Sell your Galaxy S10 5G for cash

Carrier first, then storage and condition. A 256GB unlocked in Good shape is $20, in Average $17, and with a crack in it $4. Put your own combination through the quote box at the top for the exact number.

These are the smallest figures on any Samsung page here. First generation 5G phones lost value faster than anything else in the category, and we would rather show you the honest number than talk it up. If it does not feel worth the trip to the mailbox, free recycling is a perfectly reasonable answer and we will still wipe the phone properly.

Not in the United States. Samsung sold this phone here only through carriers, which is why it has three US model numbers and none of them ends in U1. SM-G977U is the Verizon version, SM-G977P is Sprint and SM-G977T is T-Mobile. Every other Galaxy S in our catalog has a U1 factory unlocked version sitting alongside the carrier one. This one does not.

So if your phone shows as unlocked today, somebody unlocked it after the fact, which is exactly what we would like you to do before selling. Find your model number in Settings, About phone.

More than on any other phone we buy. A Good 256GB is $20 unlocked, $15 on T-Mobile, $15 on AT&T, $10 on any other network, and $3 on Verizon.

The Verizon figure is correct. It is a few dollars, and we are not going to hide it in small print or pad it out. Verizon sold most of the S10 5Gs in this country and locked Verizon handsets are what the resale market has least appetite for.

If the phone is paid off, call the carrier and ask them to unlock it. They are obliged to, it costs nothing, and it is usually done inside a day. On this model that one phone call is worth more than the difference between a mint phone and a scratched one.

Yes. It pays $4 at 256GB and $5 at 512GB.

Any crack or chip anywhere grades Faulty, however well the phone works, and this one is 6.7 inches of curved glass on both faces at 198 grams, which is the heaviest phone in the family landing on the largest area of glass. They break.

Peel the screen protector off before you decide. A cracked protector over an intact screen is not a fault and people talk themselves into the bottom row over it every week. At these prices, if the phone is badly broken, free recycling is often worth more to you than the payout is, and we will say so rather than sell you on five dollars.

It grades Faulty, and this panel can get it, because every Galaxy S display is OLED. Seven years of the same clock and the same navigation bar in the same places is exactly the recipe. Brightness to maximum, plain white image, dark room, then tilt the phone until the light rakes across the glass and look for a permanent faint ghost. The detailed version, along with Samsung's own on-device check, is on the Galaxy S23 Plus page and applies here unchanged.

One stuck pixel is not burn-in, and neither is the color shift any OLED shows when you tilt it. Do not grade yourself down for either.

Poor coverage is not a fault. Your phone working badly in a place with no signal says nothing about the hardware, and it does not change your grade.

A radio that has actually failed is different, and it lands under the general Samsung rule: if something on the phone does not work, the phone is Faulty. There is no checklist, because everything is on it. A dead speaker, an earpiece nobody can hear you through, a fingerprint reader that will not read, a camera stuck out of focus, a button that needs two presses, wireless charging that has stopped, all of them are the same answer.

Worth knowing on this model specifically: the first generation 5G bands it was built for have largely been retired by the carriers, so an S10 5G today is effectively a very good 4G phone. That is not a fault either, but it is a large part of why the numbers on this page are what they are.

No. There is no battery percentage rule on Samsung phones, so there is no figure to look up and no health screen to go find. This phone shipped with the biggest battery in the family at 4,500 mAh, and seven years on it will hold noticeably less. That is ordinary aging and it is already in the price. Only a battery that has genuinely stopped working matters, and that is covered by the same rule as any other broken part.

Count the rear cameras. Four means Galaxy S10 5G, because it has a separate 3D depth sensor alongside the three lenses. Three means Galaxy S10 Plus.

Then check the side. The S10 5G has no microSD slot at all, and it is the only Galaxy S10 that does not. Pop the SIM tray and look: one nano-SIM slot and nothing else means this phone.

Size and weight agree. This is 6.7 inches and 198 grams against the S10 Plus at 6.4 inches and 175. To be certain, Settings, About phone will read SM-G977U, SM-G977P or SM-G977T.

Not for a payment. Without power we cannot test the phone and neither of us can clear your data off it, so any figure would be invented. Give it an hour on a wall charger with a plug and cable you know work first, since a phone that has been flat for years takes longer to show life than people expect. If it stays dark, put it on the free label anyway. We will recycle it at no cost with a Department of Defense grade wipe first, or post it back to you free. On a phone at this end of the price list, that is usually the right ending.

No. Anything still on a carrier installment plan or a lease is under a financial obligation and we cannot purchase it. Ask the carrier for the payoff figure. On a 2019 phone it has almost always been cleared years ago, and the moment it has, the same carrier owes you a free unlock, which on this model is the single most valuable thing you can do before selling.

No. Three separate things have to be clear before we can buy anything.

The Google account lock, which Samsung calls Factory Reset Protection. Take your Google account and your Samsung account out in Settings, and factory reset afterwards. In that order. Reset first and the lock stays put, the next owner cannot get past the setup screen, and the phone comes back to you.

Knox. If the phone was rooted or had unofficial firmware put on it, the Knox counter is tripped for good and we cannot buy it at any grade.

The IMEI. Reported lost, reported stolen, or blocked by a carrier over an unpaid bill all fail. Dial star hash zero six hash and it appears on screen. Worth doing before you accept a price, particularly on a phone that has passed through several hands.

No. Crown Silver, Majestic Black and Royal Gold are all worth the same. Samsung only ever sold three colors of this phone in the US, which makes color a poor way to identify it and no way at all to raise the price.

Sometimes on the sticker, rarely in practice. A trade-in number on a phone this old is promotional. It is tied to buying a specific new handset, and it usually arrives as bill credit split across 24 or 36 months of staying with that carrier. Leave early and the rest stops.

A Buyback is a purchase and nothing more. We buy your Galaxy S10 5G, the money is cash and it is yours in days. On a payout this small the honest advice is to compare both against simply recycling the phone for free, and to pick whichever of the three you would not regret.

Back up anything you want, then two steps in this order. Settings, Accounts and backup, Manage accounts, and remove your Google account and your Samsung account. Then Settings, General management, Reset, Factory data reset. Accounts always come out first, because that is what clears the Google account lock. Full instructions with pictures are on our erase your device page.

Then take the SIM out and delete any eSIM you set up. There is no memory card to remove on this model. Your photos, your messages and your saved passwords are erased and they cannot be recovered. We wipe the phone again to Department of Defense standards when it arrives.

Four options, chosen at checkout. A gift card by email, worth roughly 3 percent more because the brands add a bonus. PayPal, instant, less PayPal's own 2.99 percent fee. A bank transfer in 2 to 4 days. A check in 3 to 5 days. All four leave the same day the phone clears inspection. On a payout this size the gift card is usually the best of them, since the bonus is added rather than a fee deducted. Sealed Brand New phones are PayPal only.