iPhone trade-ins are booming as expectations for the next gen “iPhone 5” run rampant.
“We saw volume shoot through the roof,” Jeff Trachsel, chief marketing officer at
NextWorth (nextworth.com) told “Computerworld” (http://macte.ch/4rq6R). NextWorth is one of several companies that purchase used smartphones, refurbish the devices, then resell them on eBay and Amazon.com, sell directly to overseas customers, and deal with wholesalers that ship to emerging markets. “We’ve never seen a spike like this.”
Trachsel said the number of quotes last week offered to iPhone owners was up 2,500% over the comparable week before last year’s announcement of the iPhone 4S. Gazelle (http://www.gazelle.com) another iPhone buyer, also has fielded more trade-in requests, notes “Computerworld.” “There’s definitely been an increase,” said Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle. “We’ve seen a 50% increase over the past few weeks.”