What Swappa does

Swappa, founded in December 2010 by Ben Edwards and headquartered in the Kansas City, Missouri area (Swappa, LLC), operates a peer-to-peer online marketplace for buying and selling used and refurbished consumer technology. The platform covers 12+ categories — smartphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, gaming consoles and accessories, computers and GPUs, audio equipment, cameras and lenses, smart home devices, drones, and fitness equipment — with a publicly visible inventory of roughly 14,000+ approved listings and approximately 2.25M monthly website visits. Its core differentiators are a staff-verified listing workflow (every listing reviewed by expert moderators before publication), an AI-assisted fraud detection layer combined with human review, a free IMEI/ESN check tool, and PayPal-mediated payments with buyer/seller protection. The company is privately held, has not raised disclosed institutional funding, and operates with an 11-50 person team led by long-tenured executives.

Swappa monetizes via a flat 3% transaction fee charged to both the buyer (added at checkout) and the seller (deducted from payout), with no listing fees. This pricing is materially below horizontal marketplaces such as eBay and below carrier buyback/trade-in programs on a net-seller basis. The product portfolio extends beyond the core marketplace to include Swappa Trade-In (instant-quote sales flow), Swappa Protection Plans (device insurance from $50), international shipping via a trusted partner, and category-specific seller landing pages. Distribution is digital-only (web plus an Android mobile app), with strategic partnerships including PayPal for payments, XDA Developers as its official enthusiast marketplace (since 2013), and CTIA where Swappa is a named collaborator on Version 5.1 of the Wireless Device Grading Scales standard alongside Amazon Renewed and eBay.

The company serves individual consumers (primary), budget-conscious students and families, and cost-conscious business professionals seeking affordable Apple and computing equipment. Customer concentration is inherently low given a long-tail consumer marketplace model, and the company reports handling hundreds of millions of dollars in annual used-technology transaction volume. Swappa has no subsidiaries, no disclosed M&A activity, no parent company, and continues to operate as an independent, founder-led private entity.

Name

Swappa

Legal name

Swappa, LLC

Website

https://swappa.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Swappa is a privately held peer-to-peer marketplace, founded in 2010 and based in Kansas City, that lets individual consumers buy and sell used and refurbished consumer technology across 12+ categories using a staff-verified listing process and a flat 3% transaction fee per side.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees: Swappa charges a flat 3% fee on each sale from both buyer and seller. Sellers pay 3% of the listing price (e.g., $3 on a $100 sale), while buyers pay an additional 3% added to the listing price at checkout. No listing fees for creating listings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Swappa runs a peer-to-peer online marketplace where individual users list and buy used and refurbished consumer technology—smartphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, gaming consoles, audio gear, computers/GPUs, cameras, drones, smart-home devices, and fitness equipment. Every listing is reviewed by Swappa's expert staff before publication, payments are processed through PayPal with buyer/seller protection, and Swappa charges a flat 3% fee to each party on completed transactions with no listing fees.

Product overview

Swappa is a peer-to-peer marketplace platform for buying and selling used and refurbished technology. The core platform enables direct user-to-user transactions across multiple product categories including phones (iPhones, Android devices), laptops (MacBooks, Chromebooks, Windows laptops), tablets (iPads, Android tablets), watches and wearables (Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch), gaming (consoles, video games), audio (AirPods, earbuds), computers and GPUs, cameras and lenses, home tech (smart home devices), drones, and fitness equipment. The platform offers a 3% transaction fee per party, with features including verified listings (human staff review), PayPal payment protection, IMEI checking, trade-in services, protection plans, and international shipping. The product portfolio includes the main Swappa Marketplace as the core offering, supplemented by Swappa Trade-In for quick sales, Swappa Protection Plans for device insurance, and IMEI/ESN Check for device verification.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Swappa Marketplace Peer-to-peer online marketplace where individual buyers and sellers transact on used and refurbished consumer technology across phones, laptops, tablets, watches, gaming, audio, computers, cameras, home tech, drones, and fitness; every listing is reviewed by expert staff before publication and payments are protected through PayPal.
• Swappa Trade-In Trade-in service that lets users quickly sell their devices for a quoted value, providing a faster alternative to creating a peer-to-peer marketplace listing.
• Swappa Protection Plans Paid device protection plans starting at $50 covering repair or replacement of used smartphones purchased on the Swappa marketplace.
• International Shipping International shipping service offered through a trusted logistics partner, enabling buyers outside the U.S. to purchase devices listed on the Swappa marketplace.

Quantifiable outcome

• Sellers earn more than trade-in values
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• CTIAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2026Swappa participated as a major D2C e-commerce platform collaborator in developing Version 5.1 of CTIA's Wireless Device Grading Scales Criteria and Definitions. This voluntary framework establishes industry-recognized standards for assessing second-life device conditions, promoting transparency and consumer trust in the secondary device market.
• XDA DeveloperscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerXDA Developers made Swappa its official marketplace in 2013, serving the developer/enthusiast community for buying and selling used Android devices and tech.
• PayPalcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayPal handles all marketplace payments, providing buyer and seller protection for transactions. Both parties are protected through PayPal's dispute resolution and payment protection policies.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Back Market: Global refurbished electronics marketplace offering certified pre-owned smartphones, laptops, tablets, and gaming devices with warranty-backed listings. Directly comparable to Swappa's peer-driven model but operates a merchant-vetted refurbisher network rather than true P2P, and serves a larger international footprint.
• Gazelle: US-based trade-in and refurbished electronics retailer for smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Named alongside Swappa as a key player in the US refurbished smartphone market and competes directly for the same price-conscious buyers and device sellers.
• Decluttr: UK-origin resale marketplace for used tech (phones, tablets, consoles, CDs, books, media) with US operations. Comparable to Swappa in the used-electronics segment with instant valuation and direct-purchase model.
• SellCell: Comparison marketplace aggregating buyback offers from multiple refurbishers for used smartphones and electronics. Competes for the seller side of Swappa's flow, helping consumers compare trade-in prices across buyers.
• Swappie: European refurbished iPhone specialist marketplace with buy-back and direct sales. Overlaps with Swappa's phone category on product and buyer persona but primarily serves EU geographies with merchant-refurbished inventory.

Broad incumbents

• eBay: Massive horizontal marketplace with a significant refurbished and used consumer electronics category. Operates broadly across many verticals at much higher take rates (~15%), and is a partner with Swappa in the CTIA grading standard effort.
• Amazon Renewed: Amazon's certified refurbished program for consumer electronics, backed by Amazon logistics and a quality guarantee. Directly comparable product offering with much larger distribution and brand reach; collaborates with Swappa in CTIA grading standards.
• ecoATM: Operator of automated kiosks for instant device buyback, owned by Outerwall. Competes for the trade-in/buyback flow that Swappa's Trade-In product targets, with a physical retail footprint advantage.
• Apple Trade In: Apple's official device trade-in program offering credit toward new purchases. Competes for the iPhone/Mac supply side of Swappa's marketplace, often at lower payouts but with brand trust and instant in-store credit.

Emerging players

• PhoneCheck: Device certification and grading service used by refurbishers and resellers to verify condition and authenticity. Comparable to Swappa's IMEI/ESN checker and verification ethos but serves B2B refurbisher workflows rather than consumer P2P transactions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/swappa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swappa