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Best Buy Offering Free 16GB iPhone 5s With Trade-In of iPhone 4s or 5

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Apr 12, 2001
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Best Buy is introducing another special deal this weekend, offering a minimum of $150 for trade-ins of working iPhone 4s and iPhone 5 smartphones. Customers must buy a new smartphone with two-year contract on AT&T, Sprint or Verizon, however. The offer is good through the end of the day tomorrow, March 1. The chain has also reduced the price of the base 16GB iPhone 5s to $150 to match the buyback.

bestbuydeal.png
With a number of carriers moving away from two-year contracts for its customers -- instead focusing on non-subsidized, but cheaper, monthly plans -- it may be affecting the bottom line of retailers like Best Buy because plans like AT&T Next do not, in many cases, require customers to pay money up front.

For upgrade-eligible iPhone-owners looking to move to the iPhone 5s, this promotion could be an inexpensive way to do that.

Article Link: Best Buy Offering Free 16GB iPhone 5s With Trade-In of iPhone 4s or 5
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/28/best-buy-iphone-deal/
This is a horrible offer, you can sell an iPhone 4s or iPhone 5 for much more than the 199 are offering. Just a few months ago I traded in a totally worthless eight-year-old BlackBerry and got $99 off my iPhone 5s. That was a good trade in deal, this one is not.
 
Do Amercans really think they are getting a phone for "free"? They are paying MORE than what you would straight from apple only overtime.

It's essentially what's known as "hire purchase". It's more expensive than off the shelf. Ideal would be to buy an unlocked direct from apple, considering you have the cash up front.

Even still, of you are on a budget, these contracts cost far more.
 
How exactly do Americans end up paying more on a contract? I thought they paid less, but were forced to stick with the company for 2 years.
 
Not a good deal if you own an Iphone 5 or an AT&T iPhone 4S as both of those are worth more than $200.

Good deal for those with a Sprint or Verizon 4S though.
 
Slightly misleading title.

Would you call a house with $0 down payment on its mortgage a free house?

Of course not. You would just call it what it is: no down payment.
Why is it different with smartphones?
 
pgiguere1 said:
Slightly misleading title.

Would you call a house with $0 down payment on its mortgage a free house?

Of course not. You would just call it what it is: no down payment.
Why is it different with smartphones?
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the phone isn't free at all. You are getting store credit, that's it. So unless you are ready to purchase something from Best Buy, this offer isn't worth much.
 
I was considering it when they sent me the email with this offer, as the minimum trade in value was $150 for a 4s. I thought maybe they'll give me $300 for my iPhone and I can use the remaining amount to buy some other things.

Nope. A measly $230 for my iPhone 5, Verizon (Factory Unlocked), 32GB white. I'll stick to my iPhone 5 until later this year when the new iPhone 6 is announced. Plus, I signed up for the free $50 gift card promo, so as long as I upgrade by the end of the year I get a free $50 gift card.

I'm already planning to camp out for around 8 hours or so on launch day.
 
pgiguere1 said:
Slightly misleading title.

Would you call a house with $0 down payment on its mortgage a free house?

Of course not. You would just call it what it is: no down payment.
Why is it different with smartphones?
Click to expand...
Bcause if you get the phone for free you pay $50/month to use it (for example) and if you pay for the phone you still pay $50/month to use it.
 
tevion5 said:
Do Amercans really think they are getting a phone for "free"? They are paying MORE than what you would straight from apple only overtime.

It's essentially what's known as "hire purchase". It's more expensive than off the shelf. Ideal would be to buy an unlocked direct from apple, considering you have the cash up front.

Even still, of you are on a budget, these contracts cost far more.
Click to expand...

Sadly i think so... I tried to explain the concept of buying unlocked and unsubsidized and how you can get much cheaper monthly bills to my step brother and sister's husband and they just had no idea what I was talking about. People really think they can get high end smartphones for 0-100 dollars and they're getting a good deal. :eek:

I'm sure loads of people will be running in and trading in their iPhones this weekend and thinking they're fleecing Best Buy.

It kind of scares me how much the average consumer never researches things and just throw their money away. Just the fact that Gazelle and those cash 4 gold services are successful enough to advertise on TV leaves me scratching my head.
 
What does Best Buy get out of this?

Apple will get the profit from the sale of the phone... and the carrier will get your monthly service fees.

Best Buy gets what... a couple dollars here or there?

Maybe this is why Best Buy stores are kinda in trouble... razor-thin margins and all...
 
xmichaelp said:
Sadly i think so... I tried to explain the concept of buying unlocked and unsubsidized and how you can get much cheaper monthly bills to my step brother and sister's husband and they just had no idea what I was talking about. People really think they can get high end smartphones for 0-100 dollars and they're getting a good deal. :eek:

I'm sure loads of people will be running in and trading in their iPhones this weekend and thinking they're fleecing Best Buy.

It kind of scares me how much the average consumer never researches things and just throw their money away. Just the fact that Gazelle and those cash 4 gold services are successful enough to advertise on TV leaves me scratching my head.
Click to expand...
How do you get lower monthly bills getting full priced phones? Are you referring to the new AT&T plans which only apply to that carrier and just came out in the last month or so? Seems like for regular service the price is the same whether you get a discounted contract phone or pay much more and bring your own phone (the contracted term being the main difference essentially).
 
C DM said:
Bcause if you get the phone for free you pay $50/month to use it (for example) and if you pay for the phone you still pay $50/month to use it.
Click to expand...

True in some cases, but it depends on your carrier. That's mainly true in the US but even then T-Mobile doesn't do that.

Honestly I find this very weird.

To take my mortgage analogy again, it's like if you still had the same mortgage payment amount no matter the cashdown you made. How does that make sense?

Here in Canada some carriers offer 10% off your plan if you BYOD, but that's still ridiculous: roughly 30% of my carrier fees actually go torwards financing my phone when on-contract, not 10%. I'd be losing around 20% of my bill amount per month by choosing to give a 100% cash down. What is this, a loan with negative interest rate?

Illogicial stuff gets justified by other illogicial stuff. It's like carriers make stuff nonsensical on purpose in an attempt to confuse consumers to better rip them off.

I like T-Mobile's transparency when it comes to phone subsidies and I wish something similar in Canada would exist.
 
pgiguere1 said:
True in some cases, but it depends on your carrier. That's mainly true in the US but even then T-Mobile doesn't do that.

Honestly I find this very weird.

To take my mortgage analogy again, it's like if you still had the same mortgage payment amount no matter the cashdown you made. How does that make sense?

Here in Canada some carriers offer 10% off your plan if you BYOD, but that's still ridiculous: roughly 30% of my carrier fees actually go torwards financing my phone when on-contract, not 10%. I'd be losing around 20% of my bill amount per month by choosing to give a 100% cash down. What is this, a loan with negative interest rate?

Illogicial stuff gets justified by other illogicial stuff. It's like carriers make stuff nonsensical on purpose in an attempt to confuse consumers to better rip them off.

I like T-Mobile's transparency when it comes to phone subsidies and I wish something similar in Canada would exist.
Click to expand...
Well, that's basically the example that applies to a lot of people in US (although it's starting to change). Even if you use the mortgage example, would you pay $50K down and then have a monthly payment on a $500K loan, or pay $0 down and have the same exact monthly payment on the same exact $500K loan (with just a requirement that you can't sell the house for the next few years)? It might seem that the numbers shouldn't be like that, but that's how it basically is still with let's say Verizon (the largest North American carrier), so logically it would make sense to go with $0 down (if you don't care about leaving the carrier in the next couple of years, and plenty stay with one for years on end).
 
Free with 2 year contract after trade-in? No thanks, I have already dumped contracts in favor of AT&T's new Mobile Share Value plans (10GB of data for 3 lines for $145).
 
maxwelltech said:
Free with 2 year contract after trade-in? No thanks, I have already dumped contracts in favor of AT&T's new Mobile Share Value plans (10GB of data for 3 lines for $145).
Click to expand...
Where you are basically financing the phone (on their Next program)?
 
I haven't had any a phone for almost 2 years, but sometimes I'd like having an iPhone.
I was using a Nokia that can make and receive calls and send 300 characters text messages.
 
Michael Scrip said:
What does Best Buy get out of this?

Apple will get the profit from the sale of the phone... and the carrier will get your monthly service fees.

Best Buy gets what... a couple dollars here or there?

Maybe this is why Best Buy stores are kinda in trouble... razor-thin margins and all...
Click to expand...

They get a cut from all three on monthly basis, that's why they no longer do t mobile
 
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