Is It Legal to Sell Unused Diabetic Test Strips in New York?

Short answer: yes, in most cases. If you were prescribed diabetic supplies, paid for them (or your insurance did), and you have unopened, unexpired boxes you no longer need, New York State allows you to sell them to a licensed buyer. This is a legitimate, long-running resale industry — the boxes get inspected, verified, and resold to distributors, at a lower cost than brand-new stock.

The two things that make a sale illegal

Nearly every legal problem in this industry comes down to one of two issues:

• The supplies were obtained through insurance fraud. If someone requests excess supplies from an insurer specifically to resell them, that's fraud on the insurer's part, and a buyer knowingly purchasing those supplies is exposed too. Reputable buyers ask sellers to confirm they're the original recipient for this reason.
• The box has been opened. Once a manufacturer seal is broken, the product can't be verified as untampered and can't legally be resold under FDA guidelines — even if every strip inside is untouched.

What a legitimate buyer should ask you for

If a buyer doesn't ask for any of the following, treat that as a red flag rather than a convenience:

• A government-issued ID at the time of sale
• Confirmation that you're the original recipient of the supplies
• The expiration date and brand, before finalizing a price

Where this goes wrong for sellers

The most common way people run into trouble isn't selling their own supplies — it's selling through unverified channels like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, where there's no ID check and no chain of custody. Selling to a licensed local buyer, in person, with an ID check, is the version of this transaction New York State is comfortable with.

If you're in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx and want a straightforward, verified way to sell your unopened Dexcom G7, Freestyle Libre, or Accu-Chek supplies, get a free quote here.