BigHabitat
Level 2 Member
Ok, I’m a little late to the game on this one, but this is interesting.
Say you’ve got a crappy tablet that you know there is no point to try to sell because its next to worthless. Maybe you bought some Sears deals on crappy tablets in the past for next to nothing.
Maybe you are just looking for another resale opportunity…
So here’s the deal..
Best Buy will give you a $50 Best Buy gift card plus a $150 coupon for a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for trading in any working tablet (doesn’t include e-readers). So you turn in your tablet, and then you get the $50 gift card plus a voucher for $150 off through 4/25/15 when you buy a Surface Pro 3
So this is really two deals…
- Do the trade in for $50 and
- Have an option to buy the Surface 3 Pro for at least $150 off.
Does a Resale on the Surface 3 Pro at $150 off make sense?.
And if you want to get a Surface 3, the lowest i3 model is $799.99 at Best Buy, so $649.99 plus tax after coupon. It sells on Amazon for $762 from third parties with Prime, $799.99 from Amazon. And it’s a hot seller at #196 in Computers and Accessories. Assuming a $759.99 sales price, Amazon fees are about $46 and you might net just under $710 after shipping to Amazon. That would not be worth it to me, since your cost is going to be about $690 (assuming $649.99 plus 6% tax or so), plus some 2.5% or so in Best Buy rewards (call it $15). $35 on $690 is not worth it unless I’m getting a nice portal bonus which there is none here.
But, here are a coupon of ways to juice the deal up:
- Use a Best Buy movers coupon (sometimes available at your post office) to get 10% off
- Use an edu coupon (need to sign up for here to start Best Buy getting coupons)
- Use discounted Best Buy gift cards to purchase the items. For example, Kroger has 4x on gift cards right now. $700 in Best Buy gift cards could get you $35 in cash with a 5% category bonus on your credit card, plus 2800 fuel points which is basically $1 off per gallon 3 times for up to 35 gallons each (value of up to $105, depending on how many 5 gallon gas jugs you have. Even if you use half of that, you should get about $50 in value, plus $35 in cash for $85 total. BUT keep in mind if you buy with gift cards you will not have extended warranty coverage (more important if for personal use).
And if you aren’t happy with the deal on the Surface Pro 3, you at least got a $50 gift card for that piece of garbage tablet cluttering up your basement.
Risks:
- Keep in mind that this is a high value item. If something goes wrong (e.g., a return with a problem), you could take a big hit
- There is a risk that Microsoft will suddenly drop the retail price. On the original Surface they had a very sudden drop from $499 to $349. Guess what – I had a huge spike in returns. Again, probably not an issue if you resell a lot of items, but something to consider if you are just starting out
- Current pricing on Amazon can obviously fluctuate while you ship the item to them. I’m not that worried about this unless Amazon lowers their price since its a very popular, high-cost item (think ipads)
The trade in deal ends tomorrow, though you will still have plenty of time to get the gift cards to make the purchase.
Heres the link to the offer on Best Buy.
Here’s a link to a very lengthy discussion on slickdeals on this offer.
Here’s the full terms and conditions:
Keyboard sold separately. Valid in store only 4/12/15-4/18/15. Coupon redemption valid until 4/25/15. When you trade in a working tablet, get a minimum $50 Best Buy gift card and a $150 coupon good toward purchase of a new Surface Pro 3. Excludes Outlet and Marketplace items, special order, clearance, demo and open-box items. E-readers and Boogie Boards ineligible for trade-in. Not available in all locations, and some stores may have additional limitations. Trade-in value may vary. Condition, documentation and accessories may affect value. Device must power on to be considered working. Water-damaged devices and devices with cracked screens are not considered working devices for purposes of this offer. Warranty seals must be intact for trade-in. Not compatible with other trade-in offers. You are responsible for removing any data from your product before providing the product for evaluation. You will be required to agree to the Terms & Conditions. Best Buy Trade-In is intended for private, non-commercial use. Limit of 2 trade-in tablets per person. Limit 1 coupon per transaction. Best Buy reserves the right to refuse any trade-in or limit quantities for any reason. See a Customer Specialist for details.
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