My laptop came within three days of ordering. Compared to their new products, refurbished products with upgraded specs tend to ship faster. If you like ordering from Apple and having their warranty, then there isn’t a problem purchasing refurbished. I figured that if they gave me a worse price, it would be better deciding what to do then and there rather than request my Macbook be mailed back to me (which some people with negative online trade-in experiences did). I was really relieved when the check at the Apple store only took about a minute and they immediately quoted back the maximum $450 I was expecting.
#Trade in your mac for free
I read several stories from Reddit users that Phobio claimed that the Macbook was defective and in some cases offered customers to dispose of the laptop for free rather than give them any money.Īlso, my old Macbook’s trackpad wasn’t super sensitive so I was afraid that Phobio would knock off a lot of the potential credit back because of that. However, I didn’t like that returns took between 2–3 weeks to finalize (see the FAQ in Apple’s trade-in page) and the fact that there were many negative experiences for the online trade-in process. I actually requested a return kit from Phobio before Apple stores reopened.
Why Not Trade-In Online?Īpple uses Phobio to do online trade-ins. That was the exact amount I was quoted online for my old Macbook, and after signing a few things, I had $450 in my pocket. The representative helping me spoke to their manager, and they told me that even though it was past the 14 days since I purchased the new laptop, they could give me $450 in cash instead.
#Trade in your mac pro
After all, I could have sold my 2015 Macbook Pro for a higher place on Facebook marketplace or Ebay, but I liked the convenience of doing it at Apple. I got a little nervous since the last thing I wanted was hiccups with the trade-in. What I failed to recognize was that I was just barely past the two week purchase period of my new Macbook since I wasn’t able to trade in the week before.
#Trade in your mac mac
Unfortunately, my appointment put me in the Mac support category even though I was just there for a trade in.
When I got to the store, I had to wait around twenty minutes which isn’t the usual. I was pretty busy during the week, so I didn’t try to get a slot then. My Trade-In ExperienceĪfter being unable to get an appointment slot, I quickly booked a slot for the following Saturday. However, I think this should be less of an issue as things continue to reopen in the coming months. If you’re looking to trade-in your laptop in store, it’s always safe to make an appointment online to make sure you have a slot. Because it was a Saturday, I was unable to get an appointment for that day, and I resolved to come back the next week. I went to the store the weekend after receiving my new refurbished Macbook, and I wasn’t allowed inside because I didn’t have a Genius Bar appointment. It worked out that Apple stores were open again in my area after being mostly closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. For extra safety, I backed up my data on my old computer manually and then ran the sync after receiving the new one. However, I wanted to use Apple’s Migration Assistant to transfer the files from my old Macbook to the new one before trading in. I also added AppleCare+ because I didn’t want to have to worry about anything going wrong with my laptop in the next few years. It’s not much, but I felt fine doing so since Apple’s refurbished products come with the same 1-year warranty as their new products. Compared to buying directly from their new inventory, I saved just about $80 or so.