the macro camera on third party apps
You had a serious background check and then the phones ID was cross checked with your phone's ID data to see if your phone was used in any known criminal activity or not so criminal activity.
Eco-ATM is well known for giving very low offers. But if you've got a for-parts phone and it can't detect what the actual fault is, seems like it's not bad selling it to ecoATM.
The ATM offers different prices than the app. I think they are going after certain phones tho because you can get $150 for an max Mlem XR unlocked but $60 for the XS
