Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[livingheroj]

I'm going tomorrow to ship my pc to the BB trade in facility, then once it's appraised, I read I could expect the gift card within about 14 days. The only problem is that I'll be without a computer while I wait for my gift card. Is it possible to go ahead and buy the computer, say with a BB credit card, and then credit the gift card toward the purchase of the new computer, instead of waiting 2 weeks?

[RealGeorgeW Valued Expert]

This is simply my own personal opinion, but I would never use the Trade In site for a computer. You will get MUCH better value from it on a site run by Craig.

[CrimsonRain]

Well, anything traded in will have a much more reduced value because the buying company must recondition the unit and then resell it. It's the same as trading in your old car to a dealership when you buy a new car. No way they are going to give you the fair market value of your car. The dealership needs the extra margin for reconditioning parts, labor, and advertisement.

[cr_client]

Also, as of right now, as far as I know, you cannot use a BestBuy gift card to pay on the HSBC BestBuy Credit Card.

The rest of the responses about how little you will possibly get for your trade-in are also quite valid. Used electronics, especially computers, have very low trade-in values, and you're likely to get better money for it by selling it privately.

[livingheroj]

Thanks for the input all. I'll check the other ways to dispose of it first.

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Greetings livingheroj,

Cr_client’s got it right: Best Buy® gift cards cannot be applied towards HSBC credit card payments.  If you have any other questions though please feel free to let me know.  You can send me a private message by signing into the forums and then clicking on either my signature below or the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

[CrimsonRain]

On the flip side, the benefit of using a trade-in program is that you just mail it away and get quick cash for it. Think of the loss in cash as a convenience fee you pay for not having to deal with fixing up the computer, cleaning it up, and dealing with any potential customer issues.