First of all, relax, I'm not announcing an exclusive executive swapmeet.  The market for used cell phones has ramped up to a whopping $11 billion as of 2016[1].  That's a big number by itself, especially since the market scarcely existed just ten years ago.  By comparison, everything sold in every category by everyone worldwide on Ebay, new or used, was $84 billion total in 2016[2].

Unless you are actually a senior exec and can offer your device, refurbished, to other employees then you have a couple options to pass along your once-glorious smartphone.  Most of us in the US still sell back our devices to our carriers or directly to manufacturers.  In other countries, especially Europe, (and for slightly older phones) people turn to sites akin to Ebay and Craigslist for quick cash.  Or you could do what I do and strip everything down, install a paint app, remove the wi-fi password, and give the phone to your three-your-old.

Finally, I'd like to mention a gem in our greater Orlando, FL area: Computers Plus Cell Phones[3].  Having a local shop that offers up-front prices means you get even quicker cash and an honest human face.  Full disclosure: their owner is a good friend of mine.  You can even get a quote online before heading to one of their stores[4] and compare to your carrier's deal.

* Ismail Jones is a freelance web and mobile developer, owner of Azizah Solutions, and software architect at Cerner Corporation.

Sources:

[1] https://www2.deloitte.com/lb/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecomm...

[2] https://investors.ebayinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1009166

[3] https://computerspluscellphones.com/

[4] http://buyback.computerspluscellphones.com/

Views: 121

Comments are closed for this blog post

Happy 10th year, JCertif!

Notes

Welcome to Codetown!

Codetown is a social network. It's got blogs, forums, groups, personal pages and more! You might think of Codetown as a funky camper van with lots of compartments for your stuff and a great multimedia system, too! Best of all, Codetown has room for all of your friends.

When you create a profile for yourself you get a personal page automatically. That's where you can be creative and do your own thing. People who want to get to know you will click on your name or picture and…
Continue

Created by Michael Levin Dec 18, 2008 at 6:56pm. Last updated by Michael Levin May 4, 2018.

Looking for Jobs or Staff?

Check out the Codetown Jobs group.

 

Enjoy the site? Support Codetown with your donation.



InfoQ Reading List

DoorDash Builds LLM Conversation Simulator to Test Customer Support Chatbots at Scale

DoorDash engineers built a simulation and evaluation flywheel to test large language model customer support chatbots at scale. The system generates multi-turn synthetic conversations using historical transcripts and backend mocks, evaluates outcomes with an LLM-as-judge framework, and enables rapid iteration on prompts, context, and system design before production deployment.

By Leela Kumili

Netflix Uncovers Kernel-Level Bottlenecks While Scaling Containers on Modern CPUs

Engineers at Netflix have uncovered deep performance bottlenecks in container scaling that trace not to Kubernetes or containerd alone, but into the CPU architecture and Linux kernel itself.

By Craig Risi

Presentation: Beyond the Code: Hiring for Cultural Alignment

Alicia Collymore discusses the critical role of cultural alignment in building high-performing engineering teams. She explains how to move beyond "vibes" by identifying specific attributes in company values and assessing them during coding challenges and system design sessions. She shares practical advice on using interview debriefs, assessment criteria, and "culture add" to drive growth.

By Alicia Collymore

Article: The Oil and Water Moment in AI Architecture

Have you ever tried mixing oil and water? That is the moment software architecture is entering as deterministic systems meet non deterministic AI behaviour. Architects must anchor intelligent systems in intent, governance and systems thinking. This article introduces the Architect’s V Impact Canvas, a framework for navigating this shift while keeping human trust at the centre.

By Shweta Vohra

Podcast: Information Flow: The Hidden Driver of Engineering Culture

In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Adrian Peryer about Ron Westrum's organizational culture continuum, the role of information flow in shaping team culture, and how leaders can develop requisite imagination to detect weak signals.

By Adrian Peryer

© 2026   Created by Michael Levin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service