Marketplace comparisons
Selling a phone in Europe: buyback services in the 27 EU countries compared
A country-by-country study of phone buyback services in the European Union: payment in money or vouchers, payout times, shipping and revised offers.
Key findings
- Buyback services compared in the 27 EU countries
- 187
- Pay in money (transfer, PayPal or cash)
- 58 %107/183
- Pay only in vouchers, gift cards or discounts
- 42 %76/183
- State a free return if you refuse a revised offer
- 81 %80/99
- State a payout time
- 81 %152/187
- Require the purchase of a new device
- 26 %48/184
Country by country
| Country | Services compared | Pay in money | Voucher only | Free return stated | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 8 | 6/8 | 2/8 | 4/5 | See the guide |
| Belgium | 9 | 4/9 | 5/9 | 3/4 | See the guide |
| Bulgaria | 6 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/4 | See the guide |
| Croatia | 5 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Cyprus | 3 | 0/3 | 3/3 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Czechia | 6 | 6/6 | 0/6 | 4/4 | See the guide |
| Denmark | 5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 3/3 | See the guide |
| Estonia | 8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 2/2 | See the guide |
| Finland | 9 | 5/9 | 4/9 | 4/5 | See the guide |
| France | 11 | 8/11 | 3/11 | 5/10 | See the guide |
| Germany | 10 | 9/10 | 1/10 | 8/9 | See the guide |
| Greece | 6 | 2/6 | 4/6 | 3/3 | See the guide |
| Hungary | 5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Ireland | 5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 2/2 | See the guide |
| Italy | 9 | 5/8 | 3/8 | 5/6 | See the guide |
| Latvia | 6 | 2/6 | 4/6 | 2/2 | See the guide |
| Lithuania | 6 | 2/6 | 4/6 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Luxembourg | 3 | 1/3 | 2/3 | 3/3 | See the guide |
| Malta | 2 | 0/2 | 2/2 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Netherlands | 8 | 5/8 | 3/8 | 4/5 | See the guide |
| Poland | 10 | 4/10 | 6/10 | 4/6 | See the guide |
| Portugal | 7 | 6/7 | 1/7 | 1/1 | See the guide |
| Romania | 10 | 6/10 | 4/10 | 4/5 | See the guide |
| Slovakia | 5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 3/3 | See the guide |
| Slovenia | 7 | 4/7 | 3/7 | 2/2 | See the guide |
| Spain | 10 | 8/9 | 1/9 | 4/6 | See the guide |
| Sweden | 8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 3/4 | See the guide |
About this study
Where can you sell a used smartphone in Europe, and on what terms? For each of the 27 member states of the European Union, we listed the services a consumer can realistically use — online buyback sites, retailers, manufacturers and mobile operators — and read their official pages on 8 October 2026. For each service we recorded five facts: how you are paid, the payout time it states, how the device is sent, what happens if you refuse a revised offer after inspection, and whether broken devices are accepted.
Method
Facts come only from each service’s own website: buyback page, help centre, terms and conditions. We did not use reviews, comparison sites or press articles. When a service does not state a fact, it is recorded as “not stated”; each share is calculated on the services that do state it, and both numbers are shown.
NomoPhone, which publishes this study, appears in the country tables with facts taken from its terms of buyback, but it is excluded from all figures.
Limits
The list is not exhaustive, and conditions change. Prices are not compared, because they vary every day with the model, storage and condition. Independent local shops and private sales are not included. If you see an error, write to contact@nomophone.fr: we correct and date every change.
Reusing the data
The figures and tables may be reused freely, including by the press, with a mention of the source and a link to this page (licence CC BY 4.0). The full dataset can be downloaded as a CSV file.
Frequently asked questions
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