Flow of Thoughts: Trade in your HP @ Singtel Shop or M1 Shop or .. ?

I’ve got some simple statistics to share.

This near-2.5-year-old old toy of mine (Sony Ericsson K750i) was quoted $50 flat at those official Singtel Shops and M1 Shops if I were to trade-in. They aren’t really interested in its condition at all. They looked at the model, referred to their standard price lists and gave me a quote straight away. Haiz.. The value of the phone has fallen so so much. Mm..

I approached a nearby stall selling second-hand handphones. That stall looked at the condition of my old toy and quoted me $80. Wow! That’s 60% more lor. I thought it was quite a neat deal already.

I approached another stall also selling second-hand handphones. The new quote became $100. Heh.. 100% more leh! :o) The guy was quite frank with me, saying that if I were to do a trade-in (that is, I sell them my old toy to them and also to buy one of their toys in return), they can even quote me $110. Mm… Hehe… I rather get a new toy instead.

In conclusion, I think it is really unwise to trade in our old handphone at those official Singtel Shops or M1 Shops (and probably Starhub also) when we upgrade to a new handphone.

Talking about handphone-upgrade…
I think M1 usually offers better handphone deals.

Just a simple illustration (I did not do any comprehensive analysis at all) :

Sony Ericsson K770i is now being sold at Singtel at $188 (with contract for not so high-end plan), but this model is now being sold at M1 at $68 (with contract).
See and feel the difference?

So if I were to make an upgrade to the said model, I can literally get $32 back in return (by signing the contract with M1 and selling my old toy to that second-hand handphone shop).