Shopping For A New iPhone or Smartphone? Here’s How to Get the Best Trade-in and Most Money for Your Old Smartphone

If there’s no Apple Store in your neighborhood, Walmart and Best Buy also offer trade-in programs. Both offer online quotes or in-store credit toward a new phone.

Walmart has just introduced an in-store trade-in program that lets you take your old phone into one of the chain’s 3,600 Walmart or Sam’s Club stores and get immediate credit of $50 to $300 towards the purchase of a new phone with a two-year contract. Walmart’s trade-in quotes on iPhones range from $160 for an iPhone 4S from Sprint or Verizon to $205 for one from AT&T up to $315 for an iPhone 5 from AT&T or T-Mobile. If your old phone isn’t from Apple, Walmart is also giving credit on other used smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy SIII fetches $175, while the Galaxy S2 is worth $52. Walmart’s trade-in program starts on September 21.

Walmart is doing more to lure you into their stores by offering discount prices on the new Apple iPhones. The chain will be selling the 16GB iPhone 5C for $79, a $20 drop from the retail price of $99. The 16GB iPhone 5S will go for $189, $10 down from the regular price. Both deals include a two-year contract with one of the major carriers. It won’t be a huge surprise if rival retailers come up with comparable deals over the next few weeks.

Best Buy has had a trade-in program on various devices for a while now and is offering credit amounts slightly better than those of Walmart, starting at $178.50 for an iPhone 4S from Verizon or Sprint to $346.50 for an AT&T iPhone 5.

If you’re looking to score some cold hard cash for your used smartphone, check out Gazelle.com. Gazelle will buy your old phone and send you a check in amounts of up to $200 for a T-Mobile iPhone 4S or $330 for a T-Mobile iPhone 5.

Be warned that not every used phone can be traded in for a big down payment on a new model. A “flawless” 8GB iPhone 3GS is worth only $12 at Gazelle, even if it’s unlocked. On the bright side, that non-working 3GS that you’ve been using as a paperweight since you left it in your jeans pocket and ran it through the wash cycle is worth $5, so you might as well trade it in and buy a Happy Meal. A 2009 BlackBerry Bold in working condition will bring a little more—$31. If you bought the Samsung Galaxy SIII last year and want to upgrade, Gazelle is offering $165—a nice down payment on the SIV.

Another chain offering big bucks for used iPhones is GameStop, where trade-in estimates start at $199 for a Sprint iPhone 4S and go up to $405 for an AT&T iPhone 5.

From now until the end of the year, and especially around Black Friday in November, all of the smartphone sellers will be competing for your business, so you can afford to bide your time and be picky.

While Apple has always been stingy about allowing retailers to offer discounts on their products, that doesn’t preclude the chains from throwing in a gift card or offering an extra few bucks on your trade-in. Starting September 16, you can pick up an iPhone 4 for ten cents and get a $100 Walmart gift card. That’s a sweet deal if you have a teen begging for a phone and that gift card can buy a few Christmas presents.

While the Apple faithful will be camping out in front of Apple Stores to be the first to get their hands on a shiny new gold iPhone 5S or dreamy pink iPhone 5C, savvy shoppers will be comparing the trade-in values on their old phones and checking sale circulars to see which chain is offering the best deal on the new smartphone they’ve been craving.

Everybody wants to sell you a new phone, so it’s a buyer’s market. Whether you’re eyeing a top-of-the-line smartphone or just looking to upgrade your old one as cheaply as possible, it’s a great time to get a deal on a new phone.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with all of the different choices of smartphones be sure to check out this article that will help you choose Which of the Top 10 Smartphones Is Right For You.

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