Swappa

Got a 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 13". Opened to clean the fan as it was a 6 year old machine. Found thermal paste all over GPU and a broken battery connector which might prevent any future service or SSD upgrade. Other issues that show that a very sloppy service had been done which makes the computer unreliable. The seller was aware of the issues. There are no options like on other sites to request a return. The site is super slow also. Bought multiple computers on that other auction site (you know which) and never had problems.

Iʻve had mostly good experiences with Swappa and Swappa staff; my previous non-sale (seller did not send item though I paid for it) was resolved in about 48 hours with Swappa staff and PayPal. Other purchases were good, sometimes shipping took a bit longer. It really depends on the sellers!

Iʻm in the midst of an issue now that has me frustrated, hence the lower rating - seller agreed to ship quickly, but did not and did not let me know about the delay. (FedEx showed the agreed-on delivery time... then suddenly the delivery date changed the day I was expecting it.)
As I am leaving the country for a week, this leaves in in limbo with no device. Theoretically it arrives sometime next week while I am away, but requires a signature.

Swappa staff have varied in their responses, in this case the last staff member noted that technically the seller is within their timeframe to ship, so itʻs not an issue (despite conversations on the purchase site that it was agreed to ship early and my paying more for that service).

This is the part that troubles me most: my follow-up questions about what I should/could do (Re: delivery as I wouldnʻt be there, no communication with seller) were ignored.

My advice when using Swappa: be **very** clear about shipping, deadlines, and refunds if those arenʻt met before you pay for it; always assume extra time for delivery - even if you pay extra for fast shipping; as a buyer expect to have to do all the follow up, checking, etc. if there is a problem.
(In both cases where I had issues, I had to follow up repeatedly, look up additional info, etc. It takes a lot of time!)

I ordered a phone for $700 plus, conditioned on prompt shipment. The seller shipped on time -- by the slowest method, which is predicted by UPS to take six days, which means that it might arrive sometime late next week if I am lucky. Swappa said, "too bad, UPS ground is acceptable." Stick with Amazon fulfillment or Prime -- at least you'll get your item in some reasonable time. I buy horse equipment online and, even on Facebook Marketplace, the shipping time is less than 1/2 of Swappa. Stay away unless you have no need for what you are buying.

High fees, usually $10-15 not including paypal and you pay shipping. The customer must "confirm" that they have received their phone before you can be approved for another one, despite the fact that shipping information is listed in the site. So if the buyer never gets around to verifying it, you won't be approved to list another product.

Long story short. Last phone I purchased from swappa ended up being a bad phone that the seller blamed me for breaking. Seller eventually sent me a message "full refund" along with their return address. I returned the phone and seller still refuses to refund me. Swappa staff were notified of the incident and did nothing. Seller still has my money along with their phone. The sellers name is "Sellworld." Be careful doing business on this website.

When PayPal charged my credit card twice and the seller was insistent that he hadn't received ANY payment@ all, I tried to get some help from Swappa customer service. They were very dismissive... kinda like "sorry about your luck, not our problem, good luck with PayPal." So although the phone I bought is excellent and was a great deal $$-wise, I doubt that I'll use the site again

Great when things go well. Staff is generally unhelpful when they don't. The risk can pay off given the price. Just do not count on the staff.

My device had water damaged.

I had an iPhone to sell in mint condition. The site wasn't friendly at all in getting that listed. First, it kept asking for a different set of photos to send, and later after everything was done, they would not let me put mint condition because of the reflection of the photo. I was able to sell that somewhere else in a day and the buyer was really happy. I asked him to verify everything and his comments was: "It looks like brand new, did you not use at all?" SWAPPA was worried about that reflection so it was willing to screw me. (NOTE: I only wanted to sell into local so that the buyer gets to see product before they buy hence they can be happy and confident.

I sold on Swappa and did not appreciate the hidden fees that were charged following the sale of my item. While They tell you about the $15 they themselves charge (I factored this into the price) they do not tell you about the transaction fee that PayPal will charge you (2-3%) as well as the shipping fees you'll have to pay out of pocket. The iPhone I listed for $420 sold but I only pocketed $340 after PayPal and shipping fees, the buyer themselves paid $450 after they paid taxes and fees! That's a pretty large sum of money to lose, especially when I could have used FB marketplace to avoid all of those fees entirely. I would not sell on Swappa again as I think the hidden fees you end up paying are not worth it. Swappa should clearly state ALL expected fees you'll pay WHEN YOURE LISTING and not after a sale so that a seller can factor this into the price of the item. I am dissatisfied at the idea of losing almost $100 to hidden charges and fees.

I have bought 2 iphones before from swappa, but this time It has been little bit bad experience. Swappa must check all the pictures of phones as I received a phone with little scratches and that seller didn't accepting. This thing needs to be controlled by swappa. I accept the phone with scratches because I spent almost two days in searching phone over swappa and didn't wanted to spent more times.

Their "imei checker" doesn't tell you whether or not a device is still under contract/financed with a carrier. After spending so much time creating listings, they write and say "sorry you cant list them". WASTE OF TIME they should tell you up front

While I had a relatively positive experience buying a watch through Swappa, selling an item was an absolute nightmare. After sending a barely-used watch with no defects, mint condition to a buyer through the mail, the buyer was able to come back a few weeks after receiving the purchase and indicate that something was wrong with the watch; after having the item for quite some time. Prior to sending the item I followed the site instructions and posted photos of the watch, with no defects, and ensured that the watch was in working order immediately prior to sending to the buyer.

While I am not sure if the watch could have been damaged in transit in the mail or if the buyer may have done something to the watch, Swappa does nothing to enforce a timely completion of the purchase through the site on the buyer's part, or timely returns, and has nothing in place to support sellers should something happen to the item you are shipping through the mail or via the buyer. I would not recommend this site and caution both sellers and buyers, as these are expensive items being bought/sold and deserve to have additional security surrounding their purchase.

Swappa totally put things in the buy's and Seller's hands. They can only suggest resolution, so you need to escalate issues to PayPal. The sellers I had issues with claim excellent condition and keep issues out of focus while not claiming in the ad, or rooted the phone and claim they did not. What is worse is Swappa will not post issues with seller if you end up returning the phone, you can't review your transactions.

Over the past 4 years I stuck with Swappa through thick and thin, thinking the savings were worth the hassle. But I would say 75% of my transactions had issues. Junk devices sold as "Mint", scammers trying to have me pay them directly, phones that are not paid off through the carrier, etc. Most recently, I found a device sold to me was not free of contract and the owner settled with a debt collection agency. Now I'm stuck with a device I cannot unlock. Ultimately I have to dispute the charge through Paypal because swappa can't take any other action. I can't honestly say I will ever use them again.

Swappa basically is just a front for exchanging phones. They have no authority to issue refunds or intervene for fraud. They defer to PayPal for all disputes that cant be resolved person to person.

Do not use Swappa to buy a carrier-locked phone if you wish to unlock it. Especially T-mobile. Carriers may require the previous owner to cooperate to request the phone to be unlocked, and will not let you yourself initiate that procedure. As a result, you may be stuck with a phone that is not unlockable, and have no way to return or unlock it. Swappa does not tell you any of this beforehand.

I had a sale that was trending south, though luckily the item arrived in the end but it looked as if I had paid for something that would not ship. Swappa told me to file a dispute with PayPal and all they can do is refund the $10 fee they charge.

So apparently Swappa offers no buyer protection. PayPal disputes are awful to go through and from my experience generally dont go the way you hope. I will never use Swappa again.

I have bought 8 phones on swappa and had to return 2. It is not a pleasant experience. You have to pay return postage and the seller does not have to refund your money. You can open a case with paypal but there is no guarantee they will rule in your favor and it takes weeks to get a decision so your money is tied up.
I would use ebay as they have buyer protection and will go after the sellers if there is a problem. I have never had a problem with ebay returning a phone. But with Swappa I have problems. You can't call swappa like you can ebay. You can only email and getting the sellers to respond is like pulling teeth. I can't recommend swappa only because there is no buyer protection and you have to open a case with paypal. With ebay it is easier as they guarantee you get your money back.

Swappa advertises as a "buyer friendly" environment. Go ahead and buy. Don't worry. If it ducks PayPal will refund you. That's great but what if you are the seller? You have the honor of footing the bill on all shipping both ways and taking a total loss to boot if the buyer claims your phone doesn't work as advertised.

Now here is where it all gets interesting. Swappa encourages sellers to protect themselves with insurance on the phones upon shipping (yet another added cost to sellers). When through buyer returns the "fraudulent device" or "broken device" or "irreparable device" the seller must provide the shipping label and pay insurance again, if desired, on the return of this now worthless product.

Will insurance pay for this?
Was it ever damaged to begin with?
Was the device altered or parts exchanged?

Who knows and how can it be proven? Long story short, this site could potentially facilitate buyer fraud and insurance scams. It may seem like a reach tout skeptics but if you have had a similar experience please share.

Thanks.

Purchased a used Note 5. The phone was in great condition, but I did not know that rooting a phone breaks Samsung Pay which is something I was looking forward to. While the site has an indication for whether a phone has been rooted or not, it should more clearly explain what that means by breaking a key feature of a given model of phone.

I am a reseller - I am not a fan of selling on SWAPPA. Yes, I can get more money and pay slightly less fees - HOWEVER, I would rate their seller support as responsive but not as good as eBay's overall. I had a buyer lie about an item being defective and have me pay return shipping. The item was retested at fully good and still SWAPPA had no appropriate seller response, wouldn't remove the feedback or allow me to respond to it on the seller page. I find SWAPPA transactions are one-sided with only the buyer's best interest in mind. EBay at least will give you the support and consideration needed when a buyer is deceptive (although their response time is longer and it's slightly more difficult to get them to do what they say they will - eBay will support it's sellers as much as it's buyers).

The phone I received could not connect to network. Thankfully, Apple gave me a brand new phone in exchange for the bad one. Also, the charger I was given was broken and fake.

Bought 3 phones and everything went great. PayPal didn't like that I was buying a 4th family phone in two days and blocked my account. I think it is still blocked. After spending hours on/with PayPal, bought the 4th phone on Amazon at a higher price. Love Swappa, PayPal stinks!