You can get free money by trading in an everyday item – and you already have it hidden in a drawer at home

A CURIOUS reporter decided to rummage through some of her old belongings to see if she could make money from them.

After finding four discarded iPhones, Nina Pineda headed to various locations to see if anyone would buy them.

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Believe it or not, she discovered that old technology was worth new money.

Pineda had three older phones and an iPhone 13 Pro that wouldn’t turn on.

Their first stop was a local corner store that specialized in technology like phones and computers.

She was offered $100 for all four devices.

After stopping by the small company, she went to Apple.

Pineda was surprised to find out that the company was offering her $250 for a broken Phone 11 and $60 for the 4-year-old iPhone 8.

Next came a standalone storefront called It’s Worth More – a website that makes an offer in seconds.

Although unwilling to deal with the two broken phones, the site offered to buy the iPhone 11 for $85 and the iPhone 8 for $62.

Pineda’s last stop was Verizon, where she was offered a whopping $850 for the iPhone 13, even though the phone wouldn’t even turn on.

The reporter explained some important considerations for anyone looking to sell their used phones.

“What really influenced receiving an offer was that before accepting the phones, all buyers asked if the phone’s Find My iPhone setting was disabled,” she said.

The Find My iPhone setting allows users to track and recover their devices if lost.

To disable the features, phone owners need to follow some important steps.

“To disconnect you need to unlock the phone and to do that you need to know the code,” she said. “So write down your family codes or it will trip you up.”

For people who may have forgotten their codes, there is another option.

The feature can be disabled through the user’s iCloud accounts.

Before handing over the used iPhone, remember to delete all personal data and remove the SIM card.

The hack to sell used phones comes just in time for the release of the iPhone 15.