When you trade in a device for immediate store credit through one of our retail partners, your trade value unlocks instantly. You receive a gift card right away and there’s no need to wait for us to receive and inspect your device before shopping.
To keep everything secure and fair, we place a temporary hold on your credit card as part of the process. Here’s how it works from start to finish:
You Receive Instant Store Credit
As soon as you submit your trade-in order, your gift card is issued immediately for the full value of your device at the time of checkout.
You can start using that store credit right away and don’t need to wait until we have the device in hand.
A Temporary Hold Is Placed on Your Card
Because the gift card is active before your device is inspected, we place a 7-day authorization hold on your credit card.
This isn’t a charge, it simply protects against situations where:
The device is never shipped or dropped off
The device arrives in significantly different condition than expected
The device is locked and cannot be processed
Most customers never notice the hold, and it automatically expires once we confirm your trade-in.
Your Device Is Assessed Quickly
As soon as we receive your device, we inspect it right away:
Same-day review in most cases
Maximum 2 business-day delay during busy periods
We’ll confirm that the condition matches your original quote and keep you updated throughout the process
We Release the Hold as Soon as It’s Verified
Once inspection is complete, we release the hold based on the final value of your trade-in.
If your device matches the original quote:
→ The full hold is removed
If the value changes after inspection, we’ll communicate our inspection results by email right away.
If you agree with our inspection:
→ We adjust the authorization to subtract the final approved amount
If you happen to disagree with our inspection:
→ We’ll ship your item back to you free of charge and authorize your card for the value of the gift card.