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14-day lock
Offer holds when description matches.
48-hr processing
Two business days from arrival to confirmed offer.
Free shipping
Prepaid USPS label in your inbox.
BBB 4.69
Ten years. Same Phoenix team.
IPHONE SE 3RD GEN BUYBACK
We pay between $16 and $105 for an iPhone SE (3rd Gen). Capacity, condition, and carrier are the three selections that change the price.
Usually an Unlocked item pays more than a carrier locked item (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc). Carrier locked means the phone runs on one network only, until that network releases it. On this model the answer depends on how much storage you have, so it is worth two minutes. We checked all ninety prices. On the 256GB, Verizon pays more than unlocked at all six grades, and at the top the gap is over twenty dollars. On the 128GB the two are level at the four lower grades, and unlocked is ahead at the two cleanest. On the 64GB unlocked is ahead everywhere. AT&T, T-Mobile and Other sit below unlocked at every capacity, so this is a Verizon effect only.
Most people call this a trade-in. We call it a Buyback, and on this phone the two words point in opposite directions. The carrier version is arranged around the phone you are moving to. Every part of it assumes the next one is newer. The person who ends up with your SE is doing the opposite. They are going out of their way to find a phone with a home button, because Apple stopped making them, and a newer handset will not do instead. A carrier has no way to put a number on that. We do, because the only thing we are pricing is what this exact phone is worth to the person who wants one.
That is the fact worth knowing about this model. There is a round button under the screen that takes you home and reads your fingerprint to unlock the phone. Apple has not built an iPhone like that since. Every iPhone released after this one is a full face of glass that recognizes your face instead. So the SE (3rd Gen) is the last home button iPhone. It is also the only one that ever had a home button and 5G in the same body.
The 5G half of that is the fastest way to tell which SE you are holding, and getting it right is worth real money. Open Settings, tap Cellular, then Cellular Data Options. A 5G choice in there, or 5G Auto under Voice and Data, means you have the 3rd Gen and you are on the right page. If the best option is LTE, you have the iPhone SE (2nd Gen), which quotes lower. A 5G icon in the status bar settles it just as well.
Getting it wrong costs you time rather than money. We read the model number off the phone when it lands. If the quote says 3rd Gen and the phone is a 2nd Gen, we requote it and email you. You can take the new number, or have the phone back for free. It is a fixable mistake. Checking Settings now is still easier.
Now the part that sets your grade. Two of our rules land on that one small button. A fingerprint reader that will not recognize you grades the phone Faulty. A button that has stopped clicking grades it Faulty as well. So test it before you pick a condition. Lock the screen, press the home button once, and rest a finger on it without sliding. If the phone opens, you are fine. If it clicks and clicks and never recognizes you, try adding a fresh fingerprint in Settings, Touch ID and Passcode. A button that clicks but will not enroll a finger was usually swapped at some point, and on this family that cannot be undone. The iPhone SE (2nd Gen) page sets out why in full, and the same wiring applies here.
The rest is short. We buy an iPhone SE (3rd Gen) working, scratched, or with wear your fingernail catches on, and cracked ones have a real price too. The one we cannot buy is a phone with no power at all, because it cannot be tested and your data cannot be cleared off it. Send that one anyway and we will recycle it free or mail it back free, whichever you prefer. Shipping is free both ways and the price you accept is held for 14 days.
LIVE PRICES
The used resale value of an iPhone SE (3rd Gen) starts at $16 for a 64GB with a crack in it and climbs to $105 for a sealed unlocked 256GB. The highest single quote on this model is $126, and that one is a Verizon 256GB rather than an unlocked phone.
The eighteen prices below are all unlocked and all pulled live. Find your storage across the top, your grade down the side, and read the box where they meet.
| Comparison row | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB |
|---|---|---|---|
Brand New | $78 | $98 | $105 |
Flawless | $57 | $72 | $77 |
Good | $52 | $67 | $77 |
Average | $44 | $56 | $65 |
Fair | $31 | $40 | $46 |
Faulty | $16 | $20 | $23 |
HOW IT WORKS
Check Cellular Data Options for 5G so you know you have the 3rd Gen, then press the home button and make sure Touch ID still reads you. Pick 64GB, 128GB or 256GB, pick the carrier the phone actually sits on, and pick the grade that matches what your fingernail finds. The Buyback price you accept is held for 14 days.
We email a prepaid USPS label the moment you accept. Before it goes: save anything you want to keep, then erase the phone from Settings so your Apple Account releases it and Find My switches off. A padded envelope is plenty. Ask if you would rather have a box. Leave the cable and the case at home, we cannot pay for either.
A technician checks the SE within 48 hours of it arriving. Matches what you told us, and the money goes out that same day by gift card, PayPal, bank transfer or check. Every phone through this building gets a DoD-grade wipe, whether we buy it or recycle it.
SPEC SHEET
The A-number is on the back in small print near the bottom, and in Settings, General, About. These come from Apple's own identify page rather than a parts list.
| Apple's name for it | iPhone SE (3rd generation) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
| Model numbers | A2595 (United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Mexico, Saudi Arabia), A2782 (Japan), A2784 (Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), A2785 (China), A2783 (other countries and regions) |
| Display | 4.7-inch Retina HD LCD, 1334 by 750 at 326 ppi |
| Chip | A15 Bionic |
| Storage we buy | 64GB, 128GB and 256GB |
| Biometrics | Touch ID inside the home button. There is no Face ID on this phone. |
| Cellular | 5G. This is the only home button iPhone that has it. |
| Cameras | One 12MP camera on the back, 7MP on the front |
| SIM | Nano-SIM tray plus eSIM. A missing or damaged tray forces Faulty. |
| Port | Lightning |
| Back | Glass, which is why it charges wirelessly and why it can crack |
| Weight | 144 grams |
| Colors | Midnight, Starlight and (PRODUCT)RED all pay the same |
| Conditions we buy | Brand New, Flawless, Good, Average, Fair and Faulty |
IPHONE SE 3RD GEN BUYBACK QUESTIONS
Storage, wear and carrier, in that order of impact. An unlocked 128GB in Good condition is $67. Take the same phone down to Fair, meaning wear your fingernail catches on, and it is $40. A 64GB with a cracked screen still pays $16. The quote tool at the top of this page will price your exact one.
Look for 5G. Settings, then Cellular, then Cellular Data Options. A 5G setting in there means 3rd Gen. Nothing above LTE means 2nd Gen. The model number is the other proof: A2595, A2782, A2783, A2784 and A2785 are all this phone, while A2275, A2296 and A2298 are the older one. They look identical from a foot away, so do check. The iPhone SE (2nd Gen) page carries its own live prices and they sit well below these.
Apple reused the iPhone 8 body twice, so all three feel the same in the hand. Again, 5G is the giveaway, because no iPhone 8 has it. An iPhone 8 reads A1863, A1905 or A1906. This SE reads A2595 or one of its regional siblings. The gap in what they pay is enormous, so spend the ten seconds in Settings.
They are different deals. A carrier trade-in comes back as bill credit, handed over in slices across two or three years of service, and it holds only while you stay on that plan. A Buyback is one payment for the phone, sent the day it clears inspection, and it is yours to spend anywhere.
Which carrier the phone sits on does move our number, and not in the direction people expect. On the 256GB, Verizon pays more than unlocked at every grade from Brand New down to Faulty. Brand New is $126 on Verizon against $105 unlocked, and Verizon is ahead at every 256GB grade right down to Faulty. At 128GB the advantage swings back: unlocked is ahead at the two cleanest grades and exactly level at the other four. At 64GB unlocked is ahead at all six. AT&T, T-Mobile and Other are below unlocked at every capacity, so this is a Verizon effect and not a general one. Do not guess. Choose the carrier the phone is genuinely locked to, and choose Other if you truly cannot tell, and we will confirm it here.
Yes, at the Faulty price, which on this model runs from $16 to $23 depending on storage. Any crack or chip counts, and it counts wherever it is: front glass, back glass, or the little cover over the camera lens. This phone has glass on both sides so it can charge wirelessly, so tilt the back under a lamp before you decide. There is no allowance for a small one.
It has to work for any grade above Faulty. Touch ID is the only biometric this phone has, so a reader that no longer recognizes a finger drops it to the bottom row. That is not us being harsh, it is a repair that cannot be done properly outside Apple. Grade it Faulty, take the price, and nothing changes when it reaches us.
Almost always that the button was replaced at some point, possibly by an owner before you. Apple ties the home button to that one logic board when the phone is built, so a button from another handset will click and go home but will never do Touch ID again. No shop can pair a new one. The grade is Faulty and there is a real price against it, so you can still sell it.
Under 80 percent is Faulty, and so is a service battery warning. Check yours in Settings, Battery, Battery Health and Charging, and read the Maximum Capacity line. A 5G radio in a phone this small works the battery hard, and plenty of these have quietly slipped into the seventies. Better you see it now than hear it from us later.
Not for money. A phone with no power cannot be tested, and your data cannot be cleared off it, which is the part that matters most. What we will do is take it away for nothing. Send it on a free label and we will wipe and recycle it properly, or post it straight back to you at our cost. Before you write it off, leave it on a wall plug with a different Lightning cable for a quarter of an hour. A flat battery and a dead phone look the same.
No. While a carrier installment plan or a lease is still running, the phone is under a financial obligation and we cannot purchase it. Clear the balance so it is yours outright and it quotes here like anything else.
No. Every grade on this page, Faulty included, needs a clean ESN. Reported lost or stolen, blacklisted, blocked by a carrier, or still signed in to an Apple Account all fail that check, and a phone that fails goes back to you at our expense. The last one is the easy fix: erase the phone properly before you post it and the lock comes off with it.
Settings, General, About, and read the Model Number line. A2595 is the one sold in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. A2783 covers other countries and regions, A2782 is Japan, A2784 is Russia and nearby markets, and A2785 is China. All of them are an iPhone SE (3rd Gen) and all of them quote at the same price here.
No. Midnight, Starlight and (PRODUCT)RED are all worth exactly the same. Storage, condition and carrier are the only three things that change what we pay.
Copy off anything you want to keep first. Then Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings. It asks for your Apple Account password, and that password is the bit that actually releases the phone and switches Find My off. Do it while the phone is still in your hands. Our erasure guides show every screen if you would rather follow along. We run a DoD-grade wipe here as a backstop, but yours has to come off first.
You choose at checkout from four. A gift card averages roughly 3 percent above the cash number because the brands add a bonus. PayPal is instant, with PayPal's own 2.99 percent fee coming out of it. A bank transfer takes 2 to 4 days, a mailed check 3 to 5. Whichever you pick, it goes out the same day your SE clears inspection. The exception worth knowing: a Brand New sealed phone is paid by PayPal only.
Check for 5G, press the home button, pick your storage and carrier. About a minute, and the price holds for 14 days.
FREE SHIPPING / 14-DAY PRICE LOCK / PAID SAME DAY