‘Is this not common knowledge?’: Woman walks into Apple Store. Then she leaves with a $50 iPad

Apple produces some of the most sought-after tech products in the consumer technology space. The Cupertino-based tech giant has become synonymous with premium end-user experiences.

And it's a reputation that has helped the business become a $3 trillion company. Consequently, the brand has moved a lot of product to get to this place. This means that there are folks out there who have a slew of Apple offerings in their possession.

Oftentimes, older products are replaced by newer iterations, leaving previous phones to be sold online via third-party sites. Or traded-in to Apple for a discount on a new buy.

However, the latter option isn't one TikToker Amanda Farrington (@amandafarringtonn) considered. She believed it to be an arduous process. However, in a recent video that's accrued over 408,000 views, she stated that this wasn't the case.

Farrington said she ended up walking out of an Apple store with a $50 iPad, including accessories. This is thanks to the store's trade-in program. After selling back several devices, including a 16-inch MacBook Pro, which sells brand new for $2,499, she took home an iPad.

While she was happy with the trade-in, numerous commenters remarked her "win" was actually a case of "girl math." Several folks detailed that she, indeed, lost money with the trade-in. Others contested that she could've probably gotten a lot more had she sold the products online herself.

$50 iPad?

Farrington opens her clip, saying she was "shocked" to learn about the deal she got on an iPad. According to her, she was able to get a tablet from the popular tech company "for basically free."

"I wish I would have done it sooner," she adds, while adding that the process was astoundingly "easy."

She shares, "I go to the Apple store this morning, I happen to be at the mall. Making returns and I pop in just looking at the iPads. I've known I wanted an iPad for a long time. My MacBook Pro was a 16-inch MacBook Pro. And it was the heaviest, thickest, heftiest laptop you could imagine."

Furthermore, she says carrying the heavy computer around "didn't make sense."

"Anything I needed to do with that big of a screen I was doing it at home on my monitor," she says. "And it annoyed me that I would have to bring that into a coffee shop if I wanted to work somewhere else."

Farrington adds, "So that's the TLDR of why I wanted an iPad. So anyways I go in, I tell her I'm not gonna buy anything. I'm just looking I'm probably gonna end up trading my MacBook in for an iPad. And I was like I've been putting it off because it takes so long, it's such a process, like I just don't wanna deal with it."

Trade-in

However, the employee countered that this wasn't the case.

"And she says it's really not that hard. She has me scan something on my phone and she pulls up all the devices that I own that are eligible for trade-in," Farrington says. "She goes my MacBook Pro it shows 2 Apple Watches, and an old iPhone. All three of those things are just at my apartment, collecting dust."

Next, the TikToker says she was able to get an assessed value of the devices on the spot.

"And she shows me all the amounts that I get for trade-in. If I were to trade it in within the next like 72 hours or something? Because prices can fluctuate," she says. "And she was like if you trade these in within the next 72 hours you get this amount applied to your iPad."

Stunned at the trade-in value the Apple Store was offering her for her devices, Farrington needed no further convincing.

"I was like, pardon? I asked her how long does it take to do the trade-in process," she says. "Do I bring all those things in? You know, it wouldn't be that hard to find them. I just, you know, don't wanna spend 2 hours at the Apple Store."

Easy peasy?

The Apple store employee informed Farrington that the entire ordeal would only take up about "10 minutes" of her time. Furthermore, she added that the TikToker didn't even need to "erase" her devices prior to bringing them. That's because the store could take care of that for her after she brought them in.

After trading in numerous decides, Farrington says she had to shell out around $50 for a new iPad. Moreover, it came with a "keyboard and the little pencil." She was also happy with the fact that she was "in and out within 20 minutes." At the end of her clip, she questioned why she didn't complete the trade-in even sooner.

@amandafarringtonn iPad kid loading @apple ♬ original sound - Amanda Farrington

Viewers call her out

A myriad of folks wrote that Farrington got a bad deal at the Apple Store.

One penned, "Not basically free. You traded in a MacBook Pro so probably at least $2,000 laptop and they probably gave you $500 for, Apple Watches like $500 they probably gave you like $75 so you actually lost alot."

Another echoed, "That 16 inch macbook pro was 2500 when you bought it lol."

Someone else asked, "So like wheres the free aspect?"

Other folks criticized Apple's trade-in prices. "Apple trade in is a scam, not worth it, could get so much more elsewhere," one said.

Another wrote, "They wanted to give me $16 for my iPad."

Whereas someone else said it was only a matter of time before she went back to a laptop. "It’s a canon event to think you’ll be satisfied with an iPad but we all eventually get back to a MacBook," they said.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Apple and Farrington via email.

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