Cellswapper, a Web site that allows people to transfer cell-phone contracts to other people, launched last month, and is looking to raise a first round of capital.
Today it launched in Canada.
Nearly half of all US cellular phone customers would switch, or consider switching, their current service carrier if they did not have to pay an early termination penalty of up to $240, the company says, citing the Public Interest Research Group.
Cellswapper transfers the remainder of a contract from someone who wants to drop it to another interested party. The party taking over the contract gets the service without the activation fee.
Here’s a video of how it works, or click on video below.
“Hundreds” of plans and contracts have been posted and transferred to interested buyers, the company says. The average time from plan posting to transfer request is three days, and there are 288 contracts available on the network.
The Apple iPhone, to be served exclusively by Cingular, may push people to want to try Cellswapper, the company said.
The company has five people, and has seed backing from individuals.
10 Comments
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DJ said:
Here’s 2 more places to trad phone contracts
http://www.ministryoftech.com/2006/09/25/trading-your-cell-phone-contract/ -
Investoid said:
Interesting, I wonder if people are more attached to their phone numbers in Canada, now that number portability is finally becoming a reality. I think heavy users would rather keep the number and either pay the penalty or wait until their contract ends (depending on how ‘net smart their contacts are).
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Wirecracker said:
I launched wirecracker and was forced to close the doors from pressure from the big guys. Good luck to these guys.
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Marc said:
I used celltradeusa.com a few months back to get out of my Verizon Wireless Contract with success. I would recommend them to anyone I know. I plan on using celltradeusa again when the iphone comes out :)
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Danny Kainth said:
This is something I feel that would take of in the UK, we now have many network providers competing for business, as from personal experience I have seen the issue amongst colleagues and friends.
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karl said:
Hi Brian, Do you have any ideas about how the IPhone will affect the mobile market in Asia? What about Japan,
China, India? Are they as excited as the US?
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apple iphone blog said:
Hmmm… this service looks interesting. I’m on Verizon, so this would help definitely.
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ptmboutblr said:
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Carol said:
There are a few websites like cellswapper that finds you a match to take over your contract, I personally used http://www.trademycellular.com since it was totally free, it took three days after I posted my contract that someone contacted me.
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Dave said:
I used the CellClients.com…It is only for the Canadians but I got out of my contract pretty quickly….3 days….
