Starting on September 9th 2015 there is a special offer happening where you can “Get top dollar for your mobile phone”. Trade in your old cellphone with Amazon.com and receive an Amazon Gift Card to the value of your phone in exchange. All you have to do is find the phone you are interested in exchanging on the “Amazon Trade In” search tab (Click here to go straight to the list of phones on amazon.com that are eligible for trade-in). Actually, don't.Then, as long as your phone meets the criteria, such as being in acceptable condition, and being the actual model you are swapping for a gift card, (You can’t say your trading in a Samsung S3 and then go ahead and send in an old battered Nokia 3310) you just accept the exchange / trade-in price (Paid to you by Gift Card) and send the phone to Amazon. Sending Amazon the phone is free of charge as they will let you use a free post shipping label to send them your phone.
Now exchanging / trading-in items with Amazon is nothing new. Users have been able to trade in all sorts of goods for quite some time, such as books, DVDs and Computer games. The introduction of “better prices” for cellphones is a great addition, but how do Amazon’s prices compare to the phone recycle companies. As you probably know if you’ve ever tried to sell a mobile phone using a phone recycling company, their prices are extremely low and in most cases it’s not even worth the bother. For the price they offer pay you may as well say you haven’t sold your phone but have donated / given it away for free instead.
Is Amazon any different? Well, its a mixed bag. Some cellphone models, such as the White Apple iPhone 5 (16GB – 32GB) can net you an Amazon Gift Card worth from between $200 – $250, while the Samsung S3, dependant on model, is marked up from between $50 – $130. Samsung S4 from $100 – $200. While a lot of the less sought after phones like the ZTE Source, Samsung Straight Talk, HTC Desire 612, Blackberry Curve 8530, Lenovo A6000, and Nokia Luma 635 aren’t worth much at all. We’re talking from not even a dollar in trade value up to less than $20. There are a lot of models eligible for trade in. Prices are all over the place. Best thing to do is give it a try and see what your phone is worth. Or better still, sell your phone on eBay and put the money towards a new / different model.
