New Samsung trade-in initiative offers less money for used phones than third-party markets

Home > Business > Industry

print dictionary print

New Samsung trade-in initiative offers less money for used phones than third-party markets

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI


Samsung's new trade-in program for used Galaxy smartphones initiated in Korea on January 14. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung's new trade-in program for used Galaxy smartphones initiated in Korea on January 14. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics' revamped trade-in program for used Galaxy smartphones has sparked criticism among domestic users for compensating less than what can be received from third-party secondhand platforms such as Karrot. 
 
The Korean electronics giant initiated a revamped trade-in program Tuesday on its website through which users can be compensated for their old Galaxy smartphones even if they don't intend to buy a new Galaxy-branded smartphone. The intention was to preserve the market price of secondhand Galaxy devices while also thinking of the environment. 
 
The amount of compensation, however, that Samsung Electronics is proposing for the returned phones is being criticized for being too low. 
 
The flagship Galaxy S23 smartphone can be turned in for a maximum of 331,000 won ($226.64), according to its homepage, while the S23 Plus model returns 394,000 won. The top-of-the-line Ultra model gives the user 599,000 won. 
 
The compensation, however, is far less than what's offered on other secondhand smartphone platforms. 
 
Mintit, for example, a domestic platform where users can recycle or sell their used phones, is currently offering 435,000 won for the 512GB Galaxy S23 model. The S23 Plus model with the same storage gets 525,000 won.
 
On Karrot, a secondhand marketplace, the S23 model with the same amount of storage is currently listed for more than 500,000 won. 
 
Collected used Galaxy smartphones at Samsung Electronics are categorized into three grades — Excellent, Good and Recycle — in order to determine how much should be compensated.
 
In the past, the trade-in program was open only to those who intended to buy a new Galaxy smartphone, and it ran for only a couple of months during the marketing period of new models.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [[email protected]]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)