eBay UK Launches Trade In Program For Old Phones In Partnership with Fonehouse
eBay UK has launched a new program allowing users to trade in old tech devices for vouchers that can be used to purchase new devices on the site as part of ongoing circular economy and sustainability initiatives.
The new program, called Trade In, is an exclusive partnership with Fonehouse - here's how it works!
- Head to eBay Trade In
- Determine the value of the device: Enter the model, and condition of the device to find out its trade-in value.
- Choose a trade-in offer: Customers may either be offered an instant voucher, which they can use towards the purchase of another device, or a payout directly to your bank account.
- If customers choose an eBay coupon, it can be redeemed on eBay within 48 hours of issuance.
- If customers choose a payout to their bank account, they will receive the money within 5-7 days, after Fonehouse have checked the condition of their old device.
- Post your item: Users have 14 days to send in their old device, free of charge and insured up to the value of £150. After eBay’s Trade In partner, Fonehouse, has received the package, they will use an ADISA-accredited solution to securely erase all data from the old device for peace of mind.
And in an effort to entice users to try it out, eBay is offering customers who trade-in selected items the chance to receive an additional £50 on top of the assessed trade-in value from 9 December 2024 - 3 January 2025,
If that sounds familiar, it may be because eBay has operated a similar program in the US since 2018 called Instant Selling.
It's all part of eBay's Certified Refurbished and other circular economy initiatives, which the company has tried to paint as friendly to right to repair but some users say is really just a way to gate and limit competition.
Liz Morton
Computer and electronics refurbisher John Bumstead has been raising concerns about the eBay refurbished program for years - particularly alarmed by the fact that both sellers and consumers may not be getting the full story about the program because eBay locks participants into strict Non-Disclosure Agreements in order to participate.
You've never heard eBay Refurbished sellers talk about how the program is going? That's because they've all signed NDAs and are prohibited by law from talking about it. pic.twitter.com/BRhmljTLuH
— John Bumstead (@RDKLInc) November 23, 2024
Since authorized refurbished sellers often enjoy a special and even sometimes exclusive relationship with eBay, unfortunately that also creates incentives for bending the rules to allow these sellers to do things most others would not be able to do - like when Samsung was allowed to offer only a 14 day return window instead of the 30 day timeframe required by policies.
Liz Morton
And as with other programs like eBay Consignment, any time eBay gives an exclusive partnership to just one seller, it naturally restricts competition and creates unfair advantage, making it harder and harder for eBay to honestly maintain their oft repeated marketing slogan that they don't compete against their sellers.
Liz Morton
What do you think of eBay's Trade In program? Would you use it to swap out old tech? Let us know in the comments below!
Under the new scheme all this is no longer possible. This week, a buyer 'won' 7 items in my auctions, and without any input from me whatsoever (Ebay have stripped me of the ability to invoice buyers now) they charged him £5.54 postage fees. This is just over 100% more than the £2.70 I'd have charged him. The £5.54 postage now gets paid directly to Ebay, so I'm unable to refund any part of it to my buyer. What really sticks in my craw, is that the 'free' [prepaid] label that Ebay send me, is identical to one that I could've previously purchased via Royal Mail for £2.70! So an easy £2.84 straight into Ebay's pocket (if not more, as I'm sure Ebay/Royal Mail agreement means that they get charged less than Joe Public!)
Also, they rely upon A.I. to calculate what they believe to be the weight/dimension of your items regardless, so I've had to take a risk and omit extra stiffening material (to avoid item getting bent) so to be within the 100g limit the label states.
Finally, today I received a panic message from the buyer asking if I'd made a typo on the tracking number (it's auto-generated by Ebay not me) for the label I've just printed and not yet sent out, The tracking number on the label Ebay have provided, when followed up on Royal Mail's site, relates to a completely different tracking reference for an item already sent (from Northern Ireland) and already successfully delivered back in October 2024! I thought Royal Mail tracking numbers would be 'unique' - but nothing surprises me any longer in the dystopian new Ebay world!