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Trade-In Value at Apple - LOL!

Chrjy

Chrjy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 19, 2010
1,122
2,185
UK
So, I thought I'd have a quick look to see what Apple would offer in terms of a trade-in value for my 2017 15" MacBook Pro 2.9Ghz i7, 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM, perfect condition. Purchased for £2399 in 2017.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know trade in offers are never very good but I was astonished to see that they offered me a grand total of £380!

Talk about a piss take ;-)
 
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One factor could be the keyboard. The refurbished butterfly keyboards will have to be one of the worst selling products with the 16" MBP available for 15% more. Even if this slash the price to $1,000 who is going to buy a laptop with keys that most likely will stop working within 4 years.
 
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sub150 said:
One factor could be the keyboard. The refurbished butterfly keyboards will have to be one of the worst selling products with the 16" MBP available for 15% more. Even if this slash the price to $1,000 who is going to buy a laptop with keys that most likely will stop working within 4 years.
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You're probably right but what makes it even worse is the company who actually sold those dodgy keyboards then take this piss further by realising they're crap so will also give you a lower trade-in value because of it.
'We'll make you pay a premium price for our products and screw you when you try to trade-in due to our own mistake'
Thanks Apple!
 
Something has to be off. I have a year older similarly spec’d laptop except mine has a 1TB SSD and they offered me almost $1100.
 
ugahairydawgs said:
Something has to be off. I have a year older similarly spec’d laptop except mine has a 1TB SSD and they offered me almost $1100.
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I just tried it again and got the same (£380). I just looked on Ebay and they're going for between £1200 - £1400 - a significant difference.

I just checked the trade-in value for my iPhone X and they are giving me nearly as much as my MacBook Pro at £330!
 
If you're in the US, use "macofalltrades" and their sister site "macmeanoffer".

Always the best offers.
 
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MistrSynistr said:
If you're in the US, use "macofalltrades" and their sister site "macmeanoffer".

Always the best offers.
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Well, seeing as he is posting values in pounds (I think), OP is probably not in the US.

The trade in for my early 2015 13" rMBP is about as bad. Want to upgrade to the 16", but I have no compelling reason and the trade in value doesn't help. eBay and Craigslist are only marginally better.

They offered me $455 for mine. Oh well.
 
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Chrjy said:
So, I thought I'd have a quick look to see what Apple would offer in terms of a trade-in value for my 2017 15" MacBook Pro 2.9Ghz i7, 512GB SSD and 16GB RAM, perfect condition. Purchased for £2399 in 2017.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know trade in offers are never very good but I was astonished to see that they offered me a grand total of £380!

Talk about a piss take ;-)
Click to expand...

Seems really low. Apple gave me $1400 USD for my 2018 system with the same configuration. Do you have all the accessories? Has it had a history of repairs?

Second thought is perhaps they have had a lot of trade-ins and the reseller is flooded with old MacBook Pros to sell. Anyone know what reseller Apple teams with in the UK?
 
Are you sure you didn't select one of the options incorrectly? When I checked out the Apple trade-in price for a 2017 model that I used to have. (15"/2.9 i7/16GB/512GB) The trade in value was $1020 on the U.S. site. When I tried again, on the questions "Is your Mac in good physical shape?", this time selecting the NO response, the trade-in value dropped down to $360.
 
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lambertjohn said:
why not just keep the thing? It's a great computer.
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You're right but the keyboard concerns me. Recently the 'H' key on my keyboard is playing up so I'll need to take it in for repair. The problem is, the keyboards are a faulty design and fixing it once will only resolve the issue until the next time.
 
Kind of crazy how low their offer is. They offer me just over 1100 USD for my base ‘18 which is actually pretty competitive looking at eBay prices and factoring in fees and shipping.
 
Something sounds wrong there. When I looked at their trade-in value for 2015 macbook pro 15" (512gb/16gb) they were going for $700ish, so yours looks far too low. Did you indicate that it was non-working or something?
 
According to the UK site the maximum trade in you can get for a MacBook Pro is £900, which is not great in itself.
 
Seems like there is something weird with the UK site. To see trade-in values, you have to supply your serial number initially, but they don't actually use that to determine anything -- you still have to choose things like the model, year, and specs. When I did that on the US site and put in the OP's specs, I got an offer of $1020. When I went to the UK site, the only options for CPU available when I selected MacBook Pro were a 2.3Ghz Core i5 and a 2.5Ghz Core i7. This is obviously wrong -- the US site gives you lots more options, including the correct 2.9Ghz one. Selecting the higher of the options does yield an offer of £380.

So I'm not sure what to make of this. Apple's offers are worse than selling privately, but not insultingly low. I also noticed that if you select iMac on the UK site, the latest model you can select is 2015! There's just something weird here. Unless maybe my using a US serial number confused the site or something. Can someone from the UK confirm?
 
mightyjabba said:
Seems like there is something weird with the UK site. To see trade-in values, you have to supply your serial number initially, but they don't actually use that to determine anything -- you still have to choose things like the model, year, and specs. When I did that on the US site and put in the OP's specs, I got an offer of $1020. When I went to the UK site, the only options for CPU available when I selected MacBook Pro were a 2.3Ghz Core i5 and a 2.5Ghz Core i7. This is obviously wrong -- the US site gives you lots more options, including the correct 2.9Ghz one. Selecting the higher of the options does yield an offer of £380.

So I'm not sure what to make of this. Apple's offers are worse than selling privately, but not insultingly low. I also noticed that if you select iMac on the UK site, the latest model you can select is 2015! There's just something weird here. Unless maybe my using a US serial number confused the site or something. Can someone from the UK confirm?
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Yes, I noticed there was no option for a 2.9Ghz model either when choosing 2017. I then tried the 2018 model and it offered £610. I then tried another 2018 model with max specs and it offered £900.
 
Since selling always means losing money and MacBook Pro 16" is pretty fast, isn't it better to just get the high end model and upgrade 6-10 years later than get a base model now and trade in in 1-3 years?

I don't know how expensive it is to repair these post-2015 MBP after expiration of Apple Care+.
 
hajime said:
Since selling always means losing money and MacBook Pro 16" is pretty fast, isn't it better to just get the high end model and upgrade 6-10 years later than get a base model now and trade in in 1-3 years?

I don't know how expensive it is to repair these post-2015 MBP after expiration of Apple Care+.
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I don't think so. Get what you need to do the job now.

I don't know anyone that can predict the future very accurately, so to me the whole "future proofing" argument does not make sense. You don't want to be the person holding on to a MBP level display when 4K with mini-leds become standard. Wifi 6 will become the standard when Wifi Access point/routers become common. Likewise today you have to pay quite a bit today for a 32 GB memory upgrade. If you don't need today you might pick up for 60% as much in 2 years or it might even be the standard on upper end MBPs. And then there is the whole Apple leaving Intel processors in the furure. Apple has the talent to create their own processors and more money than Intel. And Apple has shown their ability to do this on phones and tablets.

Also, repair costs are high. Display is $600 or so. Main board can be $700 or more, plus memory.
 
Apple doesn't really want to take in your junk electronics, that's why they will always low-ball you when you trade-in. Think of it as a business model. Apple's only willing to repurchase your x-year-old device to fix similar ones that people send in for repairs, resell for parts, and/or recycle the material.

As others already mentioned, if you want a better value you should resell your laptop on eBay, Swappa, or other market places.
[automerge]1578555359[/automerge]
 
Strangedream said:
Apple doesn't really want to take in your junk electronics, that's why they will always low-ball you when you trade-in. Think of it as a business model. Apple's only willing to repurchase your x-year-old device to fix similar ones that people send in for repairs, resell for parts, and/or recycle the material.

As others already mentioned, if you want a better value you should resell your laptop on eBay, Swappa, or other market places.
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As I understand it, at least in the US, Apple does not get your computer. It goes to a reseller that Apple partners with. For my 2018 15" MBP the offer of $1400 was close to the $1475 that MacofAllTrades offered me.
 
Yeah, trade in values are typically always bad. You have to remember, the third party vendor Apple uses here is trying to sell your MacBook for a profit, so they are of course going to lowball you on the price. I'd look at Swappa or eBay for the best bang for your buck.
 
A lot of it depends on your tolerance for risk and willingness to work for the money.

I just sent mine off for the trade-in. Am I happy with the price? Meh. Not really.

Was I willing to do the extra work, take my personal time, pay for shipping / insurance, and take the risk of getting burned for a few hundred dollars more?

No. Not a chance. I took the trade-in value, and I am more than happy to do so. I'll be ordering my 16" within the next week or two, depending on when the gift card comes through.
 
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