Is it Safe to Sell my Used Cell Phone to Another Individual?

When you start a new cell phone contract you will always get a new cell phone to use along with it. Now you are going to be either selling or donating your used Verizon phones. However, before you hand that old cell phone over, there are a few things you need to do to protect yourself. Your old phone has a lot of personal identifiable information about you on it. You want to make sure that you get all that stuff off your phone before you hand it over to someone else. Selling your used cell phone to another individual is safe so long as you follow these directions.

If your phone came with a memory card you will want to remove it from the phone. The majority of the data (phone numbers, emails, IMs, pictures, ring tone, etc) are stored on these memory cards to enable ease of transferring of files from one phone to the next. It also makes clearing the old phone much easier. This memory card is not sold with used phones as the new phone owner will be able to get a card for themselves at a local cell phone dealer. Simply remove the memory card and either put it in your new phone or physically destroy it so no one can access.

SIM cards are used to program cell phones with the information they need to work with the service provider they are intended to be used for. This card contains personal numbers and information related to your service plan that you had with that phone. You should not sell the SIM card with used cell phones. This is another item the new owner will get when they apply for service with a new provider. Simply remove the SIM card and ask your new provider if you will need it for your new phone (generally only happens when you’re upgrading phones with the same provider you already had).

After you have removed these cards from your phone (if your phone does have a memory card, this step is vital to you), power the phone and manually check for leftover personal data and files. Under the menu options there is usually a way to reset the phone back to factory settings. This will refresh and reset your phone to a blank slate removing all data that was not originally installed by the phone manufacturer. If you cannot find this option you will need to manually go through your contact lists and data folders to remove all of you contacts, pictures, ringtones, and service information. It will take a little time to do this but you will sleep better at night knowing that there was not personal data on your refurbished cell phones that are in someone else’s hands.