I am surprised that people use this "service". Just sell on eBay or something.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Lowers Trade-In Values for Macs, iPads, and Apple Watches
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's not surprising at all.
If one is busy and values their time and/or doesn't want to worry about getting scammed or fielding buyers locally and all of that (again, worry about scams) -- it can very much be worth it to folks.
Apple will even send you a box with label and you just ship it off and get an email gift card.
Zip, boom, done.
It's not always for me personally (though I have used it), but I totally understand why some folks use Apple Trade-In
Getting the most money isn't always the top priority for people necessarily.
Some people still love the environment and enjoy letting Apple take old ones for free.
Nickel and dining? WTF are you on about? They don’t even have to offer a trade-in program. Don’t like it, you have any number of resellers who take old equipment and there’s eBay, Best Buy, Craigslist, swappa, Poshmark, the Marketplace here. Plenty of places to resell an old Mac, iPhone, iPad, watch, etc.
Does Apple really care about recycling? They make computers you can't upgrade or fix (for the most part) yourself. So when something goes bad like a hard drive, out of warranty, most people are going to toss it. Just about anything goes wrong outside of warranty and it probably makes more sense looking for a refurb new Mac and junking the old Mac. On the other hand lots of people find junk yard PC's that still run, can be fixed easily if they don't and can make learning tools as well as reasonable gaming computers for kids who are not looking for specs but to simply play minecraft or fortnight.
Are they really ”recycling” them? From what I‘ve seen the companies that they hand this stuff over to just resell them on sites like eBay anyway. Apple is just the middleman.
I'm in Canada, and I've been monitoring the trade-in value of my base 13" MBP M1 (2020). It went UP from CAD$540 to CAD$960 this week. So I went ahead and ordered a 14" MBP to lock-in the trade-in value.
With the tax savings of trading in, that knocks off ($960 x 13%)=CAD$1,084.80 off the price. Not bad!
Interestingly, on the US Apple Store, it only provides US$510 (approx. CAD$663 after conversion). Very unusual, since normally trade-in amounts are much better value in the US vs. Canada. There are probably regional factors Apple considers when coming up with a trade-in value.
With the tax savings of trading in, that knocks off ($960 x 13%)=CAD$1,084.80 off the price. Not bad!
Interestingly, on the US Apple Store, it only provides US$510 (approx. CAD$663 after conversion). Very unusual, since normally trade-in amounts are much better value in the US vs. Canada. There are probably regional factors Apple considers when coming up with a trade-in value.
The values were bad, to begin with. If you sell it yourself you can get way better value despite the hassle.
Not always true
Really depends upon device and timing.
Before the last drop, they were offering me $250 for a base model Mini 5 -- which, with the 6 already out at the time, was a value unmatched by the private marketplace for that model (not the current one at that time)
Not to mention it's sooooo easy to scam people who are selling electronics. Just complain to eBay that they sold you a busted device and you can more or less get it for free. Sellers have no recourse whatsoever.
are these for M1 as well as intel? because I can kind of understand intel ones having lowered trade in value
Wow my M1 iMac went from $880 last week to $490 today and it’s even an upgraded version. A $1500 1yr old machine!
Guess I’m no longer trading in with Apple and honestly it’s going to turn me off from upgrading when new models come out. If my device depreciates to basically zero after 1-2yrs and the new models are only a 20% performance increase then Apple can get bent ha.
Guess I’m no longer trading in with Apple and honestly it’s going to turn me off from upgrading when new models come out. If my device depreciates to basically zero after 1-2yrs and the new models are only a 20% performance increase then Apple can get bent ha.
I've seen that scam...and it took forever to get paid. But the most common one for me is.
"Hi, I just bought your xxxxx, but I'm staying with my brother this week, can you ship it to this address?"
I have a 23 year old 100% reputation on eBay that is worthless. It actually makes me miss the days of posting stuff on newsgroups and shipping it before even receiving the check. I never lost a dime just trusting the early internet users. Today, it is a cesspool.
I have a 2015 27" iMac that I just replaced with a Mac Studio. Instead of eBay, I'm thinking I should shoot a YouTube video - "Watch this iMac blow up into 1000 pieces in 4k super-slo mo" - if I monetize it, maybe I'll get more money that way.
Pretty much spot on. Less incentive to upgrade.
Well, every time since the program was established I looked into the trade-in prices they were significantly lower than selling on eBay, OfferUp, Craigslist, etc. I'm sure there are outliers but I have not seen them.
Better in Apple’s pocket than yours during a cost of living crisis. You’d only waste it on heat and food.