American retail giant Best Buy has this week announced a new online trade-in scheme whereby consumers can send in a wide variety of “gently used” electronic devices such as PCs, laptops, mobile devices, monitors, videogame console, digital cameras and more in return for evaluation-based gift cards that can be used against any Best Buy purchase.
American retailer Best Buy launched Trade-In web site that\'s not an instant hit with consumers. Credit: Best Buy.
By using Best Buy’s ‘Estimator’ tool, interested consumers will receive an instant estimate as to the trade-in value of their good(s) before then registering to the Best Buy Trade-In Center should the offered value prove acceptable.
Following registration, a printed prepaid shipping label should then be used to send the trade item(s) to Best Buy, which will return a gift card to the consumer around seven days after taking receipt of their shipment.
While honesty is the best policy for ensuring an accurate evaluation, which Best Buy can dispute before issuing gift cards, consumers are advised to abide by the following quality guide when submitting the state of their equipment to the Estimator:
Excellent: the system is in excellent working condition and needs no refurbishment. The body of the product is clean and in LIKE NEW condition - and all parts of the item operate as they did when the item was new.
Good: Fully functional - with no technical problems, may have a few “normal wear” scratches, smudges.
Poor: Functional and in working condition for the intended purpose with no major technical problems. The item may have cosmetic defects such as dents, scratches, stickers smudges. A battery door may be missing, or there may be a crack in the case.
While Best Buy’s trade-in offer seems sound enough (though the official Web site does convey a lot of instruction), those trying out the Estimator have been left far from impressed by the system’s core point of interest -- the value Best Buy puts on used items.
Specifically, commenting posters at gaming news Web site N4G are offering that electronics owners looking to move good-quality but unwanted equipment should avoid Best Buy’s poor monetary returns and stick to placing their own price via the likes of Craigslist or try their luck through online auction site eBay.
Specifically, poster PS3n360 claimed that Best Buy’s trade-in Web site is a “RIP OFF” after the Estimator offered a mere $382 USD for an Apple MacBook Pro worth more than $2,000 USD. And fellow poster VirusE was similarly unimpressed by the Estimator, which offered $191 USD for an Apple iPhone described as being in near perfect condition.
Putting the Estimator to the test, The Tech Herald looked to see what it would receive for its virtually brand new Nintendo Wii system, 2 game controllers, all standard cables, and more than seven games (not built into the system). The result was that Best Buy would be willing to offer us a total of $212.35 USD on collective goods we shopped around and valued at around $659.99 USD.
On that evidence, we’d also recommend that those people looking to offload used consumer electronics should head to eBay before contemplating the rather poor return of Best Buy’s Estimator.
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