Operations · used devices

Used-phone resale: the second revenue stream, done legally.

November 2026 · a1RepairFlow

Every repair counter gets offered phones: trade-ins against a repair, upgrade leftovers, "what would you give me for this?". Shops that handle this stream properly turn the same customer into two transactions — a repair AND a resale margin. Shops that handle it loosely accumulate tax risk one device at a time. The difference is process, not luck.

The loop

Buy in → verify → grade → (refurbish) → price → sell → tax the margin. Each step has one non-negotiable:

• Buy-in: a purchase record per device — seller's name, date, device, IMEI, price paid. This document is what separates a legitimate trade from handling stolen goods, and it's the foundation of the tax calculation later.
• Verify: IMEI check before money changes hands — blacklist status, find-my lock, carrier lock. A locked or blacklisted device is worth parts, not resale.
• Grade: a fixed condition scale (e.g. A/B/C) applied the same way by every employee. Inconsistent grading quietly destroys resale margins and warranty costs.
• Refurbish: parts you install come from your normal VAT-deductible stock — they don't change the device's margin-scheme status.
• Price: against the live used market, not against what you paid. The market doesn't care about your buy-in price; your margin does.
• Sell & tax: under the UK/EU margin schemes you owe VAT on the margin per device, and the sales invoice must not show a VAT amount. Your books need the per-device chain: bought for X, sold for Y, margin Z, VAT on Z.

The worked example

• Buy a used phone from a customer: 1.500 kr. (no VAT on the purchase, no deduction)
• Fit a new battery from stock: 250 kr. part (normal deductible purchase)
• Sell refurbished: 2.500 kr.
• Margin: 1.000 kr. → VAT at 25% inside the margin = 200 kr.
• Invoice shows 2.500 kr., margin-scheme wording, no VAT line

Rates and wording vary by country — the mechanics don't. Confirm your specifics with your accountant; the per-device record-keeping is universal.

The five failure modes we see in real shops

• Buy-ins paid from the drawer with no record — invisible money, invisible tax exposure
• Used sales rung up as normal sales — VAT paid on the full price (expensive) or shown on the invoice (non-compliant); both are wrong
• No IMEI verification — one blacklisted handset can cost more than a month's margins
• Grading by mood — the same cracked-corner phone is a "B" on Monday and an "A" on Friday
• Margin tracked in a spreadsheet nobody reconciles — until the audit does

What this looks like in a1RepairFlow

Trade-in and buy-back are first-class: the buy-in creates the per-device purchase record and pays out through the till properly; condition grades come from one shared scale; refurbished devices list in your webshop straight from inventory; and at resale the margin and its VAT are calculated per device with the compliant invoice generated for you. The audit trail exists because you did your normal work, not extra work.

Related: Margin VAT in Denmark (brugtmoms) — deep dive · Know your true margins · A POS that handles buy-ins properly