Can I Sell Diabetic Test Strips I Was Prescribed?
Yes, you can sell diabetic test strips you were prescribed, with a few conditions that are easy to check. The prescription itself puts no restrictions on resale — it's just a dispensing order between your doctor and your pharmacy. What actually determines whether your strips qualify is the factory seal, the expiration date, and whether the government paid for them. Get all three right and you've got real money sitting in that cabinet.
Selling prescribed test strips is legal
Under U.S. and Utah law, reselling sealed, non-expired diabetic test strips is legal regardless of how you got them. The FDA regulates how test strips are manufactured and labeled — not who can resell a sealed factory box after it's already been sold at retail. Once a strip is in your possession, the prescription has served its purpose.
The legal questions around test strip resale mostly come up in the context of Medicare and Medicaid, which we cover in the next section. Outside of that narrow exception, there's no federal law or Utah statute that restricts a private person from selling their own sealed, non-expired supplies. For a deeper look at the general legal picture, see our post on whether selling test strips is legal.
Over five years and 1,500+ transactions on the Wasatch Front, we've never heard of a seller facing legal trouble for selling privately-funded strips. The anxiety most first-timers feel is understandable. It's just not based on any real legal exposure for sellers in your situation.
The government insurance exception
Here's the one scenario where reselling does become a legal problem. If Medicare or Medicaid paid for your strips, those supplies can't be resold legally. Reselling them is classified as fraud under federal anti-kickback statutes, and it's something we and every reputable buyer will refuse to do. The HHS Office of Inspector General takes this seriously, and so do we.
The good news is that the tell is almost always visible before you text us anything. When a pharmacy fills a Medicare or Medicaid prescription, federal rules require them to apply a label to the box. That label typically shows your name, the dispensing pharmacy's name, a lot number, and often a barcode. It gets glued over the original brand name. If your box has a label like that on it, those are government-funded strips.
Patient assistance program strips — strips from a pharmaceutical manufacturer's free program rather than a government program — are a different situation. If you got strips through a manufacturer's patient program and you're not sure whether they qualify, our Medicare post has more detail and we're happy to look at the photos before you assume anything.
What your prescribed strips are actually worth
The prescription has no effect on the buyback price. We're paying for the sealed box, the brand, and the expiration date. How the strips got to your medicine cabinet is not part of the calculation.
Most pharmacy fills come from exactly the brands buyback buyers actually want. Here's a quick picture of top payouts for sealed boxes with 12+ months to expiration (see the full price guide for current rates on every brand):
- Accu-Chek Aviva Plus 100ct: up to $40 per box
- FreeStyle Lite 100ct: up to $25 per box
- Contour Next 100ct: up to $20 per box
- OneTouch Verio 100ct: up to $10 per box
- Accu-Chek Guide 100ct: up to $7 per box
If you have CGM sensors rather than strips — Dexcom G6, Libre 3, Omnipod pods — the payouts go considerably higher. A sealed Dexcom G6 3-pack pays up to $150. The prescription origin doesn't change any of those numbers.
A good example of how those numbers add up: a woman we work with manages her blood sugar well and simply doesn't burn through her monthly allotment. The boxes piled up over time. She doesn't drive, so we went to her place. She had over $2,700 worth of supplies sitting there, unused and in-date. We paid her cash the same day.
Why the expiration date is the only clock that matters
The prescription date, the fill date, the insurance explanation-of-benefits — none of it affects what a buyer will pay. The only number that matters is the expiration date printed on the box.
The expiration market for test strips is more straightforward than most people expect. There's no negotiating trick behind price differences — buyers pay less for strips close to expiration because their downstream buyers pay less. A strip with two months left is genuinely harder to resell than one with 14 months. That's shelf-life math, not market manipulation.
12 or more months to expiration: top dollar. 6 to 12 months: solid offer, somewhat reduced. 3 to 6 months: lower offer, worth asking about. Under 3 months: we usually can't make the numbers work, though we'll always tell you straight.
If you picked up a 90-day supply from the pharmacy six months ago and it's been sitting in a drawer, those boxes are probably still worth real money. Text us a photo of the expiration date and we'll tell you exactly where you stand.
What we check at the meetup
Most sellers show up bracing for a negotiation that doesn't happen. The quoted price is almost always exactly what we hand you in cash. The whole process usually takes about five minutes, and the most common reaction from new sellers is some version of "wait, that's it?"
Four things get checked at every meetup:
- The factory seal — needs to be intact and unbroken
- The expiration date — on the box itself, not on any label
- The brand and box count — to confirm it matches what you texted
- Whether a pharmacy label is covering the brand name
If everything matches your photos, you get paid on the spot in cash, Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle — whichever you prefer. If we find something you didn't notice before you drove over, we tell you right there, not after the fact. Boxes we can't buy, we'll explain what to do with them, including donation options if they're expired or pharmacy-labeled.
For a full walkthrough of every stage from photos to cash, the step-by-step selling guide covers it all.
Getting a real number today
Start with a few phone photos: front of the box, back, and a close-up of the expiration date. If you've got multiple boxes, a stack shot works fine — no need to photograph every single one.
Text those to us and we'll respond during business hours (Mon–Sat 10am–7pm, Sun 12–3pm MT) with a real number. Not a range, not a "we'll see when we get there" line. A real number we'll stand behind at the meetup. If you'd rather fill out a form, the quote form works the same way.
If the price works, we pick a public spot near you — a Starbucks, a Smith's parking lot, wherever's easiest. Most people on the Wasatch Front can do same day or next day. If driving is hard for you, we come to you.
Alright, friend — if those boxes are sealed and in-date, y'all have got real money sitting there. A couple of photos is all it takes to find out.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to sell test strips my doctor prescribed to me?
Yes. Reselling sealed, non-expired, privately-funded test strips is legal under U.S. and Utah law. The prescription is a dispensing order, not a permanent ownership restriction. The one exception is strips paid for by Medicare or Medicaid — those are government-funded supplies and reselling them is considered fraud.
How do I know if my strips were paid for by Medicare or Medicaid?
Check the box for a pharmacy label — a paper sticker with your name, the dispensing pharmacy's name, and often a barcode, glued over the brand name. If that label is there, the strips are almost certainly government-funded. Strips from private insurance, employer health plans, or cash-pay prescriptions don't carry that label.
Do I need to tell a buyer my strips were prescribed?
No. Buyers check the seal, the expiration date, the brand, and whether a pharmacy label is present. If your strips pass those four checks, the prescription origin is irrelevant to the transaction.
Does having a prescription affect how much I get paid?
Not at all. Buyback prices are based on brand, box count, expiration date, and the condition of the seal. A prescribed box and an over-the-counter box of the same brand in the same condition get the same offer.
What if my prescribed strips have a pharmacy label on them?
A pharmacy label is the main reason we can't buy a box. It signals the strips were dispensed through a government insurance program, which makes resale illegal. If you've got pharmacy-labeled boxes, the best option is donation — there are nonprofits in Salt Lake that accept them for distribution to uninsured diabetics. Ask us and we'll send you the names.
Can I sell test strips from a prescription filled several months ago?
Yes, as long as the seal is still intact and the expiration date is still far enough out. Strips filled months ago often still have a year or more of shelf life left. Text us the expiration date and we'll tell you exactly what the offer looks like.
What brands of prescribed strips are worth the most?
Accu-Chek Aviva Plus pays up to $40 per sealed 100ct box. FreeStyle Lite pays up to $25. Contour Next pays up to $20. OneTouch Verio pays up to $10. CGM sensors like Dexcom G6 3-packs can pay up to $150. Check the full price guide for current rates on every brand we buy.
Do you buy CGM sensors that were prescribed to me?
Yes, same rules apply. Dexcom G6 sensors, Libre 2 and Libre 3 sensors, and Omnipod pods all pay well if they're sealed and not expired. The prescription origin doesn't affect the offer. The pharmacy label check still applies — sensors dispensed through Medicare will have a label on the box.