Every morning on the way to work I walk past three different shops that sell mobile phones on behalf of different mobile phone providers. Each of them has their newest phone models proudly displayed on posters boasting their remarkable 12MP cameras, 16GB storage and all other manner of letters preceded by numbers.

The value of making a list

It can all become quite overwhelming and not every deal is easily comparable with the next. The only real way to make any sort of comparison is to list the five things that matter to you the most and rate each available deal out of ten on each. This could something as technical as the camera specifications, the operating system or simply the colour you like best. A bright red phone perhaps, why not? Then you can add up your score and make your decision based on that.

It is probably worth noting at this point that there is a lot of truth in the old saying that “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. If the mobile phone deal offers you £250 cash upfront when you take the contract out, it is unlikely that over the long term you will be getting the best deal and will likely be more than paying that £250 back over the 18 or 24-month contract you will be tied into.

Knowledge is power

So, at this point you have probably marched up and down every high street within 15 miles of where you live and made pages and pages of notes taken from each store. Did anyone at school ever tell you that knowledge is power? Well they should have done. Armed with all that knowledge you are now in a position to take that information into the phone shop with you and offer each shop an opportunity for your custom by beating the best quote you have found for a similar contract. You might be told that it simply isn’t possible or the person you speak with may be unwilling or unable to offer you a discount, but I’ll wager that you’ll be surprised by how flexible these people can be when so many of them work on commission.

Let’s assume that you have a spanking new phone and did indeed manage to nail a little discount on your new deal or at least get something free thrown in such as insurance, screen protectors or at the very least a cheesy little plastic phone case. You still have your old phone and you no longer need it. There are lots of ways to get rid of your old phone. When I decided to sell my iphone last year I sold it online to a company that even paid for the postage and packaging for me to send it to them. You can’t say fairer than that, can you? I was very glad for the money as the screen was pretty scratched and I was pretty close to just putting it in the bin. What a result!

 Author Bio:

This article was written by Jayden Kemp. He used Music Magpie to sell an iPhone online, finding it an easy to navigate website from the outset.