How to Sell Your Old Police Scanner

"How much can I get for my old police scanner?"

We’re asked this as more and more scanner owners upgrade to new digital police scanners. As you're probably aware, these things can get expensive, and it only makes sense to want to flip your radio for profit. After all, what better way to come up with the cash for a newer, shinier scanner?

You can skip all this rigamarole and sell your used scanner to us - learn more.

 

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to get the most money for your old police scanner including:

 

 

Some police scanners are worth selling; others - not so much. Below is a 5 minute way to determine if your old police scanner is worth selling.

Step 1 - Determine Your Police Scanners' Value

• Find the SKU or product number of your police scanner.
• Search for the SKU number of your scanner (here, then here) to find a ballpark price.
• Find 3-5 postings for the same, or similar, scanner. Is your scanner in better or worse shape? Maybe you have accessories you'll be adding? Determine a realistic price.

Step 2 - Shipping Cost

If you ship via UPS ground within the lower 48 States this will cost around $15.

Step 3 - Selling Fees

Platform fees (what eBay charges) will be about 10% of the gross sale price (explanation below).

Step 4 - Net Scanner Price

Now that you know the 3 variables you can determine if your scanner is worth selling or not.  Sale price, less 10%, less shipping cost = profit.

Is your scanner worth selling? It will take about 2 hours to sell your old police scanner which may include:

• Photos
• Writing post
• Creating post
• Answering potential customer emails
• Packing
• Shipping
• Collecting money

Craigslist

Craigslist may work if you live in a large urban area, however the police scanner market is small and the likelihood of finding someone close to you who wants a used scanner, and is looking on Craigslist at the particular time your scanner is there and is willing to pay your asking price is slim. Craigslist posts are free so it may be a good idea to put up a post for a month and see if you can sell this way. If you do, you'll want to post in the ‘for sale - electronics - by owner’ section.

Radio Reference Classifieds

Radio Reference Classifieds is a place to buy and sell old police scanners, which is used by avid scanner fans; however, in order to put a post up you must have a premium subscription which is $7.50 for 90 days.

eBay

eBay is one of the largest eCommerce companies in the world with several benefits for selling used police scanners including:

• Access to a large customer base looking for used items
• Buyers can pay you via credit card
• eBay offers buyer and seller protection

There are also drawbacks to using eBay, most notably that 10% of sale price will go to eBay.

Facebook Marketplace

In recent years, the Marketplace feature of Facebook has surpassed Craigslist and eBay as the most commonly used method of selling stuff to strangers. With none of the service fees you might be subjected to on eBay, as well as a built-in means of verifying the identity and potential Creepiness Factor of the the person interested in buying your scanner, why use anything else? And because more and more people are using the service in place of Craigslist, it's easier than ever to find a prospective buyer.

There is no shortage of places to sell things online, but these are the largest marketplaces for selling used police scanners.

 

We’ll stick to eBay for how to create a successful post, but these tips apply to any online marketplace. There are several guides on how to create a successful posting but you should include as much information as possible as this will help your items sell quickly and cut down on emails from potential buyers. Each post should include the following:

Describe Your Police Scanner

Title

• Manufacturer
• SKU
• The words ‘Police Scanner’

Condition

• Used

Images

• The more professional the better. Take images of all sides of your old police scanner and be sure to take images of everything you’re selling including cables, a case, antennas in addition to your scanner.
• Your post should have at least 5 images.
• Go to Google Images and search for your police scanner’s SKU number. Download 2-3 professional looking images of how the scanner looked brand new. If you use these photos in your post you must say in your post's text that images X, Y, Z are from the manufacturer and not of the actual scanner you are selling.

Details

• What’s Included
  • In addition to the scanner do you have cables, chargers, a case, maybe the original box and set up guide? Where is the scanner programmed for and do you have software on your scanner? Include everything.
• Condition
  • Are there scratches and dents?
• Shipping
  • Put shipping fees, if any, in your posting details.

Price Your Police Scanner

There are several opinions on Auction vs Fixed Price but we recommend selling your scanner for a fixed price.

Shipping Options

We highly recommend including shipping costs in the price of the police scanner so you can offer free shipping, but eBay has a few handy tools you can use to charge for shipping if you’d like.

 

Now that your post is up, you’ll be notified via email with questions from potential buyers or when it sells. Once your scanner sells, you’ll need to carefully pack your police scanner & ship.

You can skip all this rigamarole and sell your used scanner to us - learn more or below:

 

1. Navigate to https://www.zipscanners.com/

2. NOTE: We do not accept crystal scanners, PSR, RadioShack or any products that are not listed on our trade-in/sell page.

3. First, you will need to find the device you would like to trade towards. Hover over "Shop" to expand the option.

 

4. Click "All Scanners"

 

5. You will be redirected to our device page.

 

6. For our example, let's say we want the SDS200.

 

7. Click "Trade-in your old scanner"

 

8. You will be redirected to our trade-in/sell page

 

9. We at Zip Scanners make scanning easy, but we also like to make processes easy as well. Filling out the form is easy and straightforward.

 

10. If you want to sell to us instead, just simply find it in the drop down list.

 

11. After submission, we will contact you through email. We do not send checks for sales, or send invoices with discounted price until your device is checked in.