Sell Your Cell Company Sold Consumers Out

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bbbColumbus, OH – Better Business Bureau has been investigating Sell Your Cell, a company operating several buyback websites offering top dollar to trade in old cell phones, but instead bilked consumers out of thousands of dollars.

Sell Your Cell, also known as Laptop & Desktop Repair, is the company behind websites like cashforiphones.com, cashforlaptops.com, ecyclebest.com, smartphonetraders.com and sell-your-cell.com. The business gives customers online quotes for used cell phones and promises to pay the quoted amount after collecting the devices.

BBB received almost 2700 complaints from unhappy consumers. Most were promised hundreds of dollars for their old cell phones but were sent as little as $5 or $10. Some phones sent to the business were even newer models.

Consumers who attempted to contact the company found they couldn’t be reached. Many customers were hung up on while others had unanswered emails.

Sell Your Cell has recently been shut down as the result of a lawsuit filed by the FTC and the State of Georgia. Since the lawsuit, the websites have been taken down, but BBB suspects that similar websites could take advantage of consumers looking to sell electronics for extra money this holiday season.

If you have an old device you’d like to get rid of, consider the following tips:

  • Trade it in. Ask the manufacturer or retailer if they’ll take your old device and give you credit toward a new one.

  • Recycle it. Ask the manufacturer or retailer if they recycle old devices. You can also see the EPA’s advice on donating and recycling electronics.

  • Donate it. Contact your local charity and ask if they accept used electronics.

  • Before donating or recycling any electronics, make sure you delete and erase any personal information attached to the device first.

  • If you are interested in working with a company that may give you money back for electronics, do your research. Search for reviews online and look up the business at bbb.org.

For more information, follow your BBB on Facebook, Twitter, and at bbb.org

About BBB
For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2015, people turned to BBB more than 172 million times for BBB Business Reviews on more than 5.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. BBB serving Central Ohio was founded in 1921, and serving 21 counties in Ohio, is one of 113 local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico.