N2NOV8NG: The Black 16GB iPhone 3G Economic Experiment

I came home this evening slightly tired and in a playful mood. I decided it was finally time to sell the old iPhone I've had sitting on the dresser since I upgraded to 4G in October 2010.

I knew there was a crazy resale market. When we went to the local Apple store, we were approached by a high school student who wanted to give us $120 cash. He had come to the store hoping to get an iPhone, only to find that his lack of credit meant no-can-do on the contract that was required. Only one small problem. I wanted to sync the phone to the computer one last time, transfer everything to my new phone, and get all the personal information removed from the older phone.

A few months passed and I heard an advertisement from a sponsor of one of my favorite podcasts This Week In Google. I started listening to Leo LaPorte and his gang while broken in Djibouti for two weeks last August. And I could write for some time about what I have learned from his show...but for the purposes of this post, one only needs to know that I heard him mention an electronics recycler/reseller named Gazelle. I was very impressed with the site and quickly received a quote for my phone...$93--which sounds very exact. Since this was lower than the $120 I knew I could receive at the mall from someone outside the store, I held onto the phone.

But now the New Year has come, and with it the urge to clean. This urge is especially overwhelming in pack rats such as myself. The year of 2010 brought home many treasures from all over the world. Therefore, I have no room for a fully functional but never used iPhone!

Tonight I perused the "Wanted" section of Craiglist, looking for anyone pining for an iPhone. I love CL! (Read more about this phenomenon that started in 1995 in the Bay Area.) I found four individual numbers to send texts that offered quotes. The following is what I sent and received.