What uSell does

uSell.com, Inc., incorporated in New York in 2011, operates an online marketplace that connects individual consumers and organizations selling used electronics with a network of third-party professional buyers. The platform uses a price-comparison engine that aggregates cash offers from hundreds of buyers (including TechMedic, Fair Trade Cellular, PhonePros, Hamilton Electronics, QuickSell, MyTeCell, MrBuyBack, GSMWireless, and Money4Phones), enabling sellers to select the highest offer for devices including smartphones (iPhone, Samsung, Google, Motorola, OnePlus, LG, HTC, BlackBerry), tablets (iPad, Kindle, Android), MacBooks, Apple Watches, iPods, game consoles, cameras, and other consumer electronics. Sellers ship devices free of charge via prepaid kits, lock in prices via a 30-day price guarantee, and receive payment through check, PayPal, Venmo, or digital check.

The company monetizes as a marketplace venue (not a direct purchaser), earning revenue through commissions or transaction fees on deals routed between sellers and its buyer network; the service is free to sellers. The platform supports dedicated carrier trade-in programs for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, a Bulk Sale Program for multi-device sellers, and a 'uSell for Good' program that partners with an R2 Certified Recycler to handle donated devices and reduce landfill waste. Since inception, uSell reports 463,108 customers served, $51,833,228 paid out to sellers, and 714,939 devices diverted from landfills (cumulative lifetime metrics).

Distribution is entirely self-serve via usell.com, supported by device-specific SEO landing pages, earned media (an NBC Today Show feature), and customer testimonials (4.5/5 rating from 2,220 reviews). The company is headquartered in New York, has 11-50 employees, has raised approximately $6.4 million across three disclosed rounds (2010, 2014, 2017), and operates as a publicly traded company on OTCQB under the ticker USEL based on the investor relations URL referenced from its corporate site. Customers are primarily individual U.S. consumers; international activity and geographies are not formally served.

Name

uSell

Legal name

uSell.com, Inc.

Website

https://usell.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

uSell is an online marketplace that connects individual consumers and organizations selling used consumer electronics with a network of third-party professional buyers via a price-comparison engine, taking a commission on each transaction since 2011.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Used Electronics Marketplace

NAICS

Used Merchandise Retailers (459510)

akta.pro primary industry

Price Comparison, Deals, Cashback & Loyalty Shopping Platforms (BPAMAGAH)

Keywords

• Used electronics marketplace
• Device trade-in
• Price comparison engine
• Electronics recycling
• Consumer device resale

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Marketplace Commission/Transaction Fees: uSell acts as a venue/marketplace connecting sellers with third-party buyers. The company earns revenue by facilitating transactions between sellers and buyers in their network. uSell is not directly involved in transactions but provides the platform and buyer network.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

uSell operates an online marketplace that connects individual consumers and organizations selling used electronics with a network of professional third-party buyers. The platform uses a price comparison engine to aggregate cash offers from hundreds of buyers for devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, game consoles, and cameras, then handles free shipping via prepaid kits, a 30-day price guarantee, and payment via check, PayPal, Venmo, or Digital Check.

Product overview

uSell operates as a unified online marketplace and platform for consumers to sell their used electronics for cash. The core offering is a price comparison engine that aggregates cash offers from a network of third-party professional buyers, allowing sellers to get the best price for their devices. The platform provides free shipping, a 30-day price guarantee, and multiple payment options (PayPal, Check, Venmo, Digital Check). Key products include the uSell Marketplace (core platform), Cell Phone Trade-In services for all major carriers, the uSell Buyer Network connecting sellers with competing professional buyers, and the uSell for Good recycling/donation program. The company accepts a broad range of consumer electronics across categories including smartphones (iPhones, Samsung, Google, Motorola, BlackBerry, etc.), tablets, computers, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables, with offerings for both individual and bulk sales.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• uSell Marketplace A web-based marketplace connecting consumers with third-party professional buyers to sell used electronics for cash, featuring a price comparison engine that aggregates offers from hundreds of buyers.
• Cell Phone Trade-In Trade-in program that allows users to sell cell phones across all major carriers with free shipping and a 30-day price guarantee.
• Bulk Sale Program Program that enables customers and organizations with multiple devices to sell them in bulk transactions through a streamlined process.
• uSell for Good Recycling Program Recycling program that keeps electronics out of landfills through an R2 Certified Recycler partner and donates proceeds from recycled devices to affiliated charities.

Named customers2 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

Feature1 record

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Swappa: Swappa is a peer-to-peer marketplace for buying and selling used smartphones, tablets, and consumer electronics. It competes with uSell for the same intent ("sell my used device") though via user-to-user listings rather than a buyer-aggregator model.
• Back Market: Back Market operates a marketplace for refurbished consumer electronics, with a buyback/trade-in program that competes with uSell's device trade-in flow. It is more buyer-side oriented (selling refurbished devices) but increasingly overlaps uSell's seller-side supply channel.
• SellCell: SellCell is a price-comparison marketplace for selling used cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, and other devices — nearly identical in mechanics to uSell's price comparison engine. Both aggregate buyback offers from a network of buyers and let sellers pick the best payout, making SellCell the closest functional twin to uSell.
• ItsWorthMore: ItsWorthMore is a direct buyer of used consumer electronics that issues instant offers and pays sellers via PayPal/check — essentially a vertically integrated version of one of uSell's network buyers. It competes for the same seller mindshare on comparison engines like SellCell.
• Gazelle: Gazelle is the most direct competitor — an online marketplace that buys used consumer electronics (especially smartphones) directly from consumers and resells to refurbishers. Both uSell and Gazelle offer instant cash offers, free shipping, and target the same price-conscious seller use case; the key structural difference is that Gazelle buys directly while uSell aggregates competing third-party buyer offers.
• Decluttr: Decluttr is a resale marketplace that buys used electronics, CDs, books, and media directly from consumers for resale. It shares uSell's instant-quote, mail-in trade-in model for electronics and serves as the U.K.-headquartered analog of uSell in the resale space.
• NextWorth: NextWorth runs a comparison-based trade-in platform for used smartphones, tablets, and other electronics, similar in offer aggregation to uSell. It partners with retailers like Target and Best Buy for in-store trade-in flows, providing a comparable end-to-end trade-in experience.
• ecoATM: ecoATM is a self-service kiosk network that gives instant cash quotes for used phones and electronics. It targets the same "unwanted device" seller segment as uSell but via physical retail kiosks, providing a different acquisition channel for the same supply pool.

Broad incumbents

• Best Buy Trade-In: Best Buy Trade-In is a major retailer's electronics trade-in program where consumers receive Best Buy gift cards for used devices. As a broad incumbent with brick-and-mortar traffic and partner integrations (including with NextWorth), it represents a structural alternative to uSell's online-only consumer flow.
• Apple Trade In: Apple Trade In is Apple's direct device buyback program that issues Apple Gift Card credit for returned devices. It is a broader-incumbent alternative channel that bypasses uSell entirely for iPhone/iPad/Mac sellers, representing the most significant structural competitor for uSell's Apple-device flow.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usell
• Facebookfacebook.com/usellnow

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors

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

M&A2 records

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about uSell