Many people head to Craigslist or eBay with their old phones when their contracts are about to expire or when they just want to upgrade to the latest technology. It isn't the most convenient method, but it's a good way to recoup some of the costs associated with purchasing a new mobile phone. AT&T is rumored to be trying to make the whole process a little easier.
According to Boy Genius Report, AT&T is looking into launching a phone trade-in service sometime in June. The service would allow customers to gain some money back by trading in a used phone for a new, unsubsidized phone at regular price.
There would be a couple stipulations of course. The trade-in phone must not be more than two years old and must be in fair condition. I am not sure what they would deem fair condition, but I would assume most users would be in the clear.
The trade-in phone would be valued from $50 to $200. This is great for customers with average phones, but not so great for those who purchased an unsubsidized smartphone at well over $200.
Like we said before, the trade-in phone would be your savings. The new phone you would be purchasing would lose all of its subsidizing, whether or not you are signing a new contract.
The service may not appeal to most users, especially those who are able to take advantage of subsidized pricing. The ideal situation would be if a customer purchases an iPhone today and a month from now Apple releases a new iPhone. With this service the customer would be able to trade-in the just purchased iPhone for the new iPhone without losing too much money or having to sign another long term contract.
Most tech-savvy users would still probably head to eBay to do their dealings, but having more options is never a bad thing.
