A failed hinge is the reason we only buy foldables sealed.
This page used to promise we would buy it anyway. That is not true, so here is the real answer and what to do instead.
If you have landed here from a search, you were probably hoping for a yes. The honest answer is no, and the hinge is exactly why.
A folding Galaxy has one moving part that everything depends on. After a few thousand cycles it goes gritty, stops holding an angle, or will no longer close flush, and by the time it does that it has usually started taking the inner panel with it. On a Fold or Flip the hinge and the display are effectively one assembly, which makes it the single most expensive repair in Samsung's range.
The part that makes this a policy rather than a discount is that the damage is progressive and often invisible. A foldable can arrive looking and feeling perfect and fail three months after we have resold it. We will not sell somebody a four-figure phone we cannot warranty, so we buy folding Galaxies sealed and unopened only.
What we buy, and only in this condition.
Sealed and unopened, with the factory wrap intact and the device never activated. There is no used price for these, so there is no second number. Proof of purchase is required, as it is on any sealed device.
Galaxy Z Fold 6, 5 or 4
Sealed and unopened only
Galaxy Z Flip 7, 6, 5 or 4
Sealed and unopened only
If you are upgrading, you are not selling. You are part-paying.
If a dead hinge is what has ended the folding experiment, an S Ultra is where most people land, and it is a phone we buy used at a proper price whenever you are finished with it.
Take the payout as EpicDeals.co.za credit instead of cash and we add 12% on top. That is us paying you for not needing the money in your account today, and it costs you nothing if you were going to spend it here anyway.
The 12% is only worth taking if you were going to spend it. If you need the cash, take the cash, and we will not make the voucher hard to refuse.
What actually moves the number.
It is not about how bad the hinge is
A slightly stiff hinge and a seized one get the same answer, because the thing we cannot price is the risk of what happens next rather than the state of it today.
It is not about the crease either
Every folding phone has one and it is normal wear, not damage. It is worth saying plainly because plenty of buyers use the crease as an excuse to knock a price down, and that is not what is happening here.
Sealed foldables we do buy, at a strong price
An unopened Fold or Flip is one of the better numbers on this site. The whole problem is the used inner screen, and a sealed device does not have one yet.
Every other Samsung is unaffected
S series, Note, A series, Tab and Watch are all bought used, faulty, cracked and dead, exactly as the rest of the site describes. This restriction is specific to folding phones.
Why the answer does not change with condition.
Everywhere else on this site a fault is a deduction. Here it is a decline, and these are the reasons, so that it reads as a considered position rather than an arbitrary one.
- The inner folding screen is the part that fails, and it fails on devices that were never dropped
- A crease deepens with every open and close, and it never reverses
- The hinge collects grit, loosens, and eventually takes the panel with it
- The protective inner layer lifts at the fold and cannot be replaced on its own
- Panel and hinge are effectively one assembly, so a repair is the most expensive in Samsung's range
- None of that is visible when a device arrives looking perfect
- Which means we cannot warranty a used one on resale, at any price
Three ways to take the money.
Cash
Instant offer
Assessed within 1-3 working days of arriving, paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed.
+12%
Trade-in voucher
Take it as credit on EpicDeals.co.za instead and we add 12%. Useful if the plan was always to upgrade.
+10%
Consignment
We list it, we sell it, you get 10% more than the instant offer. Most sell within 13 days.
Trading since 2014 as Epic Deals, with 2,500+ reviews and 30 people who answer the phone. Not a stranger with a bakkie and a WhatsApp number.
Galaxy with a broken hinge questions.
Also selling one of these?
Selling something else?
Every other Samsung we buy in whatever condition it is in, including phones that will not switch on. One collection covers the lot.