Pre-Order Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Phone w/ Eligible Trade-In Device, Get Extra

Ubuntu_user

Mar 22, 2026 2:47 PM

124 Comments

Joined Dec 2009

Ubuntu_userMar 22, 2026 2:47 PM

124 Comments

Quote from arbitrager

:

yeah, activated each phone. Then I ported out the $20/gb lines numbers to metropcs for the 16e's, and traded each of those two phones to Apple for $310 each. Did it twice now so I have $1240 in my apple account

I'll keep the main free line to unlocked each phone once 60 days for each phone

I'm curious how you've got $1240 if you only traded in two 16e iphones?
Gotta keep the metropcs lines active for three months as well, right? So total cost:
$80 spectrum (2 line activations and 2 $20 by the gig plans) + $310 metropcs (2 lines for 3 months) = $390 for $620 apple GC
Net $230

NeatDeer418

Mar 22, 2026 3:42 PM

37 Comments

Joined May 2020

NeatDeer418Mar 22, 2026 3:42 PM

37 Comments

Quote from xPhrosty

:

you need to wait 60 days to get the phone unlocked anyway, but yeah, it would suck to wait that long for the trade-in credit to show up in your spectrum account, especially if you're paying with credit card.

To anyone new, if you get the refund the next cycle and it zeroes out your credit card balance, you still need to pay the minimum amount to avoid a missed payment.
If this already happened, call your bank and explain what happened. They will usually remove it.

arbitrager

Mar 22, 2026 3:51 PM

2.2K Comments

Joined Jan 2009

arbitragerMar 22, 2026 3:51 PM

2.2K Comments

Quote from Ubuntu_user

:

I'm curious how you've got $1240 if you only traded in two 16e iphones?
Gotta keep the metropcs lines active for three months as well, right? So total cost:
$80 spectrum (2 line activations and 2 $20 by the gig plans) + $310 metropcs (2 lines for 3 months) = $390 for $620 apple GC
Net $230

metropcs, only needs 1 month, not 3.

plus I have a total of 5 s26 now.

1

karma_joy

Mar 22, 2026 4:41 PM

285 Comments

Joined Nov 2013

karma_joyMar 22, 2026 4:41 PM

285 Comments

Quote from IndigoMallard333

:

Just curious what your plan is for the 17e? They both have basically the same value except the iphone will probably hold the value longer term.

No real plan for 17e. I currently use s25+ and Pixel 9 pro xl simultaneously, and there was not really a need for another phone, but the deal was just too enticing. I'm not selling these phones, probably make a good gift. My teenage boy is getting pretty influenced in high school and thinks his S25 is not cool, only iPhones are cool. So maybe this 17e will be a surprise for him.

1

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 4:58 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 4:58 PM

501 Comments

Quote from rieuk

:

I got mine for personal use but genuinely curious what are people doing with the extra s26 phones? Is the hope to resell after 60 days? Profit on each is what, like $100?

The profit margin in flipping these has shrunk substantially this year, but some people got in the habit form previous years and so are going through the motions this year even with the lower return.

The mail-in process has also been nerfed, they no longer refund taxes on trade-in value and when you request a refund they have to file a ticket. In previous years you could get the refund issued immediately with the billing agent.

1

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 5:10 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 5:10 PM

501 Comments

Quote from NeatDeer418

:

To anyone new, if you get the refund the next cycle and it zeroes out your credit card balance, you still need to pay the minimum amount to avoid a missed payment.
If this already happened, call your bank and explain what happened. They will usually remove it.

Previous few years the refund process was very quick, just call or chat and they would initiate the refund immediately. This year they seem to have a different process. Trying to request over online chat was useless, they were no help and were clueless. Called in and they were able to help but said the new process is they have to fill out a refund request form and ticket is sent to some other department who reviews and approves them.

1

volyblmn

Mar 22, 2026 5:40 PM

414 Comments

Joined Nov 2008

volyblmnMar 22, 2026 5:40 PM

414 Comments

Quote from DelightfulJuice6656

:

The profit margin in flipping these has shrunk substantially this year, but some people got in the habit form previous years and so are going through the motions this year even with the lower return.

The mail-in process has also been nerfed, they no longer refund taxes on trade-in value and when you request a refund they have to file a ticket. In previous years you could get the refund issued immediately with the billing agent.

Depending on the phone you're trading in, profit is anywhere from $100-$300 per phone. For clicking a few buttons, adding a calendar reminder to cancel, and meeting up to exchange the phone...doesn't seem like a lot of time invested.

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 6:16 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 6:16 PM

501 Comments

Quote from volyblmn

:

Depending on the phone you're trading in, profit is anywhere from $100-$300 per phone. For clicking a few buttons, adding a calendar reminder to cancel, and meeting up to exchange the phone...doesn't seem like a lot of time invested.

It is not simply "clicking a few buttons". Go to Walmart to buy cheap phone, then go to Spectrum store to do trade-in, then keep Spectrum line open for 60 days, then unlock phone, then list phone for sale, then hope you find local buyer willing to pay top dollar, then meet with buyer, then conduct sale. If you list it on a site like e-bay they are going to eat 10-15% of the sale price. Not to mention the risk of dealing with potential scammers and losing everything on a sale. Especially if you are talking about doing this multiple times and potentially fronting thousand(s) of dollars.

The point is that this year the profit margin has dropped significantly compared to previous years and while some people have gotten in the habit of doing this deal it is not as lucrative as it was in previous years. In previous years when you could do things like trade-in S25 for S25 you did not even have to sell the device outside of Spectrum since people were just trading-in.

Last edited by DelightfulJuice6656 March 22, 2026 at 11:34 AM.

1

dmc310

Mar 22, 2026 6:36 PM

857 Comments

Joined Dec 2013

dmc310Mar 22, 2026 6:36 PM

857 Comments

When people get shocked why trade in deals get nerfed or nuked just see why in this thread lol

1

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 6:59 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 6:59 PM

501 Comments

Quote from dmc310

:

When people get shocked why trade in deals get nerfed or nuked just see why in this thread lol

This deal went on for at least the past 3 years and they did nothing about it. It actually would have made more sense for them to nerf the deal when MSRP was $100 lower than this year with the $899.99 MSRP on the base model.

I personally believe that the $700 promotion is paid by Samsung to Spectrum (the Samsung website also offered promotional credits directly), which is why they did nothing about it. Assurant pays Spectrum for the trade-ins and Samsung likely pays Spectrum the $700 promotion. It is not like Spectrum was losing money on the deal and they get new service sign-ups. Samsung boosts their unit sales numbers, which they use as a data point to make investors happy. The people actually "losing" money were those at the end of the line buying the traded-in devices from Assurant (or wherever people sold their devices after getting them from Spectrum), they are the ones paying the difference.

Last edited by DelightfulJuice6656 March 22, 2026 at 12:26 PM.

1

okhello

Mar 22, 2026 7:59 PM

2.1K Comments

Joined Sep 2013

okhelloMar 22, 2026 7:59 PM

2.1K Comments

I called Spectrum to ask for the refund on tax of $705, they denied.

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 8:41 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 8:41 PM

501 Comments

Quote from okhello

:

I called Spectrum to ask for the refund on tax of $705, they denied.

They are a disaster this year. The past few years was easy, I would go into Spectrum online chat and ask for my refund and they would issue it no problem. This year online chat had absolutely no clue what they were doing and said it takes 36 months for the credit. Then I called in and they knew the refund process but said they can no longer issue refunds directly and have to file a ticket for another team to process. Icing on the cake is the tax issue.

1

okhello

Mar 22, 2026 8:45 PM

2.1K Comments

Joined Sep 2013

okhelloMar 22, 2026 8:45 PM

2.1K Comments

Quote from DelightfulJuice6656

:

They are a disaster this year. The past few years was easy, I would go into Spectrum online chat and ask for my refund and they would issue it no problem. This year online chat had absolutely no clue what they were doing and said it takes 36 months for the credit. Then I called in and they knew the refund process but said they can no longer issue refunds directly and have to file a ticket for another team to process. Icing on the cake is the tax issue.

The worst thing was she said she has never seen the tax refund on the $700 before. I explained to her that if I did in-store, I would get the tax on the different only. I also said last year Spectrum did refund the tax on $700. She didn't care about it.

Last edited by okhello March 22, 2026 at 01:48 PM.

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 8:56 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 8:56 PM

501 Comments

Quote from okhello

:

The worst thing was she said she has never seen the tax refund on the $700 before. I explained to her that if I did in-store, I would get the tax on the different only. I also said last year Spectrum did refund the tax on $700. She didn't care about it.

They have no clue and it outside of their scope, they just deal with online orders and not in-store so probably have no understanding of what is being talked about. Last year the credit that appeared in the account automatically had the tax added back on so is not like they were manually adjusting anything, it is all done automatically. I am guessing to get any action on this customers will have to file a bunch of complaints, enough to get attention from some sort of consumer protection agency.

1

DelightfulJuice6656

Mar 22, 2026 10:25 PM

501 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

DelightfulJuice6656Mar 22, 2026 10:25 PM

501 Comments

Quote from spgrumby

:

Who has received a trade in approval recently from Assurant and when was it delivered? Mine was delivered on Tuesday, 3/17 and still nothing.

Mine took 4 days after it was delivered to receive notice it was approved (so 5 total days including day of delivery), and then 2 days after that for the credit to appear on my account. I called on that day to request the refund and they said they were submitting a ticket but it does not appear they have processed the refund yet and I have not received it on my card. The last few years the refund was processed same day but not this year.

Last edited by DelightfulJuice6656 March 22, 2026 at 03:36 PM.

1

Pre-Order Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Phone w/ Eligible Trade-In Device, Get Extra

$700 Off

$1,500

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