Unless Apple is setting us up for a huge, loping curve ball, millions of people will buy a new iPad sometime shortly after Wednesday’s anticipated iPad 3 announcement. And if you’re among the millions who already have a first- or second-generation iPad and you’re looking to upgrade, maybe your first stop shouldn’t be an Apple Store, but rather Amazon.com.
Amazon is offering surprisingly high bounties for used iPads, proving that even the bottom feeders of Apple’s tablet line-up still generate significant public interest.
Right now the “hottest” — or perhaps just the most-desired — electronic trade-ins on the site are early-model iPod music players. But iPad buy-backs should be more relevant than ever in light of recently released data that show many consumers would happily buy the iPad 2 and even the original iPad if their prices were low enough.
It’s not often publicized, but Amazon does a brisk business in buying and selling used media and electronics. As at press time, Amazon’s partner merchants were offering as much as $500 for a like-new iPad 2 with 3G or $320 for a first-gen iPad, depending on features and conditions. The used devices are typically either refurbished or sold as-is, often through Amazon. Sellers don’t receive cash, but rather store credit — a nice way for Amazon to ensure it retains you as a customer, and benefits more than once from the buy-back transaction.
But even though Amazon is offering fairly generous trade-in numbers — they compare favorably to eBay’s prices for the same models — it isn’t exactly awash in iPads. The iPad 2 is only the 45th most popular electronics device in Amazon’s trade-in store. Either users don’t know how badly Amazon wants the iPad, or they’re selling it in other markets — eBay, at least, is reporting a 10-fold year-over-year increase in trade-ins of older iPads.
If you sell your iPad (or any other accepted device), you have to affirm its condition according to Amazon’s guidelines. In the case of a tablet, an otherwise perfect device without its original packaging drops from “like new” to “good.” Laser engraving, a missing AC adapter, or a scratched-but-working display drops the tablet to an “acceptable” rating. And if you dropped your iPad in the tub and it won’t power on, don’t bother.
But just how many people are looking to unload perfectly good iPads? And why are merchants so interested in buying up these older devices? A study released Friday by independent mobile ad network inMobi reveals the following:
- Demand for the iPad 3 is huge; 29 percent of its sampling of mobile users are planning to buy one.
- Out of that group, a full 54 percent do not already own a tablet; they’re brand-new customers. But the rest already have a device they may be looking to unload.
- 65 percent of the group who intend to buy an iPad 3 would consider buying an iPad or iPad 2 at a reduced price instead. In fact, 57 percent said that if the iPad 3 is over $599 would opt for an older or less expensive model instead.
“Trade-In is an extension of our existing, thriving marketplace — we view this as another opportunity to better serve our customers,” Amazon spokeswoman Stacey Keller wrote in an email to Wired. “Amazon’s Trade-In Program complements the selling experience on Amazon. The key distinction between trading in and selling is convenience — the Trade-In Program offers free shipping, guaranteed payment, and no required registration or listing.”
Keller declined to name partner merchants involved in its trade-in program, and wouldn’t provide details about its number of partners or the size of the trade-in business, whether in dollars or units traded.
Older iPods, Kindles, GPS devices, cameras, external hard drives and even Android tablets are all much more popular than iPads — that is, among people looking to trade in a device for credit. Who knows what the next weeks will bring?
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