Second hand Galaxy S25: what it costs in the UK, and what to check

A second hand Galaxy S25 is the cheapest way to get Samsung's 2025 flagship, as long as the phone is unlocked, signed out of the last owner's accounts and not on anyone's blocklist. We priced used phones on eBay, model by model, from business sellers that take returns, and set them against the cheapest refurbished and new ones read the same evening. Every price below was read at the shop or on the listing on 04/11/2026 between 18:31 and 18:50. If you want the new prices for every model, Galaxy S25 prices in the UK is the longer read.

How much is a second hand Galaxy S25?

On 04/11/2026 a used Galaxy S25 128GB from an eBay business seller taking returns cost from £289.99 with free delivery, and a 256GB from £329.99. The cheapest new S25 was £469.49 for the 128GB and £509.99 for the 256GB, both at A1 Tech Deals. So used saved about £180 on the standard S25.

Read on 04/11/2026 between 18:31 and 18:50. Used: eBay's own search for each model, UK sellers, business sellers only, Buy It Now, used condition, sorted by price and postage, then the listing page opened for the seller and its returns; damaged phones and listings for another model left out. Every used price here has free delivery and the buyer pays return postage, except the S25+ and S25 FE ones, whose seller pays it. Open box and refurbished: the eBay row on our page, read on the listing, or the shop's own page. eBay showed us its error page for several listings that evening, so where it says "not readable" we could not check the listing and quote nothing. Back Market and musicMagpie showed us a security check in earlier reads this week, so their refurbished prices are left out here; our product pages carry their latest rows.

So the cheapest used S25 128GB was £179.50 under new, and £108.01 under the cheapest refurbished one. On the bigger phones the gap held: £180 on the S25 256GB, £137.90 on the S25+, £110 on the S25 Edge 512GB and £210 on the S25 Ultra 512GB.

How much is a second hand Galaxy S25 128GB?

From £289.99 on 04/11/2026 from a business seller with 30 days' returns. Two sellers listed it at that price at 18:33: one with 100% positive feedback and a feedback score of about 1,600, "Good Condition (See Desc)" in its title, the other with 99.9% and a score of about 14,000. Both deliver free in a day or two, and both make you pay the postage if you send it back. The next ones up were £338 (a seller listing an "Average" phone with its last one left), £365 for a phone titled with the UK model number SM-S931B/DS, and £369.99.

Private sellers went lower: the cheapest used S25 128GB in eBay's search for private sellers was £271.10 plus £6.70 postage at 18:46, with no returns and "Read Description" in its title, which usually means there is something to read. Below that, a business seller listed one at £299.99 with "Corner Crack" in the title, which we left out of the table.

A refurbished S25 128GB cost more: £398 at refurbed (Good grade, in stock at 18:48) and £399.99 on eBay, a Good grade phone with the eBay Refurbished badge and 60 days' returns from a business seller. New, A1 Tech Deals had the 128GB at £469.49 in stock, eBay had a new sealed one at £489 from a business seller with 60 days' returns, and Amazon's page showed £505.99 from a marketplace seller.

Is a second hand Galaxy S25 Ultra worth it?

It saves the most money in pounds. On 04/11/2026 the cheapest used S25 Ultra 512GB from a business seller was £549.99 with free delivery and 14 days' returns, titled "95% Battery Health". New, it cost £759.99 at A1 Tech Deals, £845 on Amazon from a marketplace seller and £903.83 at Argos, so used was £210 under the cheapest new one. Next in eBay's business-seller search came £579.99, £614.99 and £630, so most used Ultras sat £130 to £210 under new.

One thing makes an Ultra worth more care than a standard S25: it comes with the S Pen in the phone, so check the pen is there and writes; a listing photo of the bottom edge shows whether the slot is empty. Read the model number too, since the UK Ultra is SM-S938B.

Is a second hand Galaxy S25 FE worth it?

Not on 04/11/2026. The cheapest used S25 FE 256GB from a business seller was £395, with free delivery and 30 days' returns that the seller pays for, and more than ten in stock. That is only £43.99 under a new one at A1 Tech Deals, £438.99 and in stock at 18:37. An opened, never used FE from a business seller cost £449.99, £11 more than new, and the Amazon Renewed FE, Excellent grade with one left, cost £489.99, £51 more than new. Amazon's own page for the new FE showed £520 from a marketplace seller and Argos showed £699.

So on the FE, buy new from A1 Tech Deals while that price holds, and keep a used one for when it lands well under £400.

The boxes show our latest check of each shop. On 04/11/2026 Currys's page for the S25 FE 256GB sent us to its phone category, so it no longer lists that phone, while our Currys row still shows its last read, from 22/10/2026.

Is a second hand Galaxy S25 cheaper than a refurbished one?

Yes, by about £50 to £110 on 04/11/2026, on every model where we could read both. The used S25 128GB at £289.99 was £108.01 under refurbed's Good grade at £398; the used S25+ at £440 was £79.95 under an Excellent refurbished one on eBay at £519.95; and the used S25 Edge 512GB at £449.99 was £55 under a Good refurbished one on eBay at £504.99.

What the extra buys you is a guarantee. A refurbished phone with the eBay Refurbished badge comes with a seller guarantee of at least 12 months, which eBay Refurbished, explained sets out. A used phone from a business seller comes with that seller's returns, 14 or 30 days on the listings we read, and eBay's Money Back Guarantee, and nothing after that. Refurbished at Currys, an S25 128GB in Excellent condition at £659, cost more than new. Our refurbished hub lists every refurbished phone we track with today's prices.

What should you check before buying a used Samsung?

1. The IMEI and the blocklist. Dial *#06# on the phone, or ask the seller for the number, and run it through an IMEI check before you pay. It tells you whether the phone has been reported lost or stolen or is blocked by a network, which would stop it working on any UK network.
2. The accounts, and Knox. The seller must sign out of their Google account and their Samsung account, then reset the phone. If they do not, the phone asks for the old Google account after a reset and you cannot get past that screen. Samsung's own reactivation lock works the same way with a Samsung account, so a phone still tied to someone else's account is useless to you.
3. The UK model number. The UK and European S25 is SM-S931B (the "/DS" means dual SIM), the S25+ SM-S936B, the S25 Edge SM-S937B, the S25 Ultra SM-S938B and the S25 FE SM-S731B. A "U" in place of the "B" means a US phone. Several of the listings we read on 04/11/2026 gave the number in the title; ask for it when one does not.
4. The warranty, and Samsung Care+. Samsung asks for proof of purchase for a warranty repair, so ask for the original receipt. A Samsung Care+ plan is in the first buyer's name, so assume it does not come with the phone. Some listings say "warranty until July 2028" or "1 year warranty"; ask whose warranty that is.
5. Battery health. The S25 shows its battery health in its Settings app (search Settings for "battery information"), and several sellers on 04/11/2026 put it in the title, from "95% Battery Health" to "100% Battery Health 0 cycle". Ask for a screenshot. A year-old phone at 90% or more is normal.
6. The network lock. Most listings said "Unlocked", but some said "Unlocked/EE". Ask whether the phone takes any network's SIM, and test one when it arrives.
7. "Enterprise Edition" phones. Samsung sells Enterprise Edition phones to companies, often enrolled in the company's device management. A former work phone that is still enrolled can lock itself to that company after a reset. We saw none in the searches we read on 04/11/2026, but if a listing says Enterprise Edition, ask the seller to confirm it has been released by the company.
8. The screen and the condition words. "Good", "Average" and "Grade C" mean marks you will see. Read the description, look at every photo, and leave out any listing that says crack, burn-in or "spares".

Where should you buy a second hand Galaxy S25?

eBay, paying through its checkout. eBay's Money Back Guarantee covers you if the phone does not arrive, arrives faulty or does not match the listing, for 30 days from delivery, from a private seller as well as a business one; it is not a warranty, so it will not help with a fault that appears in month three. How to read an eBay seller and listing.

Business sellers add their own returns on top. On 04/11/2026 about two in three of the ones we read gave 30 days and the rest 14 days, and all but two made the buyer pay the return postage, which on a phone is a few pounds by tracked post. The price includes eBay's buyer protection at no extra cost. A private seller's price already includes eBay's Buyer Protection fee, and most private sellers take no returns of their own, so the cheapest private listing, £271.10 plus £6.70 postage on 04/11/2026, saved £12.19 against the cheapest business seller but gave you nothing beyond eBay's guarantee.

Second hand, refurbished or open box?

Second hand means sold as used, by a person or a business, checked by nobody but the seller. On 04/11/2026 it was the cheapest on every model, £110 to £210 under new on all but the FE.

Refurbished means checked and graded by a business and sold with a warranty or returns. On 04/11/2026 it cost about £50 to £110 more than used and still under new on the S25, S25+ and S25 Edge, and more than new on the FE. Refurbished and second hand, in plain terms.

Open box is eBay's "Opened, never used": a new phone in an opened box. The one we could read on 04/11/2026, an S25 FE 256GB at £449.99, cost more than the same phone new at A1 Tech Deals, and the open-box S25 256GB on our page had been ended by its seller on 31/10/2026.

What to do

1. Check the new price first: on 04/11/2026 it was £469.49 for the S25 128GB, £509.99 for the 256GB, £559.99 for the S25 Edge 512GB, £438.99 for the S25 FE 256GB and £759.99 for the S25 Ultra 512GB, all at A1 Tech Deals.
2. For an S25, S25+, S25 Edge or S25 Ultra, a used one from an eBay business seller with returns saves about £110 to £210. Buy through eBay's checkout.
3. For an S25 FE, buy new: used saved £43.99 and every other option cost more.
4. Before the returns run out, check the IMEI, the accounts, the model number, the battery health and that any network's SIM works.

The same shape on a games console, with its own checks, is second hand PS5: what it costs.