What to Do With Unused Diabetic Supplies
Unused diabetic supplies have four possible destinations — keep, donate, dispose or sell — and the expiration date decides most of it. We buy supplies for a living, so read the last one knowing that. The other three are here because they're often the right answer.
Your four options
Which one is right comes down to the expiration date.
Keep them
Obvious, but worth checking first.
Strips are usually good until the printed date if they've been stored dry and at room temperature. If your meter changed but the strips match a backup meter, or you have a spare kit in a car or a bag, using them yourself beats every other option here. Nothing on this page beats free supplies you already own.
Donate them
Best for short dating — but check the value first.
Free clinics, community health centers, mutual-aid groups and nonprofits that ship supplies internationally take unopened, in-date supplies, and several accept dating too short for any buyer. Two things to know before you load the car: most have real restrictions, so call ahead or you'll be turned away at the counter — and a long-dated box you hand over might have been worth $30. Check what it's worth first. You can always donate the cash.
Dispose of them
For anything expired, opened or damaged.
Expired and opened strips can't be sold or donated — they go in household trash. Lancets and pen needles are different: they're sharps, and they belong in an FDA-cleared sharps container or a heavy plastic container with a screwed-on lid, never loose in a bin where they can injure a sanitation worker. Most counties run a household hazardous-waste drop-off, and many pharmacies take sharps containers back.
Sell them
Worth doing when there's real dating left.
Sealed, unexpired, retail-packaged supplies have resale value — most of it concentrated in boxes with nine or more months before expiry. Value falls steadily as that date approaches and hits zero when it passes, so waiting is the one strategy that never pays. Supplies paid for by insurance, Medicare or Medicaid are a different matter and shouldn't be sold at all.
The one rule that decides everything
Check the expiration date before you do anything else. Nine or more months and the supplies have real resale value. Under about six months and donation almost always does more good than the small amount a buyer would pay. Past the date, it's disposal — no buyer, charity or clinic can take it, and anyone who says otherwise shouldn't be trusted with the rest of the transaction either.
Should you donate or sell diabetic supplies?
Most people treat this as a choice between the two. It isn't — it's a sorting job. Lay the boxes out, look at the dates, and split the pile. Selling medical equipment follows the same logic with one difference: hardware doesn't expire, so a meter, reader or transmitter that has sat in a drawer for two years is still worth quoting.
- Sellanything with 9+ months left. These are the boxes with actual money in them, and a clinic values a long-dated box no more highly than a short-dated one. Giving these away is the expensive way to be generous.
- Donateanything under about six months. Buyers pay little or nothing for short dating, but a free clinic can put it to use tomorrow. This is where donation genuinely wins.
If you were going to donate the lot on principle, there's a version that does more good: sell the long-dated boxes, donate the short-dated ones, and give the cash to a diabetes charity. The clinic gets supplies it can use either way, and the money does something a box of strips can't. See what yours are worth before you decide.
Guides
Deeper answers on value, rules, devices, and getting supplies to us.
What it's worth
How much are diabetic test strips?
What they cost at retail, and what unused boxes are actually worth if you sell them — real ranges by brand.
Expired test strips: use them or sell them?
Why expired strips shouldn't be used, why nobody buys them — and why 'close to expiring' is a completely different thing.
What happens if Ozempic freezes?
Frozen pens are a discard, not a judgement call — plus how heat and humidity ruin test strips and sensors without showing it.
Clearing out a home
Clearing out a relative's diabetic supplies
What can be sold, what can't, and where the rest can go — including the one question that decides it.
Where to donate unused medication
You can't sell insulin, Ozempic, or Mounjaro, and we don't buy it — real places in Ohio and nationwide that take it instead.
How long does an Omnipod last?
Wear time, insulin capacity, which CGMs it works with, and why the date on the box is a different number entirely.
Extra supplies piling up every month?
Prescriptions ship on a schedule, use does not. What the surplus is worth and what to check before it ages out.
Where to donate medical supplies near me
Real Greater Cleveland drop-offs that take unused supplies — and the one category in most boxes that is worth cash instead.
Can you sell unused Mounjaro?
No, and nobody legitimate buys it — why prescription drugs are different from test strips, and where a leftover pen can go instead.
What to do with leftover insulin pens
An unopened pen can be donated; a used one is a sharp. Two different answers, and most drawers have both kinds in them.
Free sharps containers in Ohio
Where to get one at no cost around Cleveland — plus the free household container Ohio EPA already permits when nothing local pans out.
Is this legal? Is it a scam?
Is it legal to sell diabetic test strips?
Yes, in most cases — with one exception that genuinely matters. What's legal, what isn't, and why prescription medications are different.
The questions people ask on Reddit
Scams, lowballing, meeting safely, and how to vet a buyer — including us. The parts that don't flatter buyers are in here too.
Frequently asked questions
Offers, payment methods, timing, minimums, shipping, and what happens after you submit.
Switching devices
Dexcom G7 vs FreeStyle Libre 3
Wear time, warm-up, accuracy and cost side by side — and what happens to your sensors if you switch.
Switching from Dexcom G6 to G7?
G6 sensors don't work with a G7, and Dexcom stopped making them in July 2026. What that means for your leftovers now the resale market has closed.
What we buy
Price list — what we pay by brand
Real per-box ranges for every line we buy. No form to fill in before you see a number.
Diabetic test strips
OneTouch, Accu-Chek, FreeStyle, Contour Next, True Metrix and more.
Dexcom supplies
G7 sensors, transmitters and receivers.
FreeStyle Libre sensors
Libre 2, Libre 3 and 14-day sensors and readers.
Omnipod pods
Omnipod Dash and Omnipod 5, 5-packs and starter kits.
Medtronic pump supplies
Guardian sensors, Quick-set, Silhouette, Mio and reservoirs.
Insulin pen needles
Sealed BD and comparable pen needle boxes.
Getting it to us
How to pack a shipment
Packing supplies so they arrive in the condition they left — damaged items reduce what we can pay.
Sell test strips near me
In person across Greater Cleveland, or a free prepaid label from anywhere else in the country.
Local pickup in Cleveland
Who buys test strips in Cleveland, how a meetup works, and which suburbs we cover.
Common questions
What can I do with unused diabetic supplies?
Four things: keep them if they still fit a meter you own, donate them to a free clinic or supply nonprofit, dispose of them if they're expired, opened or damaged, or sell them if they're sealed and have real time left before expiry. Which one is right depends almost entirely on the expiration date.
Where can I donate diabetic test strips?
Free clinics, federally qualified community health centers, mutual-aid and diabetes support groups, and nonprofits that ship supplies to countries where they're scarce. Call ahead — requirements differ and being turned away at the counter is common. Worth checking the dates first: a box with 9+ months left often has real resale value, and a clinic gets no more use out of it than a short-dated one. Sell the long-dated boxes, donate the short-dated ones, and give the cash if you want to.
Should I donate or sell my diabetic supplies?
It's not really a choice — it's a sorting job. Boxes with nine or more months of dating carry real resale value and should be sold; boxes under about six months are worth little to a buyer but immediately useful to a free clinic, so donate those. If you intended to give everything away, selling the long-dated boxes and donating the proceeds does more good than handing over the boxes themselves.
How do I dispose of test strips and lancets?
Used and expired test strips go in normal household trash. Lancets and pen needles are sharps and need an FDA-cleared sharps container or a rigid plastic container with a secure lid — never loose in a bin. Many pharmacies and county household hazardous-waste programs accept full sharps containers.
Is it worth selling diabetic supplies?
It depends on the expiration date and the brand. A sealed 100-count box with nine or more months left is worth real money; the same box at three months is worth little to nothing. If the dating is short, donating usually does more good than the small amount you'd be paid.
General information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or diabetes care team about testing supplies and treatment. Disposal rules for sharps vary by state and county — check your local guidance.