Where to Sell Unused Diabetic Test Strips: Your Options

If you have unused diabetic test strips sitting in a drawer and you're wondering where to sell them for cash, here is the short answer: you have two real options — ship them to an online buyer and wait, or find a local buyer who pays you the same day. Both can work. Which one makes more sense depends on where you live, how many boxes you have, and whether you'd rather have a check in two weeks or cash today.

What "unused" actually means when a buyer looks at your strips

Most buyers use "unused" as shorthand for "sealed." The factory seal has to be intact — that's the first thing any serious buyer checks, before the brand, before the expiration date, before anything else. If the seal is broken, the box has no resale value even if you never pulled a single strip out of it.

Beyond the seal, buyers look at the expiration date and the brand. Strips from major manufacturers like Accu-Chek, FreeStyle, Contour, and OneTouch sell into an active secondary market. Generic or store-brand strips (ReliOn, Walmart Equate) rarely do — the downstream demand for those meters is thin, so buyers pay little or nothing for them. For the full picture on which brands move, see the complete list of brands buyers accept.

Two ways to sell — what each one actually looks like

Online mail-in buyers are the biggest players in the market. You request a free shipping kit, pack your boxes, send them off, and they pay after they receive and inspect the supplies. The convenience is real, especially for anyone without a local buyer nearby. The trade-off is that the price you were quoted before shipping can change after they inspect in person, and payment takes 1–2 weeks. For a close look at how those two routes compare, this post covers mail-in vs. local buyers side by side.

A local buyer gives you a real number from photos before you drive anywhere. If the price works for you, you meet somewhere public, hand over the boxes, the buyer looks them over in front of you, and you get paid on the spot. The whole thing usually takes about five minutes. The "wait for payment" step just does not exist.

Which brands and supplies are worth selling

Test strips from Accu-Chek Aviva Plus are typically the highest-paying — up to $40 per sealed 100ct box with 12 or more months to expiration. FreeStyle Lite runs up to $25, Contour Next up to $20. OneTouch Verio pays up to $10. Accu-Chek Guide pays up to $7. The full price guide has current rates for every brand we buy.

CGM supplies often pay more per item than finger-stick strips. A Dexcom G6 sensor 3-pack pays up to $150. Individual Dexcom G7 sensors pay up to $60 each (15-day) or $40 each (10-day). FreeStyle Libre 3, Libre 2, and 14-day sensors all pay up to $30 each. Omnipod 5 pods can go up to $150 each. If your prescription changed and you have a stockpile of the old brand, those numbers add up faster than most people expect.

A client in Salt Lake stayed on his Libre 3 sensors until the adhesive stopped working for him. After enough back-and-forths with his doctor, he switched to Dexcom. He had a real stockpile of unused Libre 3 sensors by that point — brought them to us, and we paid him $700 cash at the meetup. The ADA overview of blood glucose testing and monitoring explains why people end up holding leftover supplies when treatment plans shift.

How to get a real number without driving anywhere first

Text photos of your boxes — the front of the box and the expiration date are what matter most. We look at what you've got and send back a real number, not a "we'll let you know after we receive them" line. If the number works for you, we pick a public spot near you and wrap it up. If it doesn't, you've spent a few minutes and nothing more.

We get back to people in under 30 minutes during business hours (Monday through Saturday 10am to 7pm, Sunday 12 to 3pm MT). For sellers on the Wasatch Front — Salt Lake, West Valley, Sandy, Murray, Draper, Ogden, Provo — the whole thing can wrap up the same day. Here's a closer look at how fast payment actually works and what slows it down.

Every buyer claims the highest prices — here's what actually matters

Alright, here is something worth saying plainly. The "we pay the highest prices in Utah" line is on every buyback website. You cannot verify it until after you've already shipped your boxes and it is too late to shop around. The only number that actually matters is whether the price you were quoted matches the price you got paid.

With a local meetup, that match rate stays close to 100% because the inspection happens before anyone hands over anything. The buyer can see the exact box, the exact seal, the exact expiration date. There is nothing to re-grade later. After 1,500 transactions over five years and $100,000 paid to sellers across the Wasatch Front, on-site deductions are rare at our meetups. The number you get by text is almost always what you get in cash.

When you should pass on selling and donate instead

Not every box of unused strips has resale value, and a buyer worth working with will tell you that before you drive somewhere. Here is what disqualifies a box:

• Expired strips — no reputable buyer will touch them.
• Opened or broken factory seal — once it's open, the downstream market disappears.
• Pharmacy-relabeled boxes — a sticker over the brand name takes them off the table.
• Generic store-brand strips like ReliOn or Walmart Equate — demand is close to zero.
• Strips within 3 months of expiration — offers drop sharply, sometimes to nothing.

If your boxes fall into those categories, there are some good local charities in Salt Lake that accept diabetic supplies for redistribution to uninsured neighbors. The donate near me guide has a few worth looking at. The FDA's guidance on home-use diagnostic devices explains why sealed, in-date retail packaging is what every level of the supply chain requires — which is why every buyer has the same list of things they cannot accept.

What to expect the first time you do this

The most common reaction from first-time sellers is some version of "wait, that's it?" Most meetups take about five minutes. You show up, hand over the boxes, the buyer looks them over in front of you (they are checking the seal and expiration date, which takes seconds per box), and you get paid. No paperwork. No waiting room. No explanation needed for why you have extra supplies — most people were simply prescribed more than they used, which happens all the time.

We meet anywhere public that works for you — a Starbucks, a Smith's parking lot, a bank lobby. If you have a large stockpile and can't drive, we'll come to you. The largest single meetup we've done paid one seller $2,700 in one visit. A dozen or so of our regulars sell two or three times a month with whatever extras they accumulate — the cash goes toward groceries, phone bills, gas. It adds up.

If you've never done this before and want to see what the whole process looks like from start to finish, this step-by-step walkthrough covers it from first text to cash in hand. Ready to find out what your boxes are worth? Text us a few photos and we'll send back a real number in under 30 minutes.