Forum Discussion
feeling robbed
why is it that the trade in value for our phones is so low however we still have to pay so much for the phone. it makes no sense that i have a $200+ balance left on my phone but this same phone is on...
T-mobile does not set the prices of phones, nor the value of phones.
The manufacturer of the phone sets the price on the phone, and T-mobile simply sells it for such price. If you buy the phone for the price, then you decided it was worth the price to purchase it. In 2 years, the same exact phone is going be sold for 100-200 less brand new. That's not because phones always cost less to produce after a year, its because they're selling last gen devices to a different target demographic, and likely have already paid off their R&D and marketing costs.
When you attempt to trade in a phone, Assurant is actually purchasing it without really seeing it. They will ask a few qualifying questions of the rep who helps you, but otherwise cannot see the scratches, general wear and tear of the device. A broken back glass iPhone still qualifies as a good trade-in, but is going to require a $150 repair once it is received. Since Assurant accepts a wide variety of conditions, they level out the value between the entire range of possible qualities. Whatever the value T-Mobile pays out to you, Assurant approves and reimburses Tmo.
Trade-ins are never fair value, never when you go to a car lot or a cell phone company. If you get $800 off a new phone with trade in, that is like the $20-350 your phone is worth and the rest comes out of manufacturer incentives and T-Mobile's marketing budget. T-Mobile is subsidizing your phone with a promotion, but if no promotion is available you can only get whatever Assurant is willing to pay for a "used functioning any condition" phone.
Waiting for a trade-in promo where T-Mobile makes up the difference in credits over 24 months can help. As gramps said though. Selling your device on Swappa will get you fair market value. The companies that take these trade-ins for carriers, Asurion and Assurant never come close to a fair value. You could literally send them a brand new sealed in the box S22 Ultra and you would be lucky to get $200 in trade in value from them.
Depending on the device you have traded in. Different manufacturers tend to offer some good trade-in deals. Samsung on the rare occasion, will offer a flat amount on any working Galaxy device, no matter how old. These are the promos to look out for. BestBuy tends to be a little better usually with their trade-in values and sometimes they have some decent promos as well.
