European Used & Refurbished Smartphone Buyback Price Index 2026
What do European recommerce platforms pay to acquire used and refurbished smartphones right now? This index tracks what platforms actually pay for Grade B used smartphones — updated monthly, free.
What platforms pay to acquire Grade B smartphones in France, Germany, and Italy
The Buyback Price Index tracks what platforms offer to pay for Grade B used smartphones across 30+ platforms — consumer-facing offers, VAT included. We use January 2026 as the starting point (= 100). A reading of 91.8 means platforms are paying 8.2% less than they were in January 2026.
Use it to check if your buyback offers are competitive, spot when platforms are cutting what they pay, and monitor the gap between what platforms pay and what they sell for — a sign of how much margin pressure is building in the market.
Current index
92.1
Since Jan 2026
-7.9%
January 2026 = 100
Grade B (good working condition, light signs of use) · Same 10 phones tracked every month: iPhone 12 256GB, iPhone 13 256GB, iPhone 14 256GB, iPhone 15 256GB, iPhone 16 256GB, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S22 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S23 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S24 128GB, Samsung Galaxy A54 128GB · 30+ platforms · January 2026 = starting point (100) · This index shows what has happened — not what will happen next. · Read the full methodology
Monthly breakdown
Buyback Price Index
May 2026
92.1+1.3% vs previous month- Buyback index rose 1.3 points — the second consecutive monthly increase, with recovery across all three markets.
- CompaRecycle FR partially retraced April's steep cuts; Rebuy (Germany) and asgoodasnew and Swappie (Italy) also nudged offers higher.
- Buyback offers are down 7.9% from the January baseline — a smaller decline than the resale index (-10.3%), meaning buyback has held up better in relative terms.
Buyback offers recovered in May across all three markets, with CompaRecycle FR partially retracing the sharp April repricing. Samsung buyback prices in France remain well below German and Italian levels. The buyback index (92.1) sits above the resale index (89.7), confirming that buyback offers have fallen less in percentage terms since January.
Operator recommendations
- Buyback offers have held up better than resale prices since January across all three markets — operators running direct trade-in programmes retain a structural sourcing advantage over those buying through platforms.
- CompaRecycle FR remains notably aggressive on older Samsung models. If you are sourcing Samsung mid-range from French consumers, market rates are significantly lower than in Germany or Italy.
Apr 2026
90.8-4.2% vs previous month- Buyback index fell 4.2 points — the second-largest monthly drop in the series — driven entirely by CompaRecycle FR repricing.
- CompaRecycle FR cut Samsung S21 FE offers from €38 to €9 and Galaxy A54 from €55 to €35; iPhone 14 and 15 offers also fell sharply.
- Rebuy (Germany) and asgoodasnew and Swappie (Italy) were broadly stable or marginally positive month-on-month.
April's buyback drop was almost entirely driven by CompaRecycle FR, which sharply repriced older and mid-range Samsung models. Germany and Italy platforms were stable. The S21 FE move from €38 to €9 in France is an outlier that significantly weighted on the basket average; the underlying DE and IT buyback trend remained positive.
Mar 2026
95.0-1.6% vs previous month- Buyback index fell 1.6 points — a sharp slowdown from February's 3.4-point drop.
- Offers held steady or fell only marginally across most models in Germany and Italy.
- CompaRecycle FR continued a gradual drift lower across iPhones and Samsung models.
March saw the buyback index near-stabilise after February's repricing. Germany and Italy platforms appear to have completed the bulk of their adjustments in February. CompaRecycle FR continued to ease modestly, contributing to the overall decline.
Feb 2026
96.6-3.4% vs previous month- Buyback index fell 3.4 points — the sharpest monthly drop in the series.
- Rebuy (Germany) cut offers broadly across iPhones and Samsung; asgoodasnew and Swappie (Italy) eased less sharply.
- CompaRecycle FR buyback offers were relatively stable month-on-month, cushioning the overall decline versus a DE+IT-only reading.
Platforms cut buyback offers in February, led by German iPhone and Samsung repricing. CompaRecycle FR offers were relatively stable versus January, which moderately cushioned the overall buyback index — the three-country reading shows a less severe February drop than a Germany-and-Italy-only view.
Jan 2026
100.0Base month- Starting point — index set to 100.0.
- Ten smartphones tracked across Germany, Italy, and France.
- Buyback panel: Rebuy (Germany), asgoodasnew and Swappie (Italy), CompaRecycle (France).
January 2026 is the starting point for this index. All future readings are compared against these prices.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What does a buyback index reading of 92.1 mean?
A reading of 92.1 means platforms are paying 7.9% less for Grade B used smartphones than they were in January 2026. We track the same 10 phones across 30+ platforms in France, Germany, and Italy, with January 2026 as the starting point (= 100).
What is the resale–buyback spread and why does it matter?
The spread is the difference between the resale price index and the buyback price index — both rebased to January 2026 = 100. It does not show the absolute platform margin per device. It shows how the gap between resale and buyback prices is changing relative to January: a widening spread means one index is diverging from the other. As of May 2026, the spread stands at -2.4 index points.
How is the buyback price index calculated?
We track the typical buyback offer for the same 10 phones at Grade B condition across 30+ platforms in France, Germany, and Italy. Each country is weighted equally and January 2026 = 100 is the starting point. Only publicly visible offer prices are included — we do not have access to actual transaction data.
Which platforms are tracked for buyback prices?
We track 30+ platforms across key European markets, including buyback quote tools, trade-in widgets, and recommerce platform offer pages. Only publicly visible prices are used. We do not name specific platforms so the methodology stays consistent if our coverage changes.
How it works
Methodology
How we calculate it
We track the typical buyback offer for the same 10 phones at Grade B condition across all monitored platforms in each country. Each country is weighted equally. January 2026 = 100 is the starting point — a reading below 100 means platforms are paying less than they were in January 2026.
The 10 phones we track
iPhone 12 256GB, iPhone 13 256GB, iPhone 14 256GB, iPhone 15 256GB, iPhone 16 256GB, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S22 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S23 128GB, Samsung Galaxy S24 128GB, Samsung Galaxy A54 128GB.
What Grade B means
Grade B — labelled "Good condition" on most platforms — means the phone works fully but shows light signs of use: minor scratches or scuffs. It is the most widely traded grade in Europe.
Countries covered
France, Germany, and Italy.
Where we look
We track buyback offers across 30+ platforms, including buyback quote tools, trade-in widgets, and recommerce platform offer pages. Only publicly visible offer prices are used.
The resale–buyback spread
The gap between the resale price index and this buyback index is tracked in both series. Because both indexes start at 100 in January 2026, the spread shows how their relative trajectories are diverging — not the absolute margin per device. When the spread widens, one index is moving faster than the other relative to the January baseline.
What this does not tell you
This index shows offer prices — not what platforms actually paid or how many devices they bought.
How often it updates
Once a month. Each update adds one month to the series.
Need SKU-level buyback pricing data?
The index shows market direction. RecommerceIQ gives you the full picture — buyback offer prices by model, grade, and country — updated daily across all your markets.