Radio Shack slashes iPhone prices by $50, offering iPhone 4 for $25 with 3GS trade-in

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
In an unprecedented sale designed to boost awareness of its wireless business and create an edge up on the competition, Radio Shack is knocking $50 off all iPhone handsets and offering trade-in incentives that could net customers a brand new iPhone 4 for as little as $25.



The one week sale, which began Saturday morning and runs through December 11th, lops $50 off all current iPhone models, meaning customers new to AT&T or eligible for upgrade pricing can take home an iPhone 3GS for $50, a 16GB iPhone 4 for $150, or a 32GB iPhone 4 for $250.



What's more, the specialty electronics retailer is also upping the value proposition of its Trade & Save program, offering customers a $75 credit towards the purchase of a new phone when they trade in a working iPhone 3G or a $125 credit when they trade in a working iPhone 3GS.



Those credits can be combined with the retailer's instant $50 savings, meaning customers who trade in an iPhone 3GS can save $175 off the cost of a new Apple handset, bringing the cost of a the $299 32GB iPhone 4 down to $125 and cutting the price of the $199 16GB iPhone 4 to just $25, before taxes and standard activation fees.



The deals are exclusive to Radio Shack's brick-and-mortar retail stores and are not available online. Existing AT&T customers looking to take advantage of the offers are encouraged to use the retailer's Eligibility Checker to pre-determine whether they qualify for upgrade pricing.



It should be noted that as part of the promotion, Radio Shack is taking a more lenient approach on iPhone trade-ins. Instead of assessing the value of the used handsets based on their physical condition, the company is expected to extend $75 credits on iPhone 3Gs and $125 credits on iPhone 3GSs as long as they are fully functional and don't have a cracked screen.



A Radio Shack at 78 Brookside Ave in Chester, NY, one of the retailer's more than 4,600 storefronts worldwide.



Credits extended to customers through the Trade & Save program are provided in the form of Radio Shack gift cards. Therefore, a customer trading in an iPhone 3G ($75 credit) for a new iPhone 3GS ($50 during the sale) should be able to walk away with a new iPhone 3GS and $25 gift card at no cost.



Readers can use Radio Shack's store locator to find their nearest location.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 79
    How odd. I didn't know Radio Shack was an Apple reseller. I always thought of it as a place to find obscure adapters and connectors. Now they want to be Mini-Fry's?
  • Reply 2 of 79
    Possibly, the new IPhone 5 for Verizon, and AT&T, is ready to be sold early next year.
  • Reply 3 of 79
    Here I was thinking maybe it was time to upgrade my 3G. Until I saw the "gift card" part. I don't want a gift card, let alone one to Radio Shack. Sure, I could probably use it eventually, but my out of pocket cost didn't go down.



    I guess I'll stick with my 3G a while longer.
  • Reply 4 of 79
    ii Posts: 1member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    How odd. I didn't know Radio Shack was an Apple reseller. I always thought of it as a place to find obscure adapters and connectors. Now they want to be Mini-Fry's?



    RadioShack sees a 9% rise in profits & plans to expand



    Despite seeing a decline in sales for other popular electronic gadgets, they witnessed a 61 percent climb in wireless sales ? aided by handset sales from tbeir Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T offerings. Since there is a profitable business to be found in wireless, RadioShack is in the process of expanding the roll out



    http://www.phonearena.com/news/Radio...kiosks_id12576





    RadioShack Profit Jumps on Smartphone Sales - WSJ.com

    Apr 27, 2010 ... RadioShack on Monday reported a 16% jump in profit for the quarter ended ... Cellphone Sales Boost Best Buy Profit. 14-Sep-2010 12:01:00 am ...

    online.wsj.com/.../SB10001424052748704464704575208353784825356.html -
  • Reply 5 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    How odd. I didn't know Radio Shack was an Apple reseller. I always thought of it as a place to find obscure adapters and connectors. Now they want to be Mini-Fry's?



    That's where I got my iPhone 4. After trying AT&T a couple times(to no avail) I thought I remembered hearing about radio shack selling em. They did, not a lot of stock though. In fact I waited about half an hour for the ups truck and there where 2 delivered that day.

    No other apple products except iPhone and a few accessories. Seemed to have a fairly large

    selection of other phones so maybe they're trying to be a cell phone store with obscure adapters and connectors(still have a good selection of those).
  • Reply 6 of 79
    bbhbbh Posts: 134member
    $125 for an iPhone 3GS is a terrible deal. Craigslist has them consistently at about $350 for the 32Gig.
  • Reply 7 of 79
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    How odd. I didn't know Radio Shack was an Apple reseller.



    That's why they had to launch this promotion. They are not widely known to be an Apple reseller.
  • Reply 8 of 79
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by  View Post


    RadioShack sees a 9% rise in profits & plans to expand



    Despite seeing a decline in sales for other popular electronic gadgets, they witnessed a 61 percent climb in wireless sales ? aided by handset sales from tbeir Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T offerings. Since there is a profitable business to be found in wireless, RadioShack is in the process of expanding the roll out



    http://www.phonearena.com/news/Radio...kiosks_id12576





    RadioShack Profit Jumps on Smartphone Sales - WSJ.com

    Apr 27, 2010 ... RadioShack on Monday reported a 16% jump in profit for the quarter ended ... Cellphone Sales Boost Best Buy Profit. 14-Sep-2010 12:01:00 am ...

    online.wsj.com/.../SB10001424052748704464704575208353784825356.html -



    They are usually in good locations and with iPhones at least they have a product to sell that will still work two weeks later for the first time!
  • Reply 9 of 79
    benicebenice Posts: 382member
    * Subject to contract.



    Headlines like this and the $199 pricing Apple pushes mislead consumers.
  • Reply 10 of 79
    kasperkasper Posts: 941member, administrator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by benice View Post


    * Subject to contract.



    Headlines like this and the $199 pricing Apple pushes mislead consumers.



    No they don't. It's widely known that the $199 and $299 standard prices for iPhones are the subsidized prices that require 2-year contracts. This has been standard for almost 3 years now. Please don't come on here and troll and insinuate that we're misleading anyone by reporting a sale.



    K
  • Reply 11 of 79
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by benice View Post


    * Subject to contract.



    Headlines like this and the $199 pricing Apple pushes mislead consumers.



    Luckily, they state it’s subject to contract, as you’ve noted, and this practice is so common that it seems improbable that anyone of sound mind would think they could walk into one of these stores and expect to get an iPhone 4 for $199 without having to sign a contract.



    As a final stop gate, they make you sign the contract in the store and ask you what plan you wish to get so it would be impossible for a person in their right mind to end up with a contract they didn’t want. If, for some reason/any reason, they change their mind they have 30 days to return the item without any restocking fee or penalties. Only the time they’ve spent on the carrier’s network and activation fee is charged.
  • Reply 12 of 79
    kubekube Posts: 40member
    I bought my iphone 4 at a Radio Shack last august and traded in my 2-year-old iphone 3G for $100 credit. Very smooth operation. My iphone 4 cost me $100. My experience was great. Sounds like the trade-in policies are even better this week.
  • Reply 13 of 79
    enohpienohpi Posts: 103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Luckily, they state it?s subject to contract, as you?ve noted, and this practice is so common that it seems improbably that anyone of sound mind would think they could walk into one of these stores and get an iPhone 4 for $199 without having to sign a contract. As a final stop gate, they make you sign the contract in the store and ask you what plan you wish to get and how much it?ll cost.



    Some people don't even know that Radio Shack is one of the biggest cell phone dealers in the world. Likely some people also don't realize that the prices which they advertise are only for a small subset of consumers.
  • Reply 14 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by numba1 View Post


    Possibly, the new IPhone 5 for Verizon, and AT&T, is ready to be sold early next year.



    My thoughts exactly
  • Reply 15 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mobycat View Post


    Here I was thinking maybe it was time to upgrade my 3G. Until I saw the "gift card" part. I don't want a gift card, let alone one to Radio Shack. Sure, I could probably use it eventually, but my out of pocket cost didn't go down.



    I guess I'll stick with my 3G a while longer.



    You use the gift card as part of the payment for the iPhone 4, so it's an instant savings.
  • Reply 16 of 79
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mobycat View Post


    Here I was thinking maybe it was time to upgrade my 3G. Until I saw the "gift card" part. I don't want a gift card, let alone one to Radio Shack. Sure, I could probably use it eventually, but my out of pocket cost didn't go down.



    I guess I'll stick with my 3G a while longer.



    Maybe you did not get the concept. You USE the gift card as payment toward the new 3GS or IP4. Your out of pocket expense is significantly lower than walking into an AT&T or Apple store and buying a new subsidized iPhone. If you upgrade to a 3GS, you will have an excess of $25 that will be on a RadioShack gift card (ie zero out of pocket), but if upgrading all the way to a IP4, you will NOT wind up with ANY gift card amount remaining as you will have to kick in $75 to upgrade from a 3G to an IP4. Of course, AT&T will get their activation fee but they seem to waive this for customers on higher priced plans already (they have for me at least).



    I have upgrade iPhones with each new gen at my local AT&T store, but this past go around, I did the trade in at Radio Shack. Sure, I might have gotten more on Craigs list or bay, but the hassle free trade in at Radio Shack was a lot easier.



    My spouse is currently running on a 16G 3GS and I likely will be trading it up for a new IP4 during this RadioShack sale.
  • Reply 17 of 79
    benicebenice Posts: 382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kasper View Post


    No they don't. It's widely known that the $199 and $299 standard prices for iPhones are the subsidized prices that require 2-year contracts. This has been standard for almost 3 years now. Please don't come on here and troll and insinuate that we're misleading anyone by reporting a sale.



    K



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Luckily, they state it?s subject to contract, as you?ve noted, and this practice is so common that it seems improbably that anyone of sound mind would think they could walk into one of these stores and get an iPhone 4 for $199 without having to sign a contract. As a final stop gate, they make you sign the contract in the store and ask you what plan you wish to get and how much it?ll cost.



    Apologies. The reason for my comment is that I'm used to a market where people buy the phone outright and these prices just aren't commonplace. For us, these types of prices and terms are not "widely known". The upside is less paperwork but the downside is less of these good deals.
  • Reply 18 of 79
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by benice View Post


    Apologies. The reason for my comment is that I'm used to a market where people buy the phone outright and these prices just aren't commonplace. For us, these types of prices and terms are not "widely known". The upside is less paperwork but the downside is less of these good deals.



    Your post came across as if this is an Apple/iPhone-only issue when it predates the iPhone by many years, maybe decades.



    Personally, I think these initial out of pocket prices ? even on teaser posters ? should include the minimum total cost the customer will pay for the item throughout the contract, but that is something that requires legislation.
  • Reply 19 of 79
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by benice View Post


    * Subject to contract.



    Headlines like this and the $199 pricing Apple pushes mislead consumers.



    So Apple is misleading consumers?



    What about all those FREE PHONE (with contract) deals out there? Or the 'BUY ONE GET ONE FREE" (with contract) deals out there?
  • Reply 20 of 79
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    So Apple is misleading consumers?



    What about all those FREE PHONE (with contract) deals out there? Or the 'BUY ONE GET ONE FREE" (with contract) deals out there?



    In all fairness, he did apologize and state where he was coming from in his reply.
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