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~ Coffee Corner ~

offee or tea? When and how? Do you have a take-back or recycling programme for
Coffee! Did you know Finland has the highest coffee phones that are beyond refurbishment or at the end of
Cconsumption in the world? In our Finnish HQ, their usable life? If so, can you explain how it works?
you will find big pots of coffee brewing at all times. In our Since we have our own factories, we can repair almost everything.
Amsterdam office, we often make iced coffee because it gets This means that we take in more phones than you think, and
quite warm in summer there! Lovely to drink in the courtyard you can actually get a nice payout for them! Even with a lot of
of the office. scratches or a low battery, for example, we still offer quite good
prices.
Can you tell us a bit about Swappie and yourself?
Swappie buys, refurbishes and sells iPhones. We have been However, some phones are indeed beyond repair. Since we try to
doing this since 2016, when we started with two people, and give the phones a new life, we only purchase phones from iPhone
now we have over 800 employees in 12 different countries. 8 or later models. This is because the operating system from
The Financial Times and Statista named us the Fastest iPhone 7 and lower is not updated anymore by the manufacturer
Growing Company of 2022. (otherwise, we would buy them too!).

All Swappie phones are refurbished, which means they are If the phone is iPhone 8 or higher and completely broken, we still
fully tested and, if necessary, repaired. We can repair almost take in the phone and give the consumer a symbolic five euros for
anything! When we receive a phone, it undergoes a thorough their effort of sending it to us. We will either use the spare parts
52-step technical testing process, where our team inspects it where we can or recycle them for the consumer.
completely, including, for example, its battery, microphone,
camera, buttons, etc. If there are any faults with the phone, we How do you gain the trust of the customers? I can
then repair that particular feature. imagine that customers are not really confident in
buying a refurbished phone.
As for my role, I’m Martine Hardeveld Kleuver, serving as Very good observation, trust is the biggest reason for consumers
the Country Manager for the Benelux region. In this capacity, not to purchase refurbished (yet!). At Swappie, we are very aware
I oversee all aspects of these markets, including media and of this challenge and try to do as much as we can to prove to the
marketing planning, as well as our partnerships with external consumer that Swappie phones are trustworthy!
entities such as shipping and payment providers. I’ve been
doing this for a good two years now, and in that time, we have The most important thing we do is our in-house refurbishment.
seen both markets grow exponentially! No phone leaves our factory before our specialists have touched,
investigated and approved the quality of the phone. We train
How do you source the phones you refurbish? these specialists with our own training programme to ensure
All our phones have been previously owned and have either quality. Our confidence in this process is reflected in our two-year
been sourced from private individuals or companies. For the warranty, offered on all our phones.
upcoming years, we will continue to work on becoming the
go-to platform for buying refurbished, but also establish Lastly, what do you think will be some of the
ourselves as the go-to destination to sell your own old devices upcoming trends in sustainability for the coming
that are just lying in a box or hidden in a drawer unused. years?
Especially in the Netherlands, we noticed that consumers are ‘m all in for the circular economy! It’s a win-win for the planet
waiting for a safe and easy way to sell their phones. But at the and our wallets. I hope it will spread and become more widely
same time, we know from our consumer data that less than accepted. Think, for example, Marktplaats, Vinted or programmes
15% of phones are recycled right now. So still a long way to in companies like Patagonia and Zalando’s worn-wear
go! programmes. If we all reuse a bit more, together, we can make a
big difference! ••
What measures do you take to ensure the quality and
longevity of the refurbished phones, and do you offer
warranties?
We definitely do! All phones we receive are tested on 52
different steps, repaired where needed, and tested again to see
if all repairs have been done correctly, cleaned, and shipped in
a biodegradable Swappie box! At Swappie, we believe in this
process so much that we offer a 24-month warranty. This is
longer than some brand-new phones get!

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