Author Topic: Opinions: Anyone selling iPhone to Gazelle now hoping to buy another later?  (Read 4602 times)

Mother Fussbudget

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Gazelle is offering to buy your 'iPhone5' today - lock in the price today, BUT you don't have to send them your device until AFTER you've purchased the new iPhone Air (iPhone6).

Q:  Is anyone thinking of selling their iPhone to Gazelle - taking advantage of this price lock in offer - with the plan of buying a replacement iPhone5 once the iPhone6 goes on-sale?  (i.e. once iPhone5 prices drop in the aftermarket)

I'm considering it...  but I'm hesitant.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2014, 12:03:03 PM by Mother Fussbudget »

Mrs. PoP

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Check Glyde to see if you'd get more selling it there.  We sure did when we sold ours with our switch to Ting earlier this year.  The prices Gazelle was quoting were REALLY low by comparison.

Daley

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The real question is why do you feel it necessary to upgrade to the newest, shiniest iPhone in the first place (or even worse, trading in just to buy a previous upgrade model that's "gone on sale")? What can/will this do that your current symbolic icon of excessive consumerism cannot, and is it really worth spending several hundred dollars on, or being locked into an expensive two year contract with debt payments for?

Just a brief reminder: In other parts of the world, an amount as little as $900 equals a lifetime enslavement debt for an entire family. Also, Congo conflict minerals are used to make a lot of electronics... and this is where your electronic waste ends up once you're done with it. Do consider the impact these devices have on your fellow man and the environment as well as the amount of money you're actually dealing with just to get a small glowing rectangle that makes noises and lets you talk to other people not in the same room as you.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2014, 02:43:19 PM by I.P. Daley »

Frugally-raised

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I've done this every time I've purchased a new iPhone. (Not every year; I wait until I'm out of contract.)

Why? I have no need to keep an old phone around, Gazelle was one of the first places to offer a guaranteed price for a long period of time, Gazelle is very easy to use, and Gazelle is reliable.

There are places where you can get more money, but they take more time, are more hassle, or seem more risky. In my opinion, of course.

Mother Fussbudget

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In my case, I would be selling my iPhone5 TODAY - while Gazelle is willing to pay $150 or more for it - with the promise from Gazelle that I can send-them-the-device AFTER the iPhone6 has gone on sale. 

Daley: (with greatest respect)  My plan would NOT be to buy a new iPhone6 (I'm not that excited about having a phablet at this point).  Instead, I would SELL my current iPhone5, and then purchase ANOTHER iPhone5 after the price for these older models has gone down. 

In  my case, I may decide to move from an iPhone5 to an iPhone5s, and may end up saving ~$20 by 'timing the market'.   
This is the ONLY case I'm confident in timing the market - Apple has allowed all the hype to drive the consumer minions to drive valuations down  on older models. 

Q: Would it be worth ~$20 to me to do this?   A:  Maybe... to me, it sounds like a great science experiment. (i.e. it should be fun!)
Q: Do I *need* a smartphone?   A: While I *might* be able to get along without one, my current 'day-job' is building websites & apps for these powerful pocket-sized glowing rectangles. ;-)
« Last Edit: August 28, 2014, 04:09:11 PM by Mother Fussbudget »


legrandice

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I sold my last droid phone for the upgrade cost on the new one.  I used gazelle and would do so again. 

Daley

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Daley: (with greatest respect)  My plan would NOT be to buy a new iPhone6 (I'm not that excited about having a phablet at this point).  Instead, I would SELL my current iPhone5, and then purchase ANOTHER iPhone5 after the price for these older models has gone down. 

In  my case, I may decide to move from an iPhone5 to an iPhone5s, and may end up saving ~$20 by 'timing the market'.   
This is the ONLY case I'm confident in timing the market - Apple has allowed all the hype to drive the consumer minions to drive valuations down  on older models. 

Q: Would it be worth ~$20 to me to do this?   A:  Maybe... to me, it sounds like a great science experiment. (i.e. it should be fun!)
Q: Do I *need* a smartphone?   A: While I *might* be able to get along without one, my current 'day-job' is building websites & apps for these powerful pocket-sized glowing rectangles. ;-)

You still haven't answered the question: What can the one you're going to buy do that the one you already have cannot?

All you've given are justifications to buy more stuff because the math might work in your favor. A scheme where netting $20 while exploiting Apple's consumerist cycle by buying yet another phone when the one you have already is perfectly serviceable is wasteful. Ask yourself at what price does that $20 in your pocket come at when you know where the minerals come from in its manufacture and where the devices go when they're abandoned by their owners?

You have a serviceable and current phone, and the officially supported OS version is still current, which leaves it valid and relevant for development, especially since you have no interest in buying an iPhone 6. Either use it until it's no longer valid for development in your line of work, or until it is so irrefutably broken that it no longer works no matter how much effort and parts replacement is done to keep it operational. Use it up, wear it out... that's the heart and soul of true frugality.

neo von retorch

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Would you be *buying* an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s used? In that case, it doesn't really matter. If you ultimately save a bit of money and get a newer device, but aren't contributing (directly) to new electronic purchases. (But it might be arguable that by selling/buying at all, you're contributing a bit, and it's likely the iPhone 5s you bought would be replaced by an iPhone 6 by the person that sold it to you.)

unpolloloco

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In my case, I would be selling my iPhone5 TODAY - while Gazelle is willing to pay $150 or more for it - with the promise from Gazelle that I can send-them-the-device AFTER the iPhone6 has gone on sale. 

Daley: (with greatest respect)  My plan would NOT be to buy a new iPhone6 (I'm not that excited about having a phablet at this point).  Instead, I would SELL my current iPhone5, and then purchase ANOTHER iPhone5 after the price for these older models has gone down. 

In  my case, I may decide to move from an iPhone5 to an iPhone5s, and may end up saving ~$20 by 'timing the market'.   
This is the ONLY case I'm confident in timing the market - Apple has allowed all the hype to drive the consumer minions to drive valuations down  on older models. 

Q: Would it be worth ~$20 to me to do this?   A:  Maybe... to me, it sounds like a great science experiment. (i.e. it should be fun!)
Q: Do I *need* a smartphone?   A: While I *might* be able to get along without one, my current 'day-job' is building websites & apps for these powerful pocket-sized glowing rectangles. ;-)

You do realize that the 4s is still going for >$100 on the used market?  You'll sell your 5 for $150, then probably buy a 5s for ~$250 (unless you have a subsidy).

Nords

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... Gazelle is very easy to use, and Gazelle is reliable.
A few years ago I sold two Dell laptops to Gazelle because their quoted price was higher than Craigslist.  Gazelle wouldn't send me their pre-paid box (Hawaii) so I paid the ~$10/box to send them to Gazelle. 

Lo & behold, when the laptops arrived at Gazelle they discovered "damage" that didn't exist when I put the laptops in the boxes.  They paid me ~$11 per laptop.  I could've gottem more than that by selling the laptops for parts.

I'm no longer going to use a service that can effectively keep my possessions hostage and change the terms of the deal.

Thegoblinchief

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Listen to Daley.

GGNoob

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I always sell my iPhones on eBay. I get to upgrade every 10 months at work. Last December bought the new 5S for $200 and sold my 5 for $415 on eBay. After eBay costs and shipping, I made a bit over $150 in profit by upgrading and selling my old phone.


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