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Apple Cuts iPhone Trade-In Values as iPhone 12 Launch Nears

I don't get why many people seem to take great personal offense with the amounts being offered. Trading in your phone directly with Apple is just one of many options to get some value back. If the value is lowball, don't take it, it's that simple. Go ahead and sell it private party to get more money. I'm sure it's not entirely the reason why Apple offers what they do, but do you think your private party buyer is going to ship your phone to a depot, pay people to do stuff like clean and disassemble it to either scrap it for parts or go through a refurbishment process, reassemble and repackage and remarked and restock the phone, etc? And people act all surprised by Apple's offer.
 
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I wonder what they do with the millions of perfectly good iPhones that get traded in every year? Refurbish 0.001% of the cherry ones and bury the rest into a landfill?
Seems extremely wasteful to trade in with apple. It's not like they're using them or reselling them— to the trash heap it all goes.
 
I basically lease my phone. Trade in. Value doesn’t matter. Work pays it anyways.
 
People are possibly not taking into account the fees that private sales may have. For example, an unlocked iPhone XS Max with 256 GB sells for ~$550 (averaging over many completed listings). Paypal takes 2.9% + $0.30, so that's $16.25 you never see. eBay itself is even worse as they take 10%, so there's another $55. Now you have to pack and ship yourself, and you may or may not be paying for it yourself.

Even if seller pays, you're looking at netting $478.75.

Or................. you could stand to (possibly) lose out on $28.75, save all the hassle (no pics, no posting, no emails, no transferring funds to/from paypal, no shipping), and just buy your new phone.

I've only sold a single phone in person, the rest have been eBay, and I'd much rather just trade-in with Apple.
 
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now i see it said:
I wonder what they do with the millions of perfectly good iPhones that get traded in every year? Refurbish 0.001% of the cherry ones and bury the rest into a landfill?
Seems extremely wasteful to trade in with apple. It's not like they're using them or reselling them— to the trash heap it all goes.
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I'm fairly sure Apple has a robust recycling program and discuss it on their Web site. The glass, aluminum and stainless steel are easy to recycle.

Circuit boards may be another issue. But I'm pretty sure you can melt the plastic to reuse and separate out the copper which can also be re-used.

You can also reuse the lithium in the batteries.
 
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nburwell said:
These prices are a joke. You're better off just privately selling your phone to get more money. But I suppose for those who don't want to deal with the hassle of selling their devices privately, trading in to Apple is the easier route to take.
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Hassle plus safety, because I don't know about the US but in Europe the chances of you being mugged and ending up in the hospital while privately selling your iPhone is very big.
 
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I keep my "old phone" in case I need a backup in case of a loss, stolen, or damage problems. This can buy some time before making a decision on how to proceed. I call it insurance.
 
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Does anyone know if the taxable amount is the reduced price after the trade-in value has been subtracted?

Due to COVID-19 I may forego selling privately if I decide to upgrade this year.
 
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redneckitengineer said:
As long as ios14 truly supports the 2016 iPhone SE, I will skip the upgrade for another year and hold out til 2021. $30 is a joke for trade in value. I have more invested in the cases and screen protectors than the TIV.
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Love the SE, but it’s a four year old phone with a five year old SOC, and it was a budget device to begin with. And they have to take your SE and resell it at a profit.
 
As already mentioned, by the time you take out eBay and PayPal fees, sales tax, cost of shipping, and the time hassle of dealing with an auction, just sending it to Apple and being done with it is more appealing.
 
triangletechie said:
The trade in prices are lower vs selling privately, but there's no risk with trading. Apple or Best Buy gives you a gift card and you're done. No packing/shipping, and possibly dealing with a flaky buyer on ebay. When I do sell privately, it's always to cashforyourmac.com. Those guys are extremely easy to deal with.
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The nice thing with doing a trade-in at Apple with the Apple Card (not sure if you have to have the Apple Card) is the discount is applied right away prior to them receiving the phone.

I reference the Apple Card because a co-worker ordered the SE and the trade-in value of her phone was applied after they received it. I ordered the same way, but with the Apple Card and the discount was applied on the front end.
 
If Apple wants to give me $450 for my XS Max, I'm ok with that to avoid the hassle of selling myself. Unless I am selling to a trusted family member of which I would give them a deal anyway so I will do this again for the iPhone12 and be perfectly happy with my decision.
 
Just like trading in a vehicle. You can sell it for far more than what the dealership will give you for the trade.
The drawback is, you have to deal with all the extra work of selling the vehicle yourself.
In the case of selling the old iPhone, it is far easier than selling a used car.
 
Does anyone know how much these values tend to drop following the release of new phones? I’m debating paying for a repair, so I’m curious what I’ll be able to get for an XS once the 12 Pro is available.
 
nburwell said:
These prices are a joke. You're better off just privately selling your phone to get more money. But I suppose for those who don't want to deal with the hassle of selling their devices privately, trading in to Apple is the easier route to take.
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Ever price the used car market versus trading into the dealer? Convenience costs ya.
 
dragoon2745 said:
Curious to know what the trade in value for an iPhone 11 with 128GB storage will be if I want to buy the next iPhone with 5G.
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only downside to Apple trade in is that storage is not taken into consideration. 64gb and 256gb are treated the same.
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confirmed said:
Does anyone know how much these values tend to drop following the release of new phones? I’m debating paying for a repair, so I’m curious what I’ll be able to get for an XS once the 12 Pro is available.
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I recently traded in the iPhone X. It was $400 pre SE announcement and dropped to $320 after. I wouldn't be surprised to see an additional $40 drop after announcement or possibly the day preorders go live.
 
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