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Thinking of unloading a prior generation iPhone, like me, ahead of the new iPhone 5? In the past I’ve turned to ebay and craigslist to recycle gadgets (for cash), but it’s become a hassle and I’ve been burned too many times (on ebay/PayPal). Leading me to an ebay consignment shop… until they folded. More recently, I’ve been selling my gadgets to Gazelle. And, honestly, it couldn’t be any more efficient. It’s been so dang painless to unload gear, as they pick up the tab on shipping, that their effective commission hasn’t bothered me. However, it seems as Gazelle’s popularity has grown, their cut has increased (and bonus codes have vanished).
After being offered only about $162 for my not-even 8 month old Verizon iPhone 4, I wondered (on Twitter) if I might find better deals elsewhere. Of course, I’d make more money back on ebay or with craiglist. But, again, I’m a busy guy and find engaging on those venues tedious. Basically, I’m fine earning less money to save time. I’ve had luck in the past working deals (cash and/or barter) with coworkers, but a Verizon iPhone is much less portable than a SIMified AT&T variant. Fortunately, as it turns out, Amazon offers a program very similar to Gazelle.
Amazon Trade-In has offered me $226 for my iPhone 4, which is about 64 bucks more than Gazelle. And like Gazelle, Amazon picks up the tab on shipping and will compensate me with an Amazon credit. Given my Prime membership and buying habits, that’s as good as cash in our household. In doing a quick comparison of 4 iPhone models, and even including Gazelle’s 5% bonus for payments issued as Amazon credit, Amazon Trade-In iPhone offers are about 25% more lucrative than Gazelle. Score! Unfortunately, neither Gazelle nor Amazon are interested in my gently used but fully functional prior generation Jawbone and TiVo units.
More annoying, the Amazon trade in program seems totally uninterested in previous generation Kindles. Amazing!
Gazelle is nearly as bad… my Kindle 2 was worth $26 a few weeks or months back and now their graph show it’s worth $8 but only accepted for recycling. Amazing how fast they’ve lost their value online. When it was $26, I figured it’s worth hanging on to. If I ever upgrade, I’ll give it away. Then again, my next e-reader will probably a larger screened phone. Would a 4″ iPhone 5 be sufficient? Hmmm.
Probably a good deal to DO IT NOW! Amazon (and the ebay/green) program they have have tended to be a little late at adjusting pricing but get it right and fast in about 12-24 hours max. I predict that your AMZN quote is valid, but a new quote this afternoon won’t be as lucrative.
Try the instant.ebay.com site, their pricing seems to be actually BETTER and it is cash money baby. Also, shipping is free. Lock it in just to protect your options.
Thanks, tivoboy. Looks like ebay will offer me $238 for a 16GB Verizon iPhone 4. Hm. I locked it in, but for $12 I’d rather have the insurance of Amazon’s stellar customer service. Whereas ebay/PayPal were pretty ineffective in helping me with prior issues…
These are both nifty little sites, although it does seem like Amazon is offering the better deal. Seems like it would be pretty easy to lurk on Craigslist for the cheap deals and then resell them to either site. I wonder if there is a way to either automate a search process or create a comparison engine to look for arbitrage opportunities. At the very least, it’s nice to know what the lowball price is, even if you’re trying to get more on Craigslist or ebay.
Another point worth considering, based on a Twitter friend’s observation… Gazelle has a much more favorable shipping timeframe. Their offer is good about a month, while ebay and Amazon’s are good about a week. It’s unlikely we’ll get new phones within a week and will have to request another offer… which would probably be less.
you should try best buy trade in… sitting at $270 for the 16GB model right this second…. who knows after the announcement.
My 18 month old AT&T iPhone 4 32GB is going for $206 on Gazelle (or $216 in Amazon Credit). Amazon is offering $274 so a much better deal. I think I can goose the Gazelle deal a little with a TWIT code, but the twit.tv site is just gone right now, probably under the iPhone announcement load. If anybody knows the code, posting it here might be a good idea (e.g. from MacBreak Weekly say).
Good point about the length of the offer though Dave. I have regularly done the swap with Gazelle where they send me the shipping package and I take a few days to get it back to them, and still get the offered price. Sounds like that might not be true with Amazon, in which case the Gazelle offer might be the better deal if I’m not going to ship the current phone back until I get the new one…
I tried probably 6 or 8 Gazelle codes last night, including a Macbreak one. I think they disabled them all ahead of the iPhone 4 rush. A recent tweet and Facebook message suggests that to be the case.
For you experts, my wife’s T-Mobile MyTouch has some sort of problem where the other person can’t hear her very well. I think it’s an audio hardware problem. It’s not under warranty, but still under 2-year contract. I thought about just buying her a used iphone 3gs or iphone 4. Since I’m taking it to the T-Mobile network, is there a difference between iphone for AT&T vs. iphone for Verizon?
George, you’d have to jailbreak and SIM unlock an iPhone to work on T-Mobile. You’d go with AT&T (GSM) versus Verizon (CDMA). However, you will not get 3G speeds as T-Mobile uses a different frequency than AT&T…
@George. Short answer is yes. Two of the biggest differences are that global roaming and simultaneous voice/data on 3G are available with AT&T; not the case with Verizon.
If you Google or Bing (my preferred search engine) “Differences between iPhone AT&T and iPhone Verizon” you will get plenty of information regarding the differences.
…but as Dave noted, if using on T-Mobile, there will be other considerations.
Dave, so its reduced to EDGE speeds?!?
Interestingly, when we were having the problems with her MyTouch, one of the things that we tried was replacing the sim. When I went to the retail store to get it (as instructed by phone support), the store asked if I wanted a sim for a T-Mobile phone or an iphone sim.
I’ve had the Iphone 4 a year like the rest but it appears ATT is being stingier this time in speeding up the upgrade.
When you dial *NEW you get the text back….mine says I’d have to pay a $250 fee on top and I may be eligible for the free upgrade on 11/30. Bummer!
Wow, pricing actually went UP on instant ebay. I can get 327$ for our iphone 4 16gb, excellent (which it really is) most likely best to upgrade at this point.
Now that the iPhone 4S has a better antenna, I’m kissing my iPhone 4’s death grip goodbye. I checked out the offers for an iPhone 4 32G Verizon in mint condition and here’s what I got: $268 (Cash for iPhones), $204 (Gazelle) and $250 (Totem). Will definitely sell mine to the actual top bidder. So excited to see how Siri will blow my mind!
I’ve used CashForIphones twice. The first time I traded in my original iPhone and my experience was ok. The second time I traded in my pristine iPhone 3GS 32 GB. The quoted price was great and I shipped it off. Once they got it, they came back with a price that was half of the quoted price with no explanation. When I called, they said “That’s the final offer. Take it or leave it.” I ended up taking it, like I’m sure they thought I would. But I wouldn’t ever use them again.
Amazon’s trade ins are awful with iPhones. I personally sent in 100% functional first gen iPhone that they claimed was unacceptable “because data couldn’t be reset.” Well that’s BS because I had reset my personal data before sending it in and verified when I received it back from Amazon that it could be reset again. A coworker sent in a BRAND NEW 3gs that Amazon rejected because “doesn’t make calls.” Of course it doesn’t you have to activate it and sync it with iTunes and it works perfectly. They either don’t know how iPhones work or possibly have a surplus of trade-ins and are therefore fictionalizing reasons to reject them.
Oh, and I’ve used Amazon’s trade-ins for a ton of other stuff (electronics, video games, etc.) with no issues. It’s just the iPhones.
These buy-back programs are a nice security blanket, but I’ve always found that the market rate on eBay for things like iPhones and iPads is roughly 40% higher than these programs offer.
Well, I’m doing Gazelle again because I’ve used them a bunch of times and they’re always reliable. They always give me what they quoted or in some cases more. And yes I’ve used them in conditions like this where I get a quote then don’t send the phone in until I get the new phone a week later. They send me a ‘hey we haven’t received your phone yet’ email but still pay the negotiated price.
Thanks for the heads-up on Amazon’s more limited time offer Dave. And Brian too.
And I’m getting a 4S 64GB white. At least I hope I am. Going to try online first.
Can’t help but give in to the 8 megapixel camera of the new iPhone 4S. I’m ditching my iPhone 3GS 16 GB for $171. I can’t believe that Cash for iPhones is offering me this much considering that my device is OLD. Turns out that iPhones do have a high resale value compared to other smart phones – I’d say it’s worth the money I spent 2 years ago!
Can’t help but give in to the 8 megapixel camera of the new iPhone 4S. I’m ditching my iPhone 3GS 16 GB for $171. I can’t believe that Cash for iPhones is offering me this much considering that my device is OLD. Turns out that iPhones do have a high resale value compared to other smart phones – I’d say it’s worth the money I spent 2 years ago!
Cash for iPhones is offering me $294 for my iPhone 4 16GB AT&T but I’m thinking if I should sell it on eBay and put up with the waiting. Pre-order starts already and I’m hoping for quicker cash. I wonder which option is faster in terms of getting rid of my old iPhone?
This is an upcoming site that currently purchases AT&T iPhone 4. I ended up getting $200 bucks for it, but I rather deal with a company that risk anything on craigslist or ebay fees.