Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Called Out for 'Brutal' Mac Trade-In Values Following Launch of New Models

Everything about apple's latest release is brutal price wise.
Their chip upgrades price are insane. These margins for more expensive chips must be around 70%.
€400 euro per tb increase, €400 for a 16gb of ram/unified memory. its just stupid.
I love apple, but not that much. I'll see what other manufacturers are coming up with when they implement also 5nm chips the comparisons should be similar but just at 50% of the cost.
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202
Why would anyone with a sane mind trade in anything with Apple? You eBay/whatever the thing and sell it for a lot more than Apple would condescend to give you.

There's a business here for people to pass it to third parties to "get the best price" and split the profit (over and above Apple's miserly quote).
 
Glenny2lappies said:
Why would anyone with a sane mind trade in anything with Apple? You eBay/whatever the thing and sell it for a lot more than Apple would condescend to give you.
Click to expand...

Convenience and not having to deal with scammy buyers on EBay. Some people, me included, are willing to take less to avoid having to deal with all of the above. That said, the trade in offers from Apple are usually a little more reasonable than what they are offering here.

There does seem to be some movement on this issue though. I checked in to see how they valued my MBP from 2021 yesterday and again just now and the amount offered is now ~$300 higher.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: compwiz1202, Glenny2lappies, kltmom and 1 other person
Yeah, sold my refurbed M1 Air 16G/1TB last year at 1390 EUR privately, which cost me 1.590 EUR back then, thus just a loss of 200 EUR for using it close to a year to get into MacOS (my first MacOS device) and if this all fits my needs, my software dev use case etc. It did, thus with this pretty good resell deal, I upgraded to a refurbed 14" M1 Pro. :)
 
Kierkegaarden said:
Why is Apple being criticized? Aren’t trade-in values determined and handled by the third party processor? I checked on Costco and the trade in value for my M1 Pro 16 is the same as from Apple (about $1000). Not thrilled with the trade in value, but I was never given or expected any guarantee when I purchased.

That being said, at these trade in values, I would prefer to give to a friend or family member. Maybe even to an indie developer or someone studying coding.
Click to expand...
The reason Costco gives the same quote as Apple is that both are using Phobio.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bkaus
tadasZ said:
i thought you trade in your old device, not because you want to buy new device for half the price, but because device you trade in will be properly recycled and you're filthy rich, otherwise you sell your old gear on craigs list
Click to expand...
Exactly, Apple's trade in are NOT for newer devices. It’s for old garbage that you want to be recycled proberly. You get a symbolic sum at the most when you trade in.
I happily traded in my old 2013 iMac last year. Think I got like 100 bucks.

Seems like their trade in prices are around that regardless if it’s a 2013 or something you bought last year, give a take a bit. 😂
 
This isn't new, but it is more pronounced now.

Buy a Mac mini for $1,500. Don't open it. Grab the serial number off the back of the box, and put that into the trade-in form. You just spent $1,500 and Apple will give you $350 for an unopened, brand new, completely saleable device. There's no check on how old the device is, or how it's been used; it simply has a base value, then adds a couple of dollars for each of the upgrades you spent $000s on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TGM85 and aka777
Honestly I never trade in my Apple devices at the Apple Store. I always go to a third party refurbisher/reseller that pays about 50% more for my Apple devices.

And better even, they pay in cash. Not a gift card.
 
  • Like
Reactions: samlikesmac
I'll take paltry trade in values over the hassle of trying to sell anything online. If it's not buyers trying to scam you, it's choosing beggars trying to endlessly haggle or paypal refusing to release your funds. I sold a macbook on swappa and it took multiple calls and repeated twitter blasting to get my money from paypal. And as a female, instead of dragging out the process by using craigslist I may as well just find a nice dark alley and hold still for the serial killer. I've had ebay buyers open a case because of a fault that was bolded and highlighted in the item description, and ebay/PP sided with them. Giving my old devices to family members just means I'm tech support for every issue either real or imagined. If I trade my old stuff in, yeah I get much less that what I might get reselling, but it's still something and I won't have to deal with people. That right there is priceless 🙏
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: bkaus, Lioness~, Moyapilot and 5 others
Smartuser said:
According to these, the average car is worth roughly 50% after four years.
Not 2% like the Mac Pro according to Phobio.
Click to expand...
What did you expect? If the fastest sports cars would almost double in speed with every other generation, you wouldn't get one-tenth after four generations. The average Mac, which is only good for light office work, also keeps its value much longer. At least compare like-for-like. The Mac Pro is not an average Mac.
 
  • Like
Reactions: neuropsychguy
jdmachogg said:
Apples trade in values have always been a scam. Why anyone does it I don't have any idea. Sell it second hand
Click to expand...
A few years back I traded in a 27" iMac. I looked at what they were going for online (let's just say my local market isn't worth dealing with) and the difference between trade-in values and likely prices after fees was around $100. It was worth $100 to save me the hassle of dealing with potential buyers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kltmom and Ankaa
Gudi said:
What did you expect? If the fastest sports cars would almost double in speed with every other generation, you wouldn't get one-tenth after four generations. The average Mac, which is only good for light office work, also keeps its value much longer. At least compare like-for-like. The Mac Pro is not an average Mac.
Click to expand...
Yes, the car analogy here isn't valid. Sometimes car analogies are valid for computers but this isn't one of those cases.
 
  • Like
Reactions: samlikesmac
their trade in programs have always been a disaster. i remember trading in a MBP and getting some BS response after sending it and a reduced value. that third party company was later investigated and featured on this site for doing the same to many others.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Moyapilot
so let me get this straight. there are actually people out there who think that they can sell a used computer to a company, have that company refurbish and test the computer, then remarked it somewhere and give you retail value. LOL. this makes no sense folks.

Many people (I can only imagine why hem, hem, better value) actually sell their used equipment to someone else directly to get the best value. Here is an example that anyone can understand, you sell a used car to a dealer who has to refurbish the car, warrant the car, sell the car to make a profit, and give you full retail value? so funny, I can't stop laughing
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
Reactions: Ac1d 8urn, AndyMacAndMic and Smartuser
Smartuser said:
Sure, let's look at some data:

www.lendingtree.com

Car Depreciation: How Much Is My Car Worth?

New cars lose around 20% of their value in the first year, and they’ll be worth about 40% of what you paid after five years. This process is called depreciation.
www.lendingtree.com www.lendingtree.com
www.ramseysolutions.com

Car Depreciation: How Much Is Your Car Worth?

Car depreciation can be a real drag on your car when you try to sell it. Learn more about car depreciation, how it works, and what you can do to slow it down.
www.ramseysolutions.com www.ramseysolutions.com
www.omnicalculator.com

Car Depreciation Calculator

The car depreciation calculator allows you to find the market value of your car after a few years.
www.omnicalculator.com www.omnicalculator.com

According to these, the average car is worth roughly 50% after four years.

Not 2% like the Mac Pro according to Phobio.
Click to expand...
Is the car effectively obsolete after 4 years, replaced by much better cars with much better parts?
 
Send them to a poor starving teacher instead. I’m sure we can use those horrible old M1 Macs that are 100,000% obsolete. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ankaa
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back