Don’t waste your time with Apple Trade-In [MERGED]

[nStyle]

I did exactly this with a 2018 MBP that very sporadically would repeat characters on the keyboard. I didn't want the hassle of dealing with someone claiming it not as described on eBay so I traded it to Apple (in the store, not mailed in.) At the time the trade value was good enough that I'd have made about the same money after all of eBay's fees so the hassle-free option was well worthwhile.

Ebay's fees are out of control. It's good if you just want to get rid of something but holy crap they rob you.

But selling locally is a pain and a hassle too.

It seems Apple is about the only trade in place that you can get a fair offer with no hassle.

 

[nepalisherpa]

Agreed! And the good thing is you don't have to commit to it. You can have the staff evaluate in-store and they can tell you what price they'd offer and you can decide right there and then if you want to go ahead with the trade-in or not.

Of course, not everyone lives close to an Apple Store. I'm lucky to live close to two!

You can actually get the quote online first before even heading to the store.

 

[msackey]

You can actually get the quote online first before even heading to the store.

Yes, that's true. But it isn't a locked in price as the evaluation is whatever you input and not official. It's at the Apple Store when the evaluation made by the staff which will then be the official evaluation used to lock-in the actual trade-in value.

 

[bondr006]

Ebay's fees are out of control. It's good if you just want to get rid of something but holy crap they rob you.

But selling locally is a pain and a hassle too.

It seems Apple is about the only trade in place that you can get a fair offer with no hassle.

BestBuy lets you trade your tech towards anything in the store. Even lets you sell your tech for the same price even when you're not buying anything. BestBuy will give me $400.00 for my M1 iPad Pro 11, while Apple only offers me $360.00. Same process. Take it in and get your tech evaluated.

 

[Big Stevie]

One of my iPhone 12 camera lenses is blurry and whilst the wide angle lens works fine, there's a buzzing and vibrating sound when I switch to it so I'm doubtful the Apple store will accept my phone for a trade in.

Do they inspect, authorise and send the trade in payment to you straight away from the store, or send it away for it to be checking and authorising another day?

 

[bondr006]

One of my iPhone 12 camera lenses is blurry and whilst the wide angle lens works fine, there's a buzzing and vibrating sound when I switch to it so I'm doubtful the Apple store will accept my phone for a trade in.

Do they inspect, authorise and send the trade in payment to you straight away from the store, or send it away for it to be checking and authorising another day?

Trade-in value is determined and authorized right there in the store....Same day.

 

[Big Stevie]

Trade-in value is determined right there in the store....Same day.

Thanks, guess it will boil down to how well they check my phone then.

 

[bondr006]

Thanks, guess it will boil down to how well they check my phone then.

When I traded my 8 plus towards my 13PM, they looked it over, checked the screen, turned it on to make sure it worked, did not use the camera in their evaluation....So, you may get lucky.

Worth a shot in my opinion.

 

[DaveEcc]

I did an M1 8GB Air trade-in towards an M3 Air 16GB. Got the full expected trade-in value.

 

[bondr006]

I did an M1 8GB Air trade-in towards an M3 Air 16GB. Got the full expected trade-in value.

I'm guessing you mean Apple's full expected trade-in value. Did you try any other places? BestBuy offered me $40.00 USD more for my iPad than Apple did.

What capacity Air did you have? WiFi or Cellular? What did Apple give you for it?

 

[DaveEcc]

Didn't try anywhere else, no. I was willing to accept Apple's trade-in estimate.

If I wanted to put in effort to get the most possible, I'd have been trying to selling it myself. You'll never get top dollar on a trade-in.

With Apple, the new M3 was edu priced, and the trade-in credited to my credit card, so effectively a discount on my purchase. I'm not sure I could get edu pricing via Best Buy, so a minor trade-in increase could still end up costing more. Canadian Best Buy doesn't have the same deals you find in the states, so they'd likely not undercut Apple's edu price. Perhaps I could do a trade-in for store credit instead and then still buy the edu priced M3 from Apple, but I don't buy enough from Best Buy that I'd want to get store credit. It's just so much simpler to accept Apple's offer.

 

[bondr006]

Didn't try anywhere else, no. I was willing to accept Apple's trade-in estimate.

If I wanted to put in effort to get the most possible, I'd have been trying to selling it myself. You'll never get top dollar on a trade-in.

With Apple, the new M3 was edu priced, and the trade-in credited to my credit card, so effectively a discount on my purchase. I'm not sure I could get edu pricing via Best Buy, so a minor trade-in increase could still end up costing more. Canadian Best Buy doesn't have the same deals you find in the states, so they'd likely not undercut Apple's edu price. Perhaps I could do a trade-in for store credit instead and then still buy the edu priced M3 from Apple, but I don't buy enough from Best Buy that I'd want to get store credit. It's just so much simpler to accept Apple's offer.

I don't know about BestBuy Canada, but BestBuy US has a big Apple section, and you get education specials also...kicker is you don't even have to prove you are a student.

From BestBuy...

"Best Buy offers student discounts on Apple products, including MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, and Apple Watches. These discounts are available to everyone, and no student discount code is required. Best Buy also has a Back to School Deals page that features Apple products."

 

[Christopher Kim]

Ebay's fees are out of control. It's good if you just want to get rid of something but holy crap they rob you.

But selling locally is a pain and a hassle too.

It seems Apple is about the only trade in place that you can get a fair offer with no hassle.

With Ebay in particular, it's not so much the fees for me (which I agree, are high, but you also get the most eyeballs on it as the largest secondary market place), but all the scam buyers and how "buyer friendly" Ebay has become. They essentially side with the buyer on almost any dispute - and over time, there's evolved to be a lot of scam buyers out there who, eg. 1) claim the product isn't as described ask for a refund / discount, and/or send back a different device, or 2) claim they never received it or that you sent something completely different (and just swap in something else). The number of stories I've heard on what Ebay has become, I know a lot of ppl who used to sell a ton, but after getting burned on one too many transactions where even with decent proof, Ebay sided with the buyer, and no longer sell on the platform... Or you try to do on FB Marketplace, and you get robbed...

Trying to get 5 or 10% more selling on Ebay (even netting out Ebay fees) vs Apple Trade-in, will be completely dwarfed by even a single scam buyer who hoses you out of an expensive piece of Apple tech.

At a certain point, it is worth it to try secondary market if the Apple Trade-in price is that much lower... but I find people often "misprice the risk" of getting scammed out there today. So you just need to appropriately factor that in when you compare the Apple trade-in price.

The other thing that's a decision factor with iPhones and iPads in particular is whether you have the base model vs upgraded storage. Apple trade-in prices for iPhones and iPAds are the same whether you have the base storage or an upgraded storage tier (I think with Macs, they do take it into account somewhat, at least on Memory). So if you're someone who paid up for 512gb or 1TB+, all things equal, the Apple Trade-in makes less sense, and you may be better off trying to sell privately...

 

[sparksd]

BestBuy lets you trade your tech towards anything in the store. Even lets you sell your tech for the same price even when you're not buying anything. BestBuy will give me $400.00 for my M1 iPad Pro 11, while Apple only offers me $360.00. Same process. Take it in and get your tech evaluated.

I've been pretty happy overall with Best Buy. I have one store 20 minutes away with 4 stores within a 30-40 minute range. I'll often order online with in-store pickup - quick and easy and I've never had an issue with returns or getting a price match.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

BestBuy lets you trade your tech towards anything in the store. Even lets you sell your tech for the same price even when you're not buying anything. BestBuy will give me $400.00 for my M1 iPad Pro 11, while Apple only offers me $360.00. Same process. Take it in and get your tech evaluated.

I did this with an Apple Watch I won in a work raffle, didn't have the heart to tell the controller I already had an Ultra! Turns out it was out of the return period with Apple, and they won't trade in the newest models, so I waltzed on over to BestBuy and traded it in for an espresso machine.

 

[Ta_whirimatea]

Always instore. I recently traded in a Mac mini m2 & a aw6 that was pretty scratched up. Got £90 for the watch which I was very surprised about. Putting that towards next AW.

I used to use mazuma mobile website (uk) for all iPhone trade ins but last one they gave me a really poor value for spotless iPhone 11. I politely declined! They added another £40 but told them to do one as still poor. Will do in store trade ins in future

 

[ndouglas]

Ebay's fees are out of control. It's good if you just want to get rid of something but holy crap they rob you.

But selling locally is a pain and a hassle too.

It seems Apple is about the only trade in place that you can get a fair offer with no hassle.

Exactly —-^, the word choice of the OP “don’t waste your time” is so odd, because that’s exactly what it feels like after items on Ebay, etc… did I get a better price for my device after the fees, shipping, time spent putting the photos and text of the listing together? Possibly a few $$, but ultimately it feels like I wasted my time. I do it as much for the money as for the hope that the item I sold will actually be enjoyed by the buyer, vs. whatever Apple’s 3rd party system does with trade-ins.

Overall, Apple trade-in will continue to be the LEAST wasted time by far …and often, perhaps not always, at a similar price than what you’d get elsewhere.

 

[NVDA]

I thought it was common sense to only do trade ins in person. Why would you trust someone to accurately assess your item without your presence?

 

[rukind2]

Can I do a trade-in at the store, but buy online using the trade-in as a credit? Asking because where I live the sales tax rate is lower than the store location and I'd have it shipped top my home.

 

[RLRabb]

Can I do a trade-in at the store, but buy online using the trade-in as a credit? Asking because where I live the sales tax rate is lower than the store location and I'd have it shipped top my home.

You can do an in-store trade in and just get Apple Store credit on a card. Then use that credit when you order whatever from the on-line store.

 

[Morrissey]

trade-in in store no issues, always trade my last iPhone

 

[iGeek2019]

My nearest Apple Store is a good hour away so I've never used them but if I were to I'd rather take it in person for valuation.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I have used the Apple trade in for years now and got the highest quote each time with no issues.

 

[deepcycl]

I had the same rejection reason for an iPad Pro 11". LCD display burn in damage/streaks/discoloration across the screen. My background is in graphic design and I'm very sensitive to color variations and shading. The screen on my trade is perfectly uniform, with none of the listed defects. I've done apple trade-in several times for phones and it's always been smooth.

My theory is the third party that handles the trade can't move the old iPads so they're fabricating reasons to reject the trades.

FWIW, mine was returned in good condition. Now I'll just sell it privately.

 

[avheatherim]

I don't use apple trade because I'd rather have the cash. I JUST did my first trade to Back Market (Air Pods Max) and it's going well so far. My condition was not disputed and my trade was not rejected or devalued. Just got approved for payment. Now to wait the 3-6 business days.