Flipping the new cell phone from contract renewal

[livewire516]

My apologies is advanced if this topic has been covered before, I tried my hand at the search function but didn't find results related to the exact question on my mind.

The questions is: has anyone bought a heavily discounted cell phone with their contract renewal, only to keep their old one and sell the unlocked phone immediately? Details below.

The one place I am not completely financially independent from my parents is that I am still on their wireless family plan.  I have been only paying for the cost of my extra line and data plan ($40); I've offered to pay a greater share of the bill but they are unconcerned.  So I have a subsidized 4G plan if you will.  I'll be eligible for a two year upgrade rebate for a new phone with their contract renewal.  I'm more than happy with my 2 y.o iPhone 5, so I thought I may buy the iPhone 6+ or whatever it is the kids want these days and flip it on ebay as an unlocked phone right before the holidays.

Has anyone done this?  What are your thoughts or concerns.  Any recommendations on which models may offer the greatest margin?

I appreciate your ideas!

[geekette]

But would it be unlocked?

[GizmoTX]

The upgrade eligibility is not a rebate -- it means your current phone has finally been paid off & you are now free to pay on a new one. All the carriers will charge you the full iPhone retail price over the course of your contract -- you only choose how fast that will be. If you do upgrade, the family bill will increase, which you should pay. I believe only T-mobile has an unlocked version because it uses a different band technology.

Reselling the new phone only works if you can get more than the full retail price, which was possible if you were selling to a country like China during the very first days of the 6 launch. I doubt that's the case now.

During the first month of the 6 launch, most carriers were offering sizable trade-ins for older phones well over their resale value.

[Clever Name]

If you do upgrade, the family bill will increase, which you should pay.

Obviously it depends on the carrier, but in general your bill does not increase when you upgrade your phone, nor does it decrease if you choose to keep the old device. If you don't upgrade the carrier just gets to make a bigger profit on you.

[GizmoTX]

The monthly bill definitely increases if you upgrade an AT&T iPhone, unless you buy the phone outright at retail, add it to your plan, & drop your old phone. Their Next (Mobile Share) plan advertises zero down, but you have to pay the sales tax up front plus 12 or 18 payments that will equal the full retail price of the phone. It's essentially a zero percent financing plan, not a contract. If you then choose to upgrade again on Next before your plan period is up, you have to give back the current phone. However, if you don't, the charge for the phone itself stops. The other AT&T option is the contract that used to subsidize part of the cost, but now it works out to be more expensive than Next.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/iphone-6-plans-compared-at-t-verizon-sprint-and-97601904249.html

[livewire516]

It sounds like I need to determine if my Verizon plan is eligible for a discounted upgrade or if it just incorporates the price into the bill.