Sprint offers its own smartphone trade-in program that will 'meet or beat' competitors

Sprint has fired back at T-Mobile with its own smartphone buyback program, claiming that "it will meet or beat all competitors' pricing to ensure the best trade-in values." That includes instant store credit and up to $300 towards a new phone purchase or account credit.

In their press release, Sprint seems to go after T-Mobile specifically, stating:

Sprint also allows customers to trade-in up to three phones per line at any time and five in a calendar year. T-Mobile, on the other hand, only allows one phone trade-in per line and only allows customers to trade-in their phone when purchasing a new device. Sprint customers can take advantage of the trade-in credit at any time – whether they are buying a new phone, looking to purchase new accessories or want to use their trade-in credit towards their bill.

What do you think of this smartphone buyback offer battle between T-Mobile and Sprint?

Source: Sprint

John Callaham
47 Comments
  • This is so amusing.
  • What would be amusing is if they could offer some really good LTE speeds..... consistently. Posted via Ash William's Boomstick
  • Sprint has realized that they don't need an ultra-fast network to be the best. To be honest, Sprint is plenty fast at 20 Mbps here, and I can't tell the difference between my AT&T 40, Verizon's 80 (occasionally) and T-Mobile's 16. AT&T Galaxy S III
  • I'm liking this. Sprint is finally going heads up with another carrier. Hopefully this battle between T-Mobile and Sprint will cause them to lower prices across the boards. Delivered by the Nexus 5 or the mighty Surface Pro 3
  • That's what we're all hoping for. In the end, it's still the minor league. We can only hope the major league guys start getting worried and follow suit. Posted via Android Central App
  • I wish Verizon would. I am starting to lose loyalty. If only sprint would pay etf Posted via the Android Central App
  • Sprint does pay ETF.
  • +1
  • Sprint pays etf uo to $350 (I work there)
  • It really should help. I think T-Mobile by themselves started to get to the big players, at the very least they became a minor annoyance which was a big accomplishment considering how small T-Mobile was. Now we have 2 minor league players fighting back. Hopefully it'll stir them up more and make a bigger difference. Posted via Android Central App
  • Exactly. If they keep going back and forth competing with each other, hopefully Verizon's and At&t's consumer base will be threatened, forcing them to offer more competitive prices. Delivered by the Nexus 5 or the mighty Surface Pro 3
  • If it's anything like what Motorola is doing I'll pass. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Wow finally see some bite out this old dog, Sprint, rather than merely bark.
  • Sprint bout to turn up... they have more money to throw around then tmobile Posted via Android Central App
  • Yeah but Dish is biding time for the spectrum auction in November. Meanwhile, if TMO is able to raise the $3 billion in debt for the auction then it's going to be huge because then Dish will step in and formally announce it's offer. Wait and see they're already working on their offer but can't announce til after the auction. Then it will close by Q2 of 2015 I'm sure and TMO will have over $30 billion in spectrum theirs plus Dish's and have US capital to continue Uncarrier and blow Sprint away.
  • You don't know dish then Posted via Android Central App
  • @NoNexus we all know it's coming. Dish does not want to be forced to lose all the spectrum it's sitting on so what's the most logical and cheapest route? They buy the Uncarrier of course. i mean don't get me wrong TMO is doing great and making Tsunamis in the water, but the Dish spectrum would take them above and beyond in a matter of 12 months i think. However, given Dish's practices in satellite one can argue they may not continue the Uncarrier movement if a purchase goes thru.
  • Having the spectrum and deploying the workforce to make good use of it are two entirely different animals too... Shoot, Sprint hasn't lacked for spectrum but it's taken them a while to get their ducks in a row in order to capitalize on it.
  • This is typical confrontation after a bad breakup... Especially when a martial engagement falls through... Posted via Android Central App
  • Lmaoo, I was just thinking the same thing. #problemswithexes Posted via the Android Central App on my T-Mobile LG G3
  • I'm liking this...Way To Go Sprint!!!
  • Oh competition how sweet is for the consumers. Posted via Android Central App
  • Too bad all trade in programs suck. If your phone is at least 3 years or newer, swappa is the way to go.
  • Verizon offered me 6 dollars for my Galaxy tab2 that I bought from them 5 months ago lol what a freaking joke Posted via Android Central App
  • I'll give you 7
  • I'll give him another cookie, lol.
  • Swappa, craigslist, so many other forums where you get so better prices. These people are ripping off people at the name of convenience and lack of knowledge.
  • Wasn't gamestop the creator of this practice. Lol Posted via Android Central App w/G2
  • Actually, it was FuncoLand, the predecessor to Gamestop.
  • I've consistently sold my phones on eBay without any issue. I usually get pretty good dollar over others. But then again I'm one of those people that buy phone cases and a glass screen protector for my devices so that the next person can get a really nice used device. For some reason taking care of my phones and tablets causes them to sell very quickly when it's time. Posted via Ash William's Boomstick
  • Same here Posted via Android Central App
  • I don't get those people who are anti case Posted via Android Central App
  • Agreed,I do the same exact thing with my phones. The transactions can be very quick on eBay. I keep my phones in pristine condition for that reason. I like that Sprint and T-Mobile are trying to make it happen.I was with Sprint for ten years and paid for 4G and LTE services and upgraded to LTE devices but I never really had LTE data in my area! So, I switched to T-Mobile and haven't looked back. I get LTE service nearly everywhere I go and the difference has been night and day between the two carriers. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Yeah, they USED to offer a good buy back value tho. I remember getting like $120 for my year old OG EVO, from Sprint. These days they wouldn't even offer half that for a year old flagship device. Edit: Pathetic, $25 offer for an EVO LTE that sells for $100 on Swappa all the time.
  • The only flagships that have decent buybacks are iPhones. They pay more for what they can sell fast.
  • Well, anything Apple is just another story entirely. Anything with a half eaten fruit on it has a ridiculous resale value regardless of what it is, the price of used MBP vs other laptops is silly. I'm sure they could sell an SGS4 just as fast, but I'm betting the buy back value on that is still a pittance. iPhones never going on sale kinda helps drive up their value, which actually applies to most things Apple. That's one huge contribution Tim Cook has brought for years, they maintain tighter control over stock and supply than just about anyone in the industry, so they can very quickly phase out old models. None of that really excuses carriers ripping people off, they're not even offering a quarter of the market value. It's almost as bad as the used videogame racket (from what I hear anyway, PC gamer here, bargains galore).
  • I consider this article as bloat. Posted by my G3 or my 1+
  • Yeah....I'm gonna switch to a new service just to downgrade my performance. ..just for a few bucks.
    Because I don't need data anymore.
    My aim in life is to be with the Worst Carrier ever. Posted via Android Central App
  • I hope Verizon will come up with something similar. Or even bring back unlimited data plans and lose the upgrade fee. Posted via Android Central App
  • And I'm hoping for a pink Unicorn for my yet to be conceived granddaughter to ride! Hey, it's as likely as Verizon doing those things.
  • OK that cracked me up, lol. Posted via Android Central App
  • I wonder what they'll give me on my old OG HTC Evo 4G? Probably about $5.00. But heck, if they'll apply it to my bill I might as well find out. Whatever the amount is, competition is a wonderful thing! It's too bad we don't have more of it.
  • Sooo....they'll give me 0.00 for my lg g2. Eff sprint. In comparison I can get 20 bucks for a gs2. Lame Posted via the Android Central App
  • I just got offered $100 for mine. Posted via Android Central App
  • What did i do wrong then? I want a g3 lol and any extra pesos off is golden! Posted via the Android Central App
  • Until sprint fixes their network none of this will work, but is nice to see them trying.
  • Problem is, Sprint offers little to trade into. No Moto X, and no Windows Phones anywhere. Almost nothing but iPhones anymore. The way they're going, they probably won't offer the Nexus 6 (X) either