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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.
SELL YOUR PIXEL 9A
A Pixel 9a is worth anywhere from $31 to $205, set by storage and by condition. Most people call this a trade-in. We call it a Buyback: we buy the phone outright and pay you, rather than handing you credit toward your next one.
The 9a is the odd one out in the Pixel 9 family and it shows on the back. Every other Pixel 9 has that raised camera bar across the top, so it rocks when you lay it face up. The 9a does not. The cameras sit nearly flush, the back is a composite panel rather than glass, and the phone lies flat on a table. That is the fastest way to tell it apart from its siblings, and it also changes what you are looking for when you grade it.
Composite takes a drop better than glass and it scuffs instead of shattering, so a 9a that has been dropped often looks worse and grades better than a Pixel 9 would. Scuffs and dull patches are wear, and wear is a grade. What is not wear is a chip: if a corner or an edge of that back panel has lost a piece, the phone is Faulty, exactly as a cracked back would be. The front is still glass and any crack in it is Faulty too.
The rest of it is the same rule we apply to every Android phone we buy, and it is a principle rather than a checklist. If something on the phone does not work, the phone is Faulty. Speakers, mic, buttons, both cameras, the charging port, the fingerprint reader under the screen. Screen burn-in is Faulty as well, since this panel is OLED like the rest of the family.
Now the part that surprises people. The 9a has the biggest battery of any Pixel 9, 5100 mAh, more than the Pro XL, and it is also the phone where the battery counts for nothing. We do not grade Android batteries at all. There is no 80 percent rule, no percentage to report and no battery health screen on a Pixel to go looking for.
We buy used Pixel 9as and we buy broken ones. Where to sell a Pixel 9a comes down to who pays the postage both ways and who tells you what they found, and we do both. Unlocked handsets get the best number here.
LIVE PRICES
The used resale value of a Pixel 9a spans $31 to $205 today, with a 256GB in everyday condition at $175.
Capacity across the top, condition down the side, unlocked prices throughout, each one read live from our feed rather than typed onto the page.
| Comparison row | 128GB | 256GB |
|---|---|---|
Brand New | $185 | $205 |
Flawless | $185 | $205 |
Good | $155 | $175 |
Average | $130 | $147 |
Fair | $31 | $35 |
Faulty | $78 | $88 |
HOW A BUYBACK WORKS
128GB or 256GB, your carrier, then the condition. Turn the phone over and run a thumb round the four corners of the back panel first, since a chip there decides more than anything else on the form. The price is yours for 14 days once you accept it.
A prepaid USPS label comes by email. Sign out of your Google account, factory reset, take the SIM out and send the phone on its own. The charger, the cable and the case add nothing to the quote and are better off staying with you.
A person here checks your Pixel 9a within 48 hours of it arriving and writes to tell you what we found. If it matches your description, payment goes the same day by gift card, PayPal, bank transfer or check. Every phone we handle gets a Department of Defense grade wipe, bought or recycled.
THE DETAILS
The model code is printed on the box rather than the phone, so Settings, About phone, Model is the place to check it.
| Released | Spring 2025 |
|---|---|
| US model number | GXQ96 |
| Screen | 6.3 inch OLED |
| Back panel | Composite, flat, no camera bar |
| Weight | 6.6 oz |
| Storage sold | 128GB and 256GB |
| Rear cameras | Two, sitting nearly flush |
| Battery | 5100 mAh, the largest in the Pixel 9 family |
| Battery rule | There is not one on Android |
| Water resistance | IP68 |
| Scuffs on the back | Wear, so a grade rather than a fault |
| A chip in the back panel | Faulty |
| Cracked front glass or burn-in | Faulty |
| Google account or FRP lock | We cannot buy it until it is cleared |
| Best paying carrier option | Unlocked |
QUESTIONS
A 256GB in Good condition pays $175 and a 128GB pays $155. Good means everything works and the wear does not announce itself from arm's length, which covers most phones that have lived in a case. Unmarked, the 256GB is $205.
Put it face up on a table and press one corner. A Pixel 9 rocks, because the camera bar across the back holds it off the surface. A 9a sits flat, since its cameras are almost level with the panel. Settings, About phone, Model is the certain answer: GXQ96 on a US Pixel 9a, G2YBB on a US Pixel 9. The Pixel 9 pays more, and its numbers are on our Pixel 9 page.
The same way, with one practical difference. Composite scuffs and goes dull where glass would scratch or crack, so a 9a that has been dropped a few times often keeps a better grade than a glass backed phone would. Marks like that are wear and they set your grade the same as any other wear. A piece missing from a corner or an edge is not wear, it is a chip, and a chip anywhere makes the phone Faulty.
Yes. A cracked or chipped screen makes the phone Faulty, and a Faulty 256GB pays $88. Peel off any screen protector before you decide, because a cracked protector over intact glass is a common false alarm and a hairline crack under an intact protector is a common miss. Either way we would rather you quoted it accurately than found out at inspection.
Burn-in is Faulty. The 9a uses an OLED panel like every other Pixel, so a shape that sat on screen for months can leave a permanent ghost, usually the status icons at the top or the navigation bar at the bottom. The full check, and the list of things that look like burn-in but are not, is on our Pixel 9 Pro XL page and it reads the same on this phone.
No, and this is the phone where that surprises people most, because the 9a carries the biggest battery in the Pixel 9 range at 5100 mAh. It still does not enter the grade. Android phones have no battery rule with us: no 80 percent line, no percentage, no screen to go and read. A battery that has stopped working is caught by the rule about parts that do not work, and nothing else about the battery matters.
Yes, and it is one rule rather than a list of parts. If something does not work, the phone is Faulty. Five minutes covers it: unlock with the fingerprint, record a voice memo and play it back, take a photo on both lenses, plug in the charger, press every button. Faulty is still a price rather than a rejection, so a phone that fails one of those is worth sending in.
We will not quote one, because a phone that will not power up cannot be tested and cannot have your data wiped from it. That second part is the one that matters. Send it in and we will recycle it at no cost with the wipe done first, or return it to you free. Neither option costs you anything.
It depends on the shape it is in, and we are not going to talk it up. An A series phone is worth less than the Pro models it sits next to, and a badly damaged one is worth a small amount of money. If the figure in the table looks like less than the phone is worth to you as a spare or a hand me down, keep it. If it is going to sit in a drawer instead, the figure only goes down from here, and free recycling is always open to you.
Not while the payments are running. A phone on an installment plan or a lease is under a financial obligation and we do not purchase those. Once you have cleared it with the carrier, quote it and it is treated like any other Pixel 9a.
Neither is one we can buy, at any grade. The IMEI has to be clean, so nothing blocked by a carrier and nothing reported lost or stolen. The Google account has to come off the phone, and factory reset protection has to be clear, which is what removing the account before the reset does. A phone that arrives asking for somebody's Google login gets returned to you at our cost.
It does, and unlocked is the best of them at every grade and both capacities. A Good 256GB is $175 unlocked, $128 on AT&T, $106 on T-Mobile and $100 on Verizon. Pick the one that matches your phone. If your carrier will unlock it before you post it, that is worth the phone call.
No. Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris and Peony are all worth the same. Color has never moved a number on any phone we buy.
Choose your method when you accept the quote. A gift card comes out about 3 percent ahead because the brand adds a bonus. PayPal is instant and takes its own 2.99 percent. A bank transfer lands in 2 to 4 days, a check in 3 to 5. Inspection is within 48 hours of your phone arriving and payment leaves the same day it clears. Brand New is the only grade limited to one method, and that method is PayPal.
Google account off first, then the reset. Settings, Passwords and accounts, tap your account, Remove account. Then Settings, System, Reset options, Erase all data. That sequence clears factory reset protection along with your photos, messages and saved passwords, and none of it can be recovered afterward. Keep your SIM. Longer walkthrough on our erase your device page.
Capacity, carrier, condition. About a minute, and the number is held for 14 days once you accept it.
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