{"id":383862,"date":"2026-01-22T09:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383862\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:04:12","slug":"brits-can-now-trade-in-old-smartphones-for-cash-in-1300-high-street-shops-personal-finance-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383862\/","title":{"rendered":"Brits can now trade in old smartphones for cash in 1,300 high street shops | Personal Finance | Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brits can now turn old smartphones into instant cash at more than 1,300 high street shops<\/a> after a major new trade-in scheme launched nationwide. AO World-owned MusicMagpie has partnered with Timpson<\/a> to roll out in-store smartphone trade-ins across the UK, following a successful four-month trial.<\/p>\n

The service allows customers to bring in unused devices<\/a>, have them assessed on the spot and receive payment within minutes. The initiative aims to remove the hassle from selling old tech and encourage people to unlock the value of phones that would otherwise sit unused in drawers at home. Research cited by the companies suggests 73% of UK adults have at least one unused smartphone, with the average device worth around \u00a3250.<\/p>\n

That adds up to an estimated \u00a310billion worth of unused smartphones across the country. The findings also point to strong demand for in-person trade-ins, with 68% of consumers preferring to trade devices face-to-face and one in four saying immediate payment is a key priority.<\/p>\n

MusicMagpie managing director and co-founder Steve Oliver described the nationwide rollout as a \u201chuge milestone\u201d for the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that apathy is the biggest barrier to trading in old tech,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to \u2018Take it to Timpson\u2019 now makes it a no-brainer for customers who can get cash in only a few minutes for their old smartphone at over 1,300 Timpson sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that combining MusicMagpie\u2019s refurbishment expertise with Timpson\u2019s trusted high street presence would help keep more devices in use and make refurbished tech more affordable.<\/p>\n

The partnership follows AO World\u2019s acquisition of MusicMagpie in December 2024 and supports its strategy to grow in new categories, particularly mobile.<\/p>\n

It is also designed to increase the volume of devices going through MusicMagpie\u2019s refurbishment operations, strengthening AO\u2019s circular economy credentials across reuse, repair and recycling.<\/p>\n

Timpson group director Sid Hubbard said the move builds on the company\u2019s long-standing focus on repairing goods and extending their lifespan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding Magpie to 1,300 Timpson stores across the UK is a huge milestone for us,\u201d he said. \u201cThis partnership means that most people in the UK are now just minutes from turning their unused tech into hundreds of pounds of instant cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

The service is now live in participating Timpson stores nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brits can now turn old smartphones into instant cash at more than 1,300 high street shops after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2596,1126,641,2306,145360,145365,1236,86,145359,145362,145364,145363,145361,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-383862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-android","tag-high-street","tag-iphone","tag-mobile","tag-old-phones","tag-sell-old-smartphones","tag-tech-section","tag-technology","tag-timpson","tag-trade-old-phone","tag-trade-old-phone-cash","tag-trade-old-phones-timpson","tag-trade-ins","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}