Mike's NBC-TV stories

Trade in your old iPhone for the new one

The new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are now being preordered and lots of people are wondering what to do with their old phones. That’s where online trade-in sites come in. Here’s how you can exchange our old phone for cash so you can buy new ones.

Gazelle is one of the most popular electronics trade in sites, allowing folks top instantly see what their old electronics are worth, actually getting a trade in price on the spot. You pack up the old phone and they send you a check. Couldn’t be easier.

NextWorth offers a similar service, but with a twist. You can check out the value of your trade-in and they’ll also send you a check if you want. But with NextWorth, you can also find a store near you that partners with them where you can actually go in person to do the tradein.

Online retailer Amazon has a very active trade-in service as well, on all sorts of personal electronics.

So does the big box retailer Best Buy. Check out your trade in on their website and take it to a store near you.

And you can do the same with Radio Shack.

And the cellular providers are also offering deals. Fierce competition has erupted between them of late, thanks to no-contract plans and offers to cover early termination costs.

Verizon Wireless will offer a $200 trade-in gift card for customers that trade-in their iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5c and a $300 trade-in gift card for iPhone 5s from any carrier with the purchase a new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

Sprint will let customers trade in up to three phones per line, give consumers up to $300 per device and match any rival’s trade in offer.

And T-Mobile is even more aggressive. It  says it will beat any rival’s trade-in offer by throwing in an extra $50.

AT&T is believed to be planning some sort of a similar offer but was apparently waiting to see what the competition offered. As I write this, they haven’t announced.

Mike is a veteran journalist whose video "PC Mike" reports have been distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations since 1994, making him one of the most experienced tech reporters in the country. His tech stories and videos have appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, the Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today and in numerous national newspapers and magazines. In addition to the PC Mike tech blog, he also publishes the Roadtreking.com RV Travel Blog in which he travels North America in an RV reporting about interesting people and places.