Wal-Mart made headlines today with its newly announced trade-in program for smartphone, coinciding with the unveiling of Apple’s latest iPhone. But while the retail giant may boast of having the largest brick-and-mortar trade-in program in the U.S., it may not offer the best deal. In a best-case scenario, Wal-Mart offers $300 for your used smartphone — and sometimes as little as $50. That’s in store credit, which you can only use to buy another smartphone at Wal-Mart.
But as reporters noted, you could potentially sell your smartphone on eBay for up to $430 — in cash. Spend it anywhere you like!
“If we look back a month ago today, at the number of listings we had for iPhone 5′s, we can say that we have seen a 44 percent uptick in the number of iPhone 5′s for sale on the platform,” said Jeff Somers, vice president of eBay North America marketplaces, in an interview with CNBC. “[Consumers] are getting their items ready for sale on eBay so that they can trade-up or take advantage of new opportunities to move into a new phone by selling their phone on eBay.”
And don’t forget that with My Gadgets, you can track the value of all the electronics you own, to help you determine the right time to sell.