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Best Buy to Offer $100 Gift Card for Purchase of iPhone 5s or 5c with Trade-In of Any Working Smartphone

ArtOfWarfare said:
I have a 3GS which is pretty flawless and a 4S with a shattered back... Do you think they'll care about the 4S's back?

Also, I always wonder about these products becoming vintage. If I hold onto them for 3-4 decades, will they be worth a lot more than (present day) $100? What about my iMac and MBA? They're so old that I don't think their values will drop much more, but if I keep them in working condition over that time, will their value go up substantially?
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It all depends on the market at the time you choose to sell. With the legion of Apple fans your chances are 60/40 at getting a premium. I say that because chances are also pretty good a fair number of Apple fans have the exact same phone in the exact same condition. The collectibles market is horribly fickle. Your 3GS could be the next Beanie Baby:)... or it could be the next Beanie Baby:(.

On topic: Not a bad deal from BB. Removes a lot of barriers by not restricting the trade-ins to iPhones. A customer can potentially gain a less expensive new iPhone all for the cost of a "drawer phone" with little to no value. Well played Best Buy. Well played.
 
jlc1978 said:
Forget it. they don't qualify. At least not during last promo
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Somebody could pretty easily challenge Best Buy on that and get them to honor it, I think. A Treo is definitely a smartphone. Sure, a smartphone by 2007 standards, but a smartphone nevertheless. The ad clearly says "any working smartphone". If Best Buy doesn't want to accept Treos and other antiquated smartphones, they should clearly specify that they will only accept smartphones running iOS, Android, Windows OS, or BlackBerry OS.

EDIT: Looking more closely, the fine print says "Best Buy reserves the right to refuse any trade-in for any reason". Well, it's their game so they get to make the rules. I won't be playing their game, though.
 
Taz Mangus said:
Since the $100 gift card applies to both the iPhone 5S and 5C then both must be having lack luster sales. Right?
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a lot of the sales seem to be to scalpers who resell them

last year the 5 went on sale in late october or mid november. at this point other than the fanboys and scalpers, most people will buy it whenever their contract runs out. and the people who don't have a smartphone don't really care about the 5S

i have a 5 and if i can get the 5S for $50 or less with this deal i'll jump on it. otherwise i don't care since there is very little difference for everyday use
 
Razeus said:
Hard to tell with the 5S since they are purposely shorting supply to create artificial demand.
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So you think Apple is purposely shorting supply to create artifical demand? I have got to see you post the proof of this. Please do post your proof which you state as absolute fact.

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alent1234 said:
a lot of the sales seem to be to scalpers who resell them

last year the 5 went on sale in late october or mid november. at this point other than the fanboys and scalpers, most people will buy it whenever their contract runs out. and the people who don't have a smartphone don't really care about the 5S

i have a 5 and if i can get the 5S for $50 or less with this deal i'll jump on it. otherwise i don't care since there is very little difference for everyday use
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I also have a iPhone 5 which I like and probably would not upgrade to the 5S. I do think the Touch ID would be something that would get me to upgrade.
 
Taz Mangus said:
So you think Apple is purposely shorting supply to create artifical demand? I have got to see you post the proof of this. Please do post your proof which you state as absolute fact.

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I also have a iPhone 5 which I like and probably would not upgrade to the 5S. I do think the Touch ID would be something that would get me to upgrade.
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You don't need proof to state facts. Empirical evidence will suffice.
 
alent1234 said:
sounds like $100 gift card on top of the trade in value. i also got on the $50 gift card deal earlier this year and will go to best buy next week. last i read they were offering $300 for 16GB AT&T white iphone 5 and if i can get a 5S for $50 or so out of pocket its worth it
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No. It's a *minimum* of $100 for your trade in, not an extra $100. It also states that you can't use a $50 gift card from a previous offer when taking advantage of this one.

A 16GB AT&T iPhone 5 has a $325 value in "good" condition, $341.25 in "perfect" condition.
 
Tronic said:
Hmm, got a couple 3G's I could flip for 5S's. What's the resale value of an unopened 5S these days?
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Boatboy24 said:
Hmmm.

I've got an idle 3GS burning a hole in my pocket...
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My wife and I do as well. She has a 32GB 3GS sitting around doing nothing, and I have a jailbroken/unlocked 16GB 3G sitting around as well.

jlc1978 said:
Yup. In the fine print they say that not all models may be eligible and that stores may have additional conditions. Considering a 16gb iPhone4 was worth around $20 on the last offer it isn't as good a deal as advertised. I asked about the Treo when they last had it and it was not eligible.
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But if they say that they are giving out a minimum of a $100 gift card, then that is the lowest that they can (and should) offer for the phone being traded in. They really can't alter the price they are offering after advertizing this as such. If they did, then the trade would not be in all fairness.

If they are offering $100 in trade, is it your fault they would have to eat the $80 difference in value for your 16GB iPhone 4?

BL.
 
Razeus said:
Other than the shortage of 5s's?
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Yes. Please do come back with that evidence that proves your theory. Without that all it is is theory and conjector not based on any facts. In other words, a nice story.

EDIT: But since BB is offering a $100 gift card for the iPhone 5S purchase, it has to be because of iPhone 5S lack luster sales :rolleyes:
 
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BrentD said:
No. It's a *minimum* of $100 for your trade in, not an extra $100. It also states that you can't use a $50 gift card from a previous offer when taking advantage of this one.

A 16GB AT&T iPhone 5 has a $325 value in "good" condition, $341.25 in "perfect" condition.
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mine is pretty much mint. took it out of my otterbox case the other day to look at it.

even then $340 plus the $50 gift card if i can use it is a pretty good deal and i'm not even 1 year into my contract with the 5 and AT&T is already giving me an early upgrade
 
i'll see what they say

i played with the 5S at the AT&T store and there isn't any noticeable difference from my 5. for $50 or so its worth the upgrade. anything else i'll keep mine another year and get the 6 or go to t-mobile

the silver 5S even looks exactly the same as my white 5
 
Taz Mangus said:
So you think Apple is purposely shorting supply to create artifical demand? I have got to see you post the proof of this. Please do post your proof which you state as absolute fact.

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I also have a iPhone 5 which I like and probably would not upgrade to the 5S. I do think the Touch ID would be something that would get me to upgrade.
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That's actually the lowest of my reasons to upgrade from my 5. My main reasons to upgrade would be better camera and longer battery life... but both while improvements seem minuscule for my extra $200... I think I'll wait for 6 this time around... which is the first time.
 
MrXiro said:
That's actually the lowest of my reasons to upgrade from my 5. My main reasons to upgrade would be better camera and longer battery life... but both while improvements seem minuscule for my extra $200... I think I'll wait for 6 this time around... which is the first time.
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I think that most people do upgrade on a 2 year cycle.
 
If this is anything like their iPhone 5 promo they ran a week before the 5s/5c came out then "any smartphone" means any smartphone that's "in their system" and I think it has to have some sort of value, i.e. can't be $0.00 (I'm not positive about that part though.) The previous iPhone 5 promo was trade in any smartphone for a minimum $100 gift card towards a iPhone 5, which is $99, so "free," but I had to pay tax on the full retail price. I traded in a Motorola Droid 2 for it, which came out in 2010, and their system valued it at $5 but during the promo it added a additional $95. You can see if your old smartphone is in their system by checking this link,

http://www.bestbuytradein.com/bb/QuoteCalculator.cfm?category=mobile-phones

If it's there you'll get a minimum of $100 regardless of what the site currently says.
 
BJonson said:
Sales dipping.
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Razeus said:
Yep, sales of the 5C are lackluster.
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Dipping on the 5s too then? It applies to both the 5c and 5s, so if a customer has a 4s, they can trade that in and get what that's worth. According to their site, a 16gb from att nets you about $220... so that's $320 total for the customer.

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promise7 said:
If this is anything like their iPhone 5 promo they ran a week before the 5s/5c came out then "any smartphone" means any smartphone that's "in their system" and I think it has to have some sort of value, i.e. can't be $0.00 (I'm not positive about that part though.) The previous iPhone 5 promo was trade in any smartphone for a minimum $100 gift card towards a iPhone 5, which is $99, so "free," but I had to pay tax on the full retail price. I traded in a Motorola Droid 2 for it, which came out in 2010, and their system valued it at $5 but during the promo it added a additional $95. You can see if your old smartphone is in their system by checking this link,

http://www.bestbuytradein.com/bb/QuoteCalculator.cfm?category=mobile-phones

If it's there you'll get a minimum of $100 regardless of what the site currently says.
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When you say "full retail price", do you mean $99/$199 or $649?
 
Fanaticalism said:
When you say "full retail price", do you mean $99/$199 or $649?
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Tax on the $699, so in total I paid $68.91, I'm not sure if that's just California or not. Back in 2010 when my brother and I did a buy 1 get 1 free Motorola Droid 2 promo from Verizon we also had to pay tax on the full retail prices of those phones.
 
promise7 said:
Tax on the $699, so in total I paid $68.91, I'm not sure if that's just California or not. Back in 2010 when my brother and I did a buy 1 get 1 free Motorola Droid 2 promo from Verizon we also had to pay tax on the full retail prices of those phones.
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Hmm... that must be a CA thing as here in CT, Tax with the promo they ran last for the 5, was $6.35.
 
Around $15.00 for my Black 3G 16GB in trade-in value huh? Think I'll try eBay first... Or maybe just give it to my kid to play with.

I don't like BB that much. ;)
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Around $15.00 for my Black 3G 16GB in trade-in value huh? Think I'll try eBay first... Or maybe just give it to my kid to play with.

I don't like BB that much. ;)
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If that Best Buy link says $15 then you will get $100 gift card during the promo. I don't know the going rate of a 3G 16Gb on eBay, craigslist, etc. so I don't know which would be a better deal.
 
Razeus said:
Hard to tell with the 5S since they are purposely shorting supply to create artificial demand.
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I don't mean to be insulting, but are you dumb? Or just blinded by an anti-Apple mindset?

9 million on launch weekend is "lackluster" sales? Have you ever thought that maybe they can't produce them fast enough? Anyone who knows anything about sales knows that if you have an opportunity to complete the sale, you do it. Every day those people are without an iPhone is another day they could potentially buy another (non-Apple) phone.
 
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