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Review: Trade-In Cell Phone Programs

twospirits

twospirits

AF's janitor
VIP Member
With new cell phones being introduced faster than you can blink an eye, some tend to have old ones laying around the house. There are numerous ways one can get rid of these old devices, not just cell phones in general.
Usually, the options are...
  1. You can throw them out. But that that won't be good for the environment.
  2. Sell them on ebay, to a friend, neighbor, family member or
  3. Trade it in.

Since the new EVO 4G is coming soon, I decided to see how much I would get for my older cell phones. I decided to go with option # 3 and check out the leading Trade-In programs. The ones known to me are:
  • Best Buy
  • Radio Shack
  • Walmart
  • Sprint

There may be more, but for this review these are the ones I'll be concentrating on.

So lets begin..
Part A: Selecting and Navigating the Trade-In Programs
Step 1: First I went to each of the company trade-in websites
Scroll down the page and
click the Trade-In button
on the Online side.​
Click on the mobile
phone button image​
Locate the search
item text box​
Locate the account
number field​

Step 2: Do the following...
Click the mobile
button​
Click the
manufacturer​
skip to the
next step​
Enter your account #
then click the Go button​
​
​
​
(If you don't know your
acct #, click the "Click
here if you do not know
your account #" link and
then enter your phone #,
then click the Go button.​

Step 3:
Enter the manufacturer
the model number and
proceed to next step​
Click on the image
of the model
to proceed​
Type in the model
number and then
click the button​
Click on the image
of the model
to proceed​

Step 4:
Enter the necessary
fields and click the
Get Estimate button​
Enter the necessary
fields and click the
Accept button​
Make your selections
and then click the
calculate button​
Make your selections
and then click the
submit button​

Step 5:
Your estimate appears
Choose giftcard or
Mail Check value​
Your estimate appears
Choose accept to
proceed​
Your estimate appears
Click the "Add to Box"
to Proceed​
Your estimate appears
click the checkout
button to proceed​

Part B: Selecting the test fields
Each sites criteria for determining the value of the device you are trading in range from few to many questions. For purposes of this test, I decided to just select the least amount of criteria to make it as equal across the sites. The criteria across all sites are..
  • Unit Functional/Condition
  • Carrier
  • Working Battery
  • AC Adapter

I then went through each site and simulated a trade in for the following devices..
  • 1 Franklin Wireless U301 3G/4G USB Modem
  • 1 Franklin Wireless U300 3G/4G USB Modem
  • 2 Sprint HTC Hero
  • 2 HTC Touch Diamonds
  • 1 HTC Touch

The Franklin USB Modems wasn't on any of the sites lists. Although Walmart allows you to email them to inquire for a personal quote.
As for the rest of the devices the results are outlined below.

Part C: Final Results
​
Best Buy​
Radio Shack​
Walmart​
Sprint​
U301 3G/4G ModemN/AN/AEmail$5.00
U300 3G/4G ModemN/AN/AEmailN/A
HTC Hero$99.00$71.61$148.00$80.00
HTC Hero$87.00$71.61$132.00$80.00
HTC Diamond$57.00$22.76$55.00$39.20
HTC Diamond$57.00$22.76$55.00$39.00
HTC Touch$0.00$17.85$30.00$23.00
Total:$300.00$206.59$420.00$261.40

As shown in the table above, much to my surprise, Walmart gave me the most value for my trade ins. Of course, your results may vary since any trade in is dependent on the condition of the devices and which device you are trading in.

TS
 
If you're buying a phone from Sprint, you may not get the trade-in value. However, you might be able to talk them into giving you an account credit of $10-20 that makes up the gap and saves you the hassle of going elsewhere. This works especially when you're re-upping a contract. Give it a try.
 
There's only 2 advantages I have doing my Trade-in of my Note 2 through Best Buy:

1) Program formerly called "Phone Freedom", where all that was required was for a person to register each phone line on their account, through Best Buy, for any potential upgrade for the year. This will add an additional $50 to be put towards an upgrade, w/ new 2 year agreement
Cell Phone Plans, Carriers, Cell Phones - Best Buy Mobile
2) New trade-in program called "Trade-in Plus", which adds an additional $50 on top of the trade-in value of your phone. This is free, for those that purchased Geek Squad protection for their past Best Buy purchase or it's $29.98 at the time of original purchase (e.g. dropping it to $20.02 gift card, due to the upfront cost).
Mobile Phones Trade-In Plus - BestBuy
 
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