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Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, Macs, and More
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Apple is offering me 80% less than what I paid for my base 2021 MacBook Pro14” just over a year ago. Totally ridiculous.
There’s a simple solution here. Stop buying Apple products until they fix this situation. If they never do, then be prepared to use something else.
Yes, and it will prevent lots of people from upgrading to the latest devices. It’s “shrinkflation” at its best…
Apple resale value has been on a downwards trend.
I'm a serial buyer/seller. I upgrade 10 Apple products every 1 to 3 years at most. It has previously been a pretty small line item in my budget. Resale value has been generally declining in proportion to the price of newer products. This started with the problem keyboards on the MacBook Pros and has not gotten better. I have done both private sale and Apple trade in. It has been, in the past, fairly similar to trade in to Apple if you have to account for eBay fees. This is no longer true.
So, I changed strategy and went high end on storage and memory on an M1 14" and will run it till it dies or is somehow insufficient.
I'm a serial buyer/seller. I upgrade 10 Apple products every 1 to 3 years at most. It has previously been a pretty small line item in my budget. Resale value has been generally declining in proportion to the price of newer products. This started with the problem keyboards on the MacBook Pros and has not gotten better. I have done both private sale and Apple trade in. It has been, in the past, fairly similar to trade in to Apple if you have to account for eBay fees. This is no longer true.
So, I changed strategy and went high end on storage and memory on an M1 14" and will run it till it dies or is somehow insufficient.
Trade in prices are now lower for iPhones. Better to sell old Apple devices somewhere else.
Of course it does....
For those of us not blinded by Apple bias we certainly aren't "gobsmacked" that tech decreases in value. We know that it does. What we don't expect is Apple cheaping out on what they're willing to pay when there are many many places that offer far more reasonable prices for depreciated tech.
Searched it. On the first page, “How not to get scammed on Swappa”. I’m sure that, for anyone that wants to put in the time on these services to ensure they get a good deal, there’s value in it for them. I knew someone that had a basement FULL of stuff they were buying/selling on eBay and making good money. I’m sure part of it is that it’s fun to some degree, the dopamine rush when one “locks in that deal” and the sense of accomplishment that goes along with it.
I’m just not wired that way. Well, about THIS at least
I’m sure there are things I expend a great deal of time on that folks would similarly go, “Why? Doing it this way is much easier!”Stop buying Apple products because people can’t trade them in to Apple for even money? Hm. Not liking the OS I could follow. Having an issue with problematic keyboards, I see that.
Customer: This is great, I think this computer does everything I need it to do and THEN some. By the way, though, in 4 years when I want a new one, can I bring you this one back, you pay me what I paid for it, then I can use that to buy a new one?
Apple: No. We do have a trade-in program but it doesn’t offer what you paid.
Customer: Well, that settles it! I don’t want to buy a computer from anyone that won’t help significantly in my attempts to purchase another in the future!
No.
Yes, but these days perceived value is what drives most of the industry.
It's how someone values a product and what they are willing to pay for the product.
Imagine Rolex, who are kings of brand loyalty/marketing (irrespective of the product) sold a watch for $8000 and when you wished to re-sell your Rolex they offered you just $3000 for it.
This would SHOUT to the high end consumer that even Rolex admit their products are not worth much in reality.
It does seem a shame that Apple itself see's zero interest in customer loyalty.
Offering a past long standing customer a nice deal on an upgrade is sadly a thing of the past.
In fact these days it's the total opposite in many areas. Loyal customers get taken advantage of, and those brand new customers who have zero loyalty to the brand get the special offers.
Gaining new customers is the key, retention of long standing customers comes second.
Many years ago is used to be the other way around. It was very hard for new customers to get things, but once you have been a customer for ages, you got benefits.
Weird and sad how the world has flipped in this regard.
if you can't be bothered to read the examples of how bad they are low balling even 1 year old M1 pros, then you're just making yourself look foolish, but go ahead keep going
Apple needs to encourage people to buy more iPhones by increasing the trade-in value. I just traded-in my 5 year old iPhone X with a Pixel for €300 here in the EU, while Apple offered €80.
This is about trade in prices, I.e., selling your products back to Apple. The solution here is to not sell your products to Apple.
Its ok I would never use Apples stupid trade in values we have great sites here in the UK and they always give excellent prices.
Yeah the likes of Musicmagpie and CEX usually offer much much better tradein values so I can’t see why anyone would use Apple’s unless they are ignorant of the other options, or lazy.
This is all good and well if you want to or are willing to change your plan. I like my plan with ATT as it is now, however, if I was to take advantage of these deals, I’d lose the plan I currently have.
Man, last year’s 13 Pro is ancient. I’ll give ya 40 bucks. 🙄
Reminds me of the NPC Merchants in Role Playing Games. They're happy to sell me a magical sword for 3000 gold pieces, but if I try to sell it back they only offer 300 Gold. This interaction is hilariously acted out in the comedy sketch by Viva Le Dirt League: Accidentally selling your best gear - Markup 🤣
Our daughter has a base MBP 13" early 2015 which we paid $1349 (no tax - good old days). That price also included 3 year Apple Care. The laptop is mostly fine, but it had developed the infamous screen coating issue which we never addressed on time unfortunately. Apple is now offering $75 for it but at this price we might as well keep it cause it still works fine and has a new OWC battery which I replaced about 1-2 years ago.
Review of M1 pro:
It’s an impressive upgrade from the previous Intel powered systems, provides extended battery life AND performance in a package that runs cool, BUT we can’t suggest that anyone buy this system as Apple will only give you 4 dollars during a trade in. So, we recommend you keep your current system even though it’s aging and getting ever more difficult to get your work completed quickly on.
Sure, you COULD sell your device via one of the many, many sites set up to provide a FAR better return on your investment, but who wants to go through THAT? We also can’t recommend that you purchase a new computer from anywhere else either, because none of the companies are set up to provide as significant return on the trade in as you’ll get from, say, Swappa or eBay.
Until first party companies will give you almost ALL of your money back from a several years old purchase, we suggest you just sit tight. They’ll likely understand they need to do this eventually and make that change. Annnny day now!
Nah, don’t reckon I’m the one looking foolish here.