If you were quick enough to sell a six-year-old iPad to Google for $399, in exchange for a new Pixel Tablet, before the company quickly pulled the offer, count yourself lucky.
When Google launched the deal last week, alongside announcing the new Pixel 8a, it caught some shoppers by surprise. For the uninitiated, Google had temporarily enhanced its trade-in prices for old iPads, with the sixth-generation Apple tablet being valued at $399.
This caused a frenzy among Pixel Tablet buyers who had old iPads lying around. Some enterprising shoppers were picking up old Apple tablets on eBay for cheap to trade in. “I literally bought an iPad for $99 on eBay to do this, “one Redditor claimed. The deal meant that it was possible to trade in an old iPad for a brand new Pixel Tablet, with no money exchanged, because the Android slab now costs as much as the iPad trade-in price—$399.
Searches for secondary marketplaces “Swappa” and “eBay” alongside “iPad 7th generation” peaked while the deal was active. But the generous offer must have been popular because Google dropped that trade-in value for the 2018 iPad to $75 the very next day.
This left some Redditors concerned that Google wouldn’t honor the deal, fearing the company had made a mistake, like an incorrectly priced item at a shop. “If I bought [it]last night and my email confirmation shows ‘iPad 6th gen, estimated value $399’—do you think they’ll honor it when I get the trade-in kit and send it in? I’m worried now,” one buyer said.
The good news for that Redditor, and others who shared a similar concern, is that Google will indeed offer the original trade-in price. “Google will honor the original trade-in price for people who bought the Pixel Tablet when the offer was still active,” the company told me in a statement.
As it stands, the trade-in price for the iPad 6th generation remains at $75, with other trade-in values for slightly newer iPads unchanged. Google’s deal lasts until May 20th and it may reduce (or increases) trade-in values before then. But the flash deal might be a good omen for future Pixel releases, especially considering Google’s recent history of repeated discounts for its hardware. Just make sure you’re quick enough to take advantage of them.
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