Now that Apple has made the rumored October 22nd date for its iPad event official, it’s now time to seriously start thinking about trading in your old iPad in order to get the most for your money. The chart above from NextWorth is a little taste of what you can expect from trade-in values for iPads in the coming weeks, so if you’re planning on pulling the trigger, now is definitely the time.
Resale prices for previous generation iPads will inevitably drop following the introduction of new iPads– as they have for iPhones since the introduction of the new 5s and 5c last month– so we’ve put together a list of the best places around to get maximum value for your aging iPads, as well as some exclusive promotion codes to get a bonus 10% on your trade-in through a couple popular services.
GameStop: If you’re willing to take GameStop credit instead of cash, GameStop offers some of the highest value for your old iPad, as we also recently discovered for iPhone trade-ins. GameStop is currently offering $239 for the 16GB WiFi iPad 3 and $180 for the 16GB WiFi iPad mini. At the high end of the product line, you can get as much as $469 for your 64GB WiFi+LTE iPad 4 and $368 for the 64GB WiFi+LTE iPad mini.
eBay/ Craigslist: The truth is you’re likely to get a bit more out of your old iOS hardware in any situation by going the sell it yourself route opposed to the usual trade-in programs. You can typically get an extra 15-30% for your old iPad by selling directly to a buyer on sites like eBay and Craigslist, but you miss out on a few of the benefits provided by the trade-in programs. On top of the overall convenience of not having to find and deal with a buyer directly, the trade-in programs typically offer a price lock window allowing you to lock in a price now and wait until after Apple’s announcement to make a final decision and send in your iPad.
BestBuy: BestBuy is offering trade-in values comparable with the other big guys including $175 for the entry level iPad mini in good condition and up to $365 for a 64GB iPad 4 with WiFi+LTE. You’ll be limited to a BestBuy gift card and won’t get the ability to lock in your price and wait to send in your device, but it does offer the added convenience of completing the trade-in in-store at BestBuy.
The new iPad 5 is rumored to get the refreshed design and improved internals, while the second generation iPad mini is rumored to include a Retina display. There have also been some less than reliable leaks showing the new iPads in similar colors to the new iPhone 5s and even whispers of a TouchID fingerprint sensor for the larger of the two new products. They could also sport an upgraded 8 megapixel camera system according to recent reports. It will almost certainly be a compelling upgrade for iPad 2 and iPad 3 owners at the very least, especially as the new iPad mini gets upgraded internals that will now be much more powerful than those devices.
If you find trade-in programs offering more than the services above, let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to the roundup.
