As we are all beginning – or in some cases have already finished – shopping for the holidays, it is a perfect time to unload some old phones or devices for some extra cash. There is an ever increasing number of recommerce companies – those who repurchase used or old products – specifically for phones and mobile devices. However, these recommerce companies are not all created equal. We did a few tests and found these to be the best in recommerce:

A quick note: in addition to research and digging into these recommerce companies, we did a baseline price test with a Verizon iPhone 4 (16GB) in good condition.

1. Swappa.com

Swappa is the best bet to get the absolute maximum value for your phone or mobile device. However, if you are selling a phone/device that is not in high demand, you may be waiting a while for the sale. Think of Swappa as a more secure, more thorough Craigslist. Swappa conducts a detailed review of all listings and all devices must be approved before they can be bought or sold.

A Verizon iPhone 4 (16GB) in good condition is selling anywhere from $120 – $170 on Swappa.

2. TechPayout

TechPayout  has a much, much faster sales cycle than Swappa. While you may not be able to get as much for your mobile phone/device, you will certainly get it quicker. After answering a few questions about your phone/device, TechPayout gives you a quote that is good for 30 days. You ship it to them – free – and TechPayot’s inspection team will ensure that the condition, make, and model of the technology matches the original quote. If the phone/device matches the quote, you receive the quoted amount via PayPal or check.

TechPayout is quoting a price of $81.75 for A Verizon iPhone 4 (16GB) in good condition with the USB cable.

3. iCracked

iCracked has been in the iPhone/iPad/iPod repair game for some time. In the summer of 2013, however, iCracked began buying all of the various iDevices. The process is pretty interesting, in-fact TechCrunch called the new service the “Uber” of buybacks. The whole process works very much the same as the iCracked repair service. Simply answer some questions about the device in question on the iCracked website and one of their iTechs will meet you whenever and wherever you choose and pay you cash. Pretty simple!

iCracked is quoting a price of $65.00 for A Verizon iPhone 4 (16GB) in good condition.

4. Gazelle

No doubt you’ve seen all of Gazelle’s commercials. Gazelle is – as far as we could find – the longest tenured of the recommerce companies, launching way back in 2006. The company ranks #767 on the Inc. 5000 and had a 2012 revenue of $57.6 M. Gazelle is as steady as they come. Anyhow, Gazelle’s buyback process is essentially identical to that of TechPayout above.

Gazelle is quoting a price of $60.00 for A Verizon iPhone 4 (16GB) in good condition.

5. ecoATM

The ecoATM is a unique approach to recommerce. Rather than answering some questions on a website about your phone/device, a seller just has to visit an ecoATM. According to their website, “The ecoATM is an automated, consumer self-serve kiosk that quickly evaluates and buys back used consumer electronics directly from consumers for cash.” The whole three step process only takes a few minutes:

1. Place your mobile device in the ecoATM test station.
2. The ecoATM will examine your device and then search for the highest price we can find in the worldwide market.
3. If you agree to sell it, you will receive cash on the spot.¹

I was unable to visit an ecoATM kiosk myself, but found a few different prices.² “Mom on Caffene,” reported receiving $53 for a badly damaged iPhone 4 – though no spec of the phone were given. Timothy Stenovec of the Huffington Post reported that iPhone 4’s were going anywhere from $100 to $125 on ecoATM’s – the only specs given were that the phone was an AT&T iPhone 4.