Vodafone offloading dated handsets on eBay

Vodafone has turned to online auction site eBay as a means of offloading its end-of-line handsets, it said today.

A recent trial carried out by the mobile phone giant showed eBay was the most lucrative means of selling its old stock.

It sold up to 3,000 handsets per week directly to buyers via the website during the four month pilot scheme.

As a result, Vodafone plans to continue using the website to sell its less fashionable older phones.

It traditionally sold older models to retailers or third party repair dealers for around 30% of their cost price.

Handsets sold via eBay during the trial period reached 60 to 70% of their cost price.

Vodafone’s handset range changes every three months, creating an ever-growing “tail” of depreciating products.

A phone on sale for £100 at launch will typically command just £50 just three months later.

Lack of consumer demand for older model handsets plus limited shelf space can make them hard to sell in stores.

This is heightened by incentives which encourage shop sales staff to promote the latest models.

Vodafone liquidation manager Simon Griffiths said: “We really needed to initiate a new way to move these less fashionable handsets quickly with maximum returns.

“The spares market is unpredictable and can often reach saturation – and the retail environment doesn’t favour older handsets.”

Vodafone uses a reserve price on eBay which guarantees it a minimum price for each handset.