Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Cricket Wireless now offers a trade-in program in partnership with Asurion, allowing customers to trade in old devices for direct credits on their service bills.
- Unlike other trade-in programs that offer delayed gift cards, Cricket applies the trade-in credit directly to customer accounts within one to two billing cycles.
- Customers don’t have to purchase a new phone or change their plans to participate, making this an easy way to save money by trading in older, unused devices.
I often recommend Cricket to anyone looking for a prepaid solution that feels like postpaid. Cricket offers family discounts, phone promotions, in-store support, and much more, all on the AT&T network. One of the few features it previously lacked was support for trade-ins. This is something I’ve heard my own Cricket-using friends and family members take issue with, as you have to offload your old phones elsewhere. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case.
Cricket has partnered with Asurion to allow you to trade in your old device and determine its value. You can do this either online or through a Cricket Authorized Retailer. If you choose the online option, you’ll receive a prepaid envelope to send your device, and once it’s shipped, the company will conduct a further evaluation. While Cricket sometimes accepts cracked phones or devices with other issues, these conditions will obviously affect the initial valuation. If Cricket doesn’t accept the offered device, it will be shipped back within 48 hours.
Unlike most programs that compensate you for your phone through Visa gift cards months later, Cricket handles it differently. Once your trade-in has been received, the trade-in value is directly credited to your Cricket account within 1-2 billing cycles.
As Cricket’s CMO Shailendra Gujarati puts it, “This program was created with the customer in mind. This isn’t a gift card plan, but something that goes directly to helping Cricket customers lower their service payment in an easy way.” Even better, you don’t have to buy a new phone or change your plan to trade in your device! This makes it a great way to save on your bill if you have multiple older devices lying around that still hold value.
Cricket isn’t the first prepaid carrier to offer a trade-in program, but this one is certainly shaping up to be among the best deals out there.
