52% of consumers have 2 or more unused/old devices at homes

New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) Determining consumer behaviour toward selling pre-owned phones and the level of awareness on the correct disposal processes with dysfunctional phones, a new survey on Tuesday revealed that over 52 per cent of consumers have two or more unused or old devices in their household.

According to re-commerce marketplace Cashify, 36 per cent of consumers who did not get rid of their phones wanted to keep them as a spare phones for work and emergencies, while 25 per cent did not receive a good price for their devices in the market.

"While the average consumer is aware of the processes leading to the disposal of old devices and is willing to take the extra step, a small percentage of users are still reluctant to dispose of their old phones owing to data safety and their prior disposal methods," Nakul Kumar, CMO and Co-Founder, Cashify, said in a statement.

"We hope that with our whitepaper and user survey, we shall make people aware of the pros of buying refurbished and encourage people to start selling their old phones instead of storing them in their drawers," Kumar added.

Nearly 10 per cent of the respondents shared that they lacked knowledge on what to do with their old devices, while only 3 per cent shared their concerns on data security when selling their old devices.

The report said 62 per cent of the respondents changed their devices between 1-3 years, owing to upgrading their devices with better technology and features (54 per cent).

It further stated that out of the respondents who bought refurbished smartphones in the last two years, 85 per cent of them said they will buy a refurbished device again.

Around 70 per cent bought a refurbished phone due to the affordability factor, 12 per cent of respondents bought it as a spare device and 13 per cent brought home a refurbished device as a gift for a loved one, the report, which included over 8,000 consumers across pan-India, said.