The market for buying and selling used smartphones and tablets now has a dedicated platform with the launch of Phonesales.com.au.
The startup’s free-to-list website has approximately a thousand items for sale so far and is hoping to tap into the growing smartphone and tablet market in Australia. It also provides tips to minimise risks of buying faulty devices, asking sellers to mention the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
Sellers can choose to highlight their advertisements for a price. The website charges $3 to make the ad appear bold, $8 to make it a priority listing and $13 to be featured on the homepage.
Founder Robyn Wulfse says there’s a big market opportunity given the amount of people that own smartphones range from children as young as 14 right through to baby boomers and the elderly.
“Australian smartphone penetration level is around 75% and we see that hitting 90% in the next few years. Users are consuming more data than ever before and mobile access to social media, news, weather and email means that in some cases we’re on our device 150 times a day or more,” she says.
“Many consumers want access to new technologies at an affordable price point. With the continued price escalation of high specification devices, consumers of smartphones and tablets now have the benefit of a deep secondary market in which to purchase a great quality used device for far less. We are also seeing increased adoption of smartphones amongst children for security reasons, and tablets for learning purposes. If they break or are lost then our website is an affordable one-stop shop for them.”
The website has partnered with online retailers Unique Mobiles and MobileCiti but have no plans for overseas expansion just yet. Their goal is to complement the classifieds market for phones and tablets, according to Wulfse.
“The upgrade cycle continues to shorten as consumers avoid the traditional two year contract. Having a dedicated marketplace to sell their used device makes purchasing the latest model more achievable,” she says.
“We have been approached by investors but have no need for equity capital right now, so we will continue to self-fund until an equity raising is necessary. We are an Australian business and helping Australian consumers is our sole focus. We may look to expand internationally at a later stage but that will be assessed at the relevant time.”
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