With announcement of the iPhone 6s just days away, it’s time for many of us to secure offers for our existing iDevices. And Gazelle is guaranteeing they will beat all-comers, including your existing carrier. My wife and I aren’t yet certain if we’ll be upgrading our smartphones (and/or replacing T-Mobile with Verizon), but we went ahead and locked in offers for my iPhone 5s ($171) and her iPhone 6 ($362), should we choose to ultimately pull the trigger.
Gazelle will offer at least $1 more than your carrier for the trade-in value of your iPhone 5S, 6 or 6 Plus. If you find a better offer than Gazelle’s at your carrier or Apple, let us know and we’ll offer you at least $1 more in cash. Remember, in order to get the Best Price Guarantee your carrier must be either AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint.
Yeah, you can probably make more selling on your own via Swappa, ebay, or similar. But there’s nothing more efficient or pain-free than Gazelle in my experience. For this promo, lock in your price by September 9th, they’ll send you some shipping materials, and if you decide to move forward with them, get the phones out before October 2nd. Bonus: If you choose to be paid in Amazon credit, you’ll get a 5% bump in value.
I reserved mine a few days ago and looks like I’ll get $325 for my 6 64GB ATT. Having until October gives me plenty of time to make it to a Verizon store to switch over from ATT and get on my wife’s plan.
Sweet deal, thanks!
Dave,
Are you still unhappy with T-Mobile? They seem to have filled in a lot more places around the region, but I know they still seem a little weak out your way. I don’t know if a Band 12 phone would help you out there or not. Do I remember right that they did change one of your gripes and you now get throttled data to tethered devices? I thought I had read that somewhere. That would fix your sharp cut off issue you had.
Just curious.
Josh
T-Mobile coverage has been steadily improving locally. But still both routine and unexpected dead spots. What really aggravated us this summer were coverage issues during three weekend roadtrips. The last couple weeks I’ve been testing a Straight Talk SIM (using AT&T) in my iPhone 5s and LG G4 — no surprise, the coverage has been better than T-Mobile. So Cricket could also be an option for us if we bail (and if don’t want to swap phones). Verizon provides the very best coverage around here and where I seem to travel. Yet they still have some policies that really rub me the wrong way, like those $30 activation fees. And I’m still bitter from when they charged Android owners for visual voicemail.
The hotspot cap was not a dealbreaker, although unexpected – T-Mobile hadn’t disclosed it to me and perhaps others. However, I also have a Sprint mobile line… with a truly unlimited Hotspot feature. Until, they too, change their terms with or without notice? ;)
Sounds like we have a similar experience then. I don’t know what I am going to do. Right now I can’t really save money by moving anywhere, so I am in no rush. I am interested to see what the network is like over the next year or so. They claim they will be mostly done by the end of the year with the LTE build out which should help. Then I will just see how it goes from there. I have been a little disappointed by some recent happenings. (Like the Moto G loss of Band 12 and a lack of mid-range phones that aren’t over 5″ in size.)
Right now I am having a hard time finding a phone that I think is decent to purchase. Here’s to hoping that the 6C is decent. I am just not willing to pay over $600 for a phone.
I thought with Verizon doing away with contracts (the Verizon Plan), they also did away with activation fees… You now have cheaper access fees ($20 per phone), and data fees ($45 for 3 GB), but have to pay full price for phones (though you can spread them over 24 months, same as the former Edge plan).
My Verizon iPhone 6 64GB got $371 on Gazelle when I ran the offer. The difference in that and a new in box was only $5 surprisingly. I doubt I will change phones for the 6s, but may pick up a 7 next year and hand my 6 over to my oldest kid to replace her 5.
I checked this is not nearly as good as the deal that T-Mobile is offering me. They are offering to buy out my Device Plan.
$431 for a 128GB 6 plus. Gazelle pays the same whether it is protected with AppleCare plus or not. No thanks.
As mentioned, the absolute best returns are selling direct via Swappa, ebay, your office, etc. What Gazelle, you carrier, or Apple offer you is convenience. The other piece of the puzzle… everyone outside of Apple and Samsung is now offering phones at lower cost. Given fewer subsidies, I wonder how long they’ll choose to hold out. For example, it’s significantly cheaper for many to retain their current phone and get an iPad Mini 4 for around the house. Or do nothing at all.
I am glad to see subsidies go away. I have had to pay full price for my verizon iPhone 6plus to keep unlimited data and will continue to do so. When others hear I drop $900+ on a new iPhone, I get that “You’re flipping nuts” look. It’s kind of the same look I get when I push Tivo products. It’s ok though. I feel the same way about their 30 year mortgages, wasting money on pmi, and paying for cable/sat lease fees.
My wife and I bought both our phones outright – we live well within our means and are fortunate enough to not have to borrow to acquire a depreciating asset. But I’d still prefer to lease a TiVo so I can flip in/out as new products come around (without messing with resale – no Gazelle for DVR), temporarily bring TiVo to another part of the house, or make the cableco handle replacement if it breaks. Especially since we can no longer hedge our bets with a OTA+Cable TiVo. The Roamio “Basic” is just that and I suspect Bolt won’t even have a model than can do either. And I’d still like to see Samsung and Apple lower their smartphone hardware pricing, given the competition and subsidy situation which will certainly change the approach of some.
I’ve used Nextworth a couple times with success. I was able to lock in $425 for a VZ 6 64gb using a 10% bonus code a couple weeks ago. It’s down to $412 now, but still better than gazelle’s best offer.
Dave, I’m on Cricket now and the only downside I’ve found is the download speed cap: 8 Mbps on LTE, 4 Mbps on HSPA+.However, I’m on wifi almost everywhere I spend a lot of time, so it doesn’t really bother me at all. For $35 a month I can deal with 8 Mbps down.
Tom, Nextworth is new to me and will have to check them out. Update: Must be a timing thing, as of this moment, Gazelle is higher for both my wife and I.
Jason, either I forgot that little tidbit or never knew. Need to think on it. Do they allow tethering within your bucket?
They do allow tethering within your bucket if you both A) have the $50 plan or above & B) pay a $10 mobile hotspot fee. https://www.cricketwireless.com/shop/features.html
I don’t ever need to tether, and 2.5 GB is enough for me so I have stuck with the $40 plan that goes down to $35 with auto pay.
Hm, even with that $10 upcharge, I’d be paying the same or less … yet with better coverage. 10GB is pretty much “unlimited” for me. Verizon would be better, coverage-wise, but beyond the service premium, we’d need all new hardware. Not yet sure how I feel about that. Let’s discuss again this time tomorrow. ;)
Just sold mine on ebay for 490$ for a 64GB SG 6.. I still have the gazelle offer though it was 345$ for excellent. If you willing, ebay will net more $$.