How to erase your data properly before trading in
Security Team·24 July 2026 5 min read
A factory reset alone is not always enough — activation locks can block resale, and old backups can linger in the cloud. Five minutes of preparation avoids both problems.
Sign out first, reset second
Remove the device from your account before wiping it. On iOS this means turning off Find My; on Android, removing the Google account; on consoles, deactivating the machine as your primary.
A device that arrives with an activation lock cannot be processed and has to be returned to you, which cancels the quote.
The wipe itself
Modern devices are encrypted by default, so a factory reset destroys the encryption key and makes the data unrecoverable. Laptops with older drives are wiped in our warehouse to a certified data-erasure standard, with a certificate available on request.
Remove the SIM and memory cards
SIM trays and microSD slots are the most common source of items left inside traded devices. We cannot return them once a device enters processing.