Walmart smartphone trade-in program
09/13/2013
The announcement of Wamart's new smartphone trade-in program is huge. This is a clear indication that competition is going to continue to heat up in this lucrative market. It is also going to have implications on secondary market pricing for both retail and B2B purchases.
Walmart's backend provider for the program is a company called CExchange. They will be taking all inbound units and processing them for resale or recycling. CExchange sells phones in a couple of ways: one is directly to consumers via their eBay store and the other is to resellers, in bulk, via their private liquidation marketplace, under the name AllTechWholesale and powered by B-Stock Solutions.
The proliferation of trade-in programs is certainly going to impact the market over time. I believe the increased awareness of these programs will serve to pull tens of thousands of additional units into the resale market every month that would otherwise have simply aged in consumers drawers and garages. This should prove a boon for consumers as prices will ultimately have to decline to clear the market.
The great thing about these programs, however, is that the price paid to consumers for their phones changes every day based on the retail market prices of the devices. This virtually ensures it will be a money maker for the folks involved.
So, for all of you resellers (or would be resellers) now is a great time to get registered and approved in their liquidation marketplace so you can jump on these lots when they start flowing. And, don't forget, B-Stock also already runs a similar marketplace for GameStop, so you should check that one out too.