Best Buy Extends Free 'Buy Back' for Phones, Tablets

Best Buy said Monday that it had extended the free promotion of its "Buy Back" trade-in program an additional two weeks, through Feb. 26.

"Best Buy has seen a great initial response to the Buy Back Program overall, and heard from nearly half of our customers that the main reason they replace their mobile phones or tablets in particular is to keep up with technology," said Shawn Score, president of Best Buy Mobile, in a statement "That's why we're providing the Buy Back Program free of charge on mobile phones and tablets now through Feb. 26, right on the heels of pre-sale and in-store availability of highly anticipated devices like the HTC Thunderbolt and iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless."

What's Best Buy's Buy Back? In January, the retailer launched a program by which customers could pay $69.99 at the time of purchase to enter in to the program, for laptops, netbooks or tablets.

The program allows you to:

* Redeem your Buy Back within 6 months from purchase effective date, and get up to 50 percent of your purchase price
* Redeem your Buy Back after 6 months to 12 months from purchase effective date, and get up to 40 percent
* Redeem your Buy Back after 12 months to 18 months from purchase effective date and get up to 30 percent
* Redeem your Buy Back after 18 months to 24 from purchase effective date and get up to 20 percent
* For TVs only, redeem your Buy Back within 48 months from purchase effective date and get up to 10 percent

Phones command a special deal: the program is based on the retail price of the phone. If a subsidized price of a phone is $199 with contract, but the phone costs $600 unsubsidized, then the Buy Back value is based on the value of the phone. It's unclear what Best Buy will charge at the register, however.

For now, though, that doesn't matter - the Best Buy Buy Back program is free for both tablets and phones until Feb. 26. TVs are not affected.

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