Quick Best Buy Trade-In Values (With $200 T-Mobile Promotion):
| Model | before Feb. 7 | since Feb. 07 |
| iPhone SE (2nd generation) | $340 | $330 |
| iPhone 12 | $650 | $575 |
| iPhone 12 mini | $525 | $450 |
| iPhone 11 Pro Max | $650 | $585 |
| iPhone 11 Pro | $590 | $510 |
| iPhone 11 | $500 | $445 |
| iPhone XS Max | $275 | $425 |
| iPhone XS | $410 | |
| iPhone XR | $390 | $365 |
| iPhone X | $380 | $360 |
| iPhone 8 Plus | $340 | |
| iPhone 8 | $230 | |
| iPhone 7 Plus | $240 | |
| iPhone 7 | $190 | |
| iPhone 6s Plus | $200 | |
| iPhone 6s | $180 | |
| iPhone SE (1st generation) | $165 | $165 |
| Samsung S21 Ultra | $770 | |
| Samsung S21+ | $650 | |
| Samsung S21 | $550 | $550 |
| Pixel 6 Pro | $0 | $500 |
| Pixel 4a 5G | $325 | $325 |
This is not the full list of accepted phones (i.e. missing Google and most Samsung phones)
Looking for trade-in phones to buy? Here are your options.
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Q: Who can take advantage of this T-Mobile & Best Buy promotion?
Ans: T-mobile post-paid subscribers only. No prepaid, business, Metro, Mint, etc. accounts. Some business and government T-Mobile discounts will prevent Best Buy from accessing the plan from T-Mobile, and will result in an error (this promotion is not for you unless you remove your discount). T-Mobile insider discount is okay and does not interfere with Best Buy from accessing your plan.
Q: Do we have to pick a plan from Best Buy for T-Mobile if we are not a current customer?
Ans: You don't have to signup for a post paid T-Mobile plan from Best Buy to get this deal. You can sign up for the plan anywhere and have it active before trading in your device at Best Buy. In fact, other retailers like Costco have promotions
they run for new T-Mobile customers / lines, which you can stack with this promotion for extra cash. Also, the cheapest postpaid plan that works for this Best Buy promotion ($20 Talk and Text) is not available to signup at Best Buy, so if you want that plan you will have to signup elsewhere.
Q: What is the cheapest T-Mobile plan that works for this promotion?
Ans: The cheapest T-mobile postpaid plan that works for this promotion is $20/month per line. Plan name is "Unlimited Talk & Text Only". You cannot sign up for it online, you have to call in, chat, or visit a store / reseller. https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/u...hone-deals
Q: What are the acceptable methods of purchasing?
Ans: Order online for in-store trade-in and pickup (same time), or purchase directly in store. Your store must have stock of the phone model you want to purchase.
Q: Can we cancel the plan immediately out of the store?
Ans: If you cancel the plan immediately out of the store then you won't be able to unlock the phone because you are no longer with T-Mobile.
Q: Do they accept trade-in phones with a lightly cracked front / back / any other damage?
Ans: Depends on the rep helping you. We can't tell you what a best buy rep considers as acceptable wear and tear. Typically, the agent does a quick examination of the exterior of the phone and powers on the phone to grab IMEI and other information. Therefore, make it easy for the agent by removing the case, screen protector, resetting the phone, etc.
Q. Can I insert a SIM card from a different carrier other than Tmobile?
Ans: Due to Flex Policy, the iPhone is locked to the first USA sim card inserted. If you don't mind getting the phone unlocked in the future by your carrier, you can insert a USA sim card of your choice. Flex Policy blocks international sims from being used UNTIL the iPhone is fully unlocked (No SIM Restrictions).
Q. Can I trade-in multiple phones for a single purchased iPhone?
Ans: Only 1 trade-in will receive the T-mobile $200 bonus per purchased phone. You can trade-in as many phones as you want for Best Buy gift cards, but that will not include the $200 T-mobile bonus.
Q. Can I trade-in multiple phones for using the same T-mobile phone number?
Ans: Only 1 active trade-in & pickup order per phone number. Once your trade-in and pickup is completed, you can reuse the same number to order another trade-in and pickup. There is a cap on this, but it's unknown / differs by person. Best Buy may block your account by automatically cancelling orders if they suspect you are a reseller or abusing the promotion.
Q. Why does my trade-in receipt only show the value of the phone, without the $200 T-Mobile bonus?
Ans: For online order for in-store trade-in and pickup, this is normal. The receipt (titled "Best Buy Trade-In - Trade-In Receipt) will only show the trade-in value of the phone, not the $200 T-Mobile bonus. The charge to your credit card should be right. Do not hassle the agent about this.
For in-store purchase. your receipt will contain 3 sections:
Was Price: Current Price of the purchased phone
TRADE IN ALLOW 1: Value of trade-in (negative)
T-MOB TRADEIN 2: 200 T-Mobile bonus (negative)
Q. If I fully paid for the iPhone from Best Buy, how do I unlock?
Ans: If you fully paid for the iPhone from Best Buy (no monthly charges), you may be eligible for unlocking from the carrier of your choice. Select your carrier carefully since the Best Buy iPhone will lock to the first carrier sim that is insert in the phone.
T-Mobile
Call, Facebook Message, or Twitter T-Mobile to ask for the unlock. The official unlocking policy is 40 days on an active T-Mobile line, but SDers have reported successful unlocking anywhere between 1 to 40 days. What they need is a screenshot or photo of the Best Buy receipt showing the IMEI of the phone.
AT&T
AT&T Unlock portal works for some Best Buy iPhones for automated unlocks between 1 to 24 hours. You can check to see if the AT&T Unlock Portal supports your iPhone's IMEI without locking it to AT&T. The full instructions is in post #1534
Verizon
Verizon's official policy is automatic unlock after 60 days. YMMV, there is a paid Verizon unlock service.
Other Carriers
Other carriers are not recommended because they may not be able to unlock phones that weren't purchased directly from them. Use at your own risk.
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Tips for the first timers, keep your trade-in simple and ordinary to avoid questions and minimize time needed.
1) Trade-in a phone that looks used. Take your trade-in out of the box. Remove factory plastic wrap. Jingle it in your pockets to get some dirt and lint on it. Get some fingerprints and oil on it. You don't have to actually use or activate the phone, just make it look used. Trading in a perfect, spotless phone invites questions because it is out of the ordinary.
2) Trade-in the phone only. Remove the box, accessories, and case / screen protector. BB doesn't want them.
3) Factory reset the trade-in phone at home. Per the terms that you agreed to when you signed up for the trade-in, you must sign out of all your accounts (apple, google, etc.) and factory reset the phone. Do this at home to minimize the time at BB. Your trade-in should be at the "hello" screen when you hand it over to the BB agent.
4) Remove the sim card from the trade-in at home. You don't want to accidentally give away your sim card (some agents don't check). Also, you don't want to raise suspicion if the agent does check and finds a tracfone sim card on a "verizon" phone. Remove your sim card at home.
5) Charge your trade-in. Your trade-in just needs to be charged enough for the BB agent to get the necessary information off of it. Don't bring a dead phone and expect them to charge it.
Doing this keeps your trade-in time to under 5 mins at BB.
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Everything below is a copy from the very helpful wiki of the previous BB Tmobile iPhone thread https://slickdeals.net/f/15340573-for-t-mobile-plans-trade-in-apple-iphone-and-save-up-to-975-on-iphone-13s-or-other-brands?v=1
Slickdeals Rule 1 | You don't talk about Slickdeals.
Note for NYS: Apparently all Long Island stores are not eligible for this offer as they don't have the appropriate licensing with T-Mobile. Must go to an NYC store.
Folks not receiving verification text from BestBuy - Opt for text messages from BestBuy by sending 'HELP' to numbers - 332211 and 22891 (do both). You should receive verification text on the next try
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If you get the message "We're sorry, there was an issue processing your request. Please try again later." when trying to validate your T-Mobile account, try the follow procedure below. It seems to help some users but not all YMMV!.
Go to your T-Mobile account and turn OFF every block for "chargeable" things including sms, downloads, etc. If they are already OFF toggle them ON and OFF just to clear the system of residual blocks. You CAN leave scam block ON. Then send "HELP" (without quotes) text message from each of your mobile no. that you are trying to upgrade to 22891, 332211 and 66803. Wait 30 minutes after completing everything above and try again. If it does not work, you might an account that has employee discounts or something else.
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I got the message that the "Package could not be added to cart". I went to the BB store to get the line added and found that i had the "International Long distance Barrring Call feature turned on which is causing the issue. We spoke to a T-Mobile Rep who removed the feature and then the order went smoothly.
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Top Comments
T-Mo is still the best in value overall.
2,860 Comments
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PS: I did had to wait for 30mins for a first response, after that it was smooth.
Posted a free VZ iphone 12 mini / minimal cost iphone 12 verizon deal a couole months ago
And no trade in required - period. Just needed to add a line of postpaid service and phone was completely free
Deal got shat on
But this is front page? I dunno…doesnt add up
but im open to hearing what im missing or what makes this better ? Im sure theres something obvious and just too early for me to see it…
For what it's worth I had bought 15 13's, unlocked the first 11 using the AT&T portal no issue, then 3 of the last 4 I hit the error of the portal not recognizing the IMEI so I stopped using the portal cause it wasn't worth the chance. Today I bought a mini for my own use and based on your post which provided a way to check for the error prior to actually getting stuck, I checked it before activating, got no error and thus was able to complete the unlock quickly through the portal.
My only thought is the mini's don't seem to sell as quick and if there is something with the age of the IMEI that is the source of the problem, like newer stock IMEI's are not properly listed or something, but at least we seem to have a way to check first.
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Here is my experience. My parents have been with sprint and T-Mobile for almost 20 years. I traded in an old XR for a 13 and paid the difference. I contacted T-Mobile on Twitter and they immediately unlocked it. Again they have been customers for two decades. I suspect that helped.
Second, I took an 11 I got from the Total Wireless deal and got a mini with it. I took an old Verizon sim and inserted it to the 13 mini. It was locked to Verizon and then I paid a factory unlock service on eBay. $2 and it was unlocked in 24 hours.
My parents have always paid their bill and don't try to get deals/ upgrade phones all the time so I suspect this may have helped. The 13 will be used with their account, the other one will be used by a sibling not on their account and have AT&T.
I would appreciate it if you could answer a specific question. Did you request unlock before or after phone activation. If after, how long? as the agents always told me the phones needed to be on T-mobile network for a while.
Posted a free VZ iphone 12 mini / minimal cost iphone 12 verizon deal a couole months ago
And no trade in required - period. Just needed to add a line of postpaid service and phone was completely free
Deal got shat on
But this is front page? I dunno…doesnt add up
but im open to hearing what im missing or what makes this better ? Im sure theres something obvious and just too early for me to see it…
Can you cancel the line after getting the phone? What is the minimum cost for that line?
I would appreciate it if you could answer a specific question. Did you request unlock before or after phone activation. If after, how long? as the agents always told me the phones needed to be on T-mobile network for a while.
I understand if I insert my friends T-mobile SIM and activate I have to reach T-force to get it unlocked.
Then I saw the T-mobile deal on Slickdeals so I needed to act fast because I think the deal ends today or tomorrow. Here is what I did:
1. Went to Costco to get the $300 T-Mobile BYOD credit with a $20 talk/text line. The line at Costco was huge and really did not want to wait an hour or so, so went to T-mobile store. They had the $20 talk/text sim and signed me up (yes I paid the $30 activation fee, which would not be charged if I had called them and had them ship it - but since time was of the essence, needed up paying it). So basically keep this for 40 days (or less), pay $50.
2. Went home and setup a T-Mobile account. Inserted the TMO sim into the iPhone 11 that I was going to trade in and went through the steps to purchase the phone. First couple of times, the BB website did not work so I called them and they said it was a known issue and the best thing for me to do was go into the store and get the deal. I said NO. I then tried the same thing in incognito mode, no cookies etc. and it Worked!
3. So then I went to the Best Buy and to pickup the phone when it was ready. I went near the close and the young man wanted to insert the sim for me and I said no and he said ok and handed me the phone.
4. I went home, inserted the TMO sim into the new phone and everything worked just fine. Now I will wait to cancel TMO service and have an unlocked phone.
One question I have, I do have a Mint Sim as well. If I had put that in the phone first, would I be locked to Mint? Would I still be able to use the TMO service? This does have a dual SIM capability, will I be able to use both MINT and TMO??
I may just put in the Mint Sim when I get back home to see what happens, but do not want this to mess up and then I will have to deal with Mint and TMO and who know who else.
Thanks and Good luck
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