Several types of local buyers purchase unused diabetic test strips, including independent resellers who advertise on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and community bulletin boards, as well as small storefront operations in some cities. These buyers typically pay cash on the spot, offering up to $20 for an unopened box of 50 name-brand strips, boxes that retail for over $100 at pharmacies. The gap between what buyers pay and what strips cost at retail is what drives this market.
Types of Local Buyers
The most common local buyers are individual middlemen or small businesses that collect strips and resell them, either directly to people who need them or to larger online resellers. You’ll find them advertising on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and sometimes on handwritten signs posted near pharmacies, bus stops, or medical clinics. Some cities also have small brick-and-mortar shops or kiosks that specialize in buying back diabetic supplies.
These buyers act as intermediaries. They purchase your strips at a fraction of the retail price, then resell them online or through discount channels to people who can’t afford full-price strips. A CBS Chicago investigation found middlemen offering up to $20 per box of 50 name-brand strips. That $20 payout is typical for popular brands like OneTouch, Accu-Chek, and FreeStyle, though the exact amount varies by brand demand, box quantity, and how far out the expiration date is.
What Buyers Look For
Local buyers are selective about which boxes they’ll purchase. The strips need to be in unopened, sealed boxes with the original packaging intact. If the seal is broken, even slightly, most buyers will reject the box because there’s no way to verify the strips were stored correctly or haven’t been contaminated.
Expiration dates matter significantly. Buyers want strips with several months of shelf life remaining, and boxes closer to expiration fetch lower prices or get turned away entirely. Altered or obscured expiration dates are a red flag in this market. Regulatory authorities have flagged cases where sellers attempted to change printed expiration dates to make expired strips appear usable, which is a serious concern for both buyers and the people who ultimately use the strips.
Boxes should also be free of major damage like water stains, crushed corners, or missing labels. If the packaging looks like it’s been through rough handling, buyers will typically pass. They need boxes that look sellable to the next customer.
How Payment Works
Local in-person buyers almost always pay cash at the time of the transaction. That immediacy is one of the main reasons people choose local buyers over mail-in programs. You meet up, hand over your sealed boxes, and walk away with money.
If you’re open to shipping your strips instead, online buyback companies offer more payment flexibility. Services like Pay For Strips accept shipments using prepaid labels and release payment within 24 hours of receiving your package through PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, or mailed check. The tradeoff is a short wait compared to the instant cash of a local meetup, but online buyers often pay more consistently and publish their price lists upfront.
Is Selling Test Strips Legal?
Selling unused, over-the-counter test strips that you purchased yourself is generally legal. Many popular test strip brands are available without a prescription, and reselling personal property is not prohibited under federal law.
The legal picture gets more complicated with prescription-labeled strips or strips obtained through Medicare, Medicaid, or other government insurance programs. Reselling supplies paid for by government insurance programs can violate federal fraud statutes. The FDA has also warned that prescription-only test strips sold without a prescription may be unauthorized for sale in the U.S. and should not be used by buyers.
State laws vary as well. Some states have specific regulations around the resale of medical supplies, so the legality depends partly on where you live. The transaction itself sits in a gray area that federal agencies have acknowledged but not fully regulated, which is why this secondary market continues to operate openly.
Why This Market Exists
Test strips are expensive. A single box of 50 strips can cost over $100 without insurance, and people with diabetes may need to test multiple times per day. Meanwhile, many people with insurance or who switch meters end up with surplus boxes they’ll never use. Rather than letting them expire in a drawer, selling them puts money in your pocket and, in theory, gets affordable strips to someone who needs them.
The FDA, however, has raised serious concerns about the resale market. Pre-owned or resold strips may have been stored improperly, exposed to extreme temperatures, or tampered with. Opened vials could carry trace amounts of blood from a previous user, creating infection risk. Incorrect readings from compromised strips can lead to dangerous dosing errors for insulin-dependent patients. The FDA’s official recommendation is that consumers only buy new, unopened vials and avoid pre-owned strips entirely.
Getting the Best Price Locally
If you decide to sell, a few factors influence how much you’ll get. Name-brand strips in high demand (OneTouch Verio, FreeStyle Lite, Accu-Chek Guide) command the best prices because they match the meters most people use. Boxes of 100 strips are worth more per strip than boxes of 50. And the further out your expiration date, the more a buyer will pay, since they need time to resell them before they expire.
Compare offers from multiple local buyers before committing. Prices vary considerably between individual Craigslist posters and established buyback operations. Check online buyback sites too, since even with shipping time, they sometimes offer better per-box rates than what a local middleman will pay in cash. Getting quotes from two or three sources takes minimal effort and can mean the difference between $10 and $25 per box.