MediaMarkt takes device buyback to 10 more cities, should retailers offer trade-ins?

The customer enters the device for an online pre-valuation and gets an appointment within 24 hours. An authorised team checks the device at the customer’s address, makes the final valuation and presents an offer. If the customer accepts, the money is transferred to their bank account within 24 hours.

MediaMarkt also runs a separate in-store campaign called “Eskiyi Getir Yeniyi Götür”, which roughly means “bring the old, take the new”. The doorstep service removes the need to come to the store at all. One works near the till, the other works in the customer’s living room.

The report does not say how many devices the Istanbul pilot collected, what the average payment was, or whether the service runs with a partner company. It is also unknown whether the payment is tied to buying a new product.

Let’s say your customer knows the old phone is worth something but has no wish to sell it on their own. That uncertainty can push the new purchase back for weeks. Once the value is clear, the customer sits down at the decision table faster.

Speed builds trust. Until the money is in the account, a customer does not quite believe the deal is done. A short, written payment window takes away the haggling fatigue that comes with second-hand sales.

The idea of putting an old device back into the economy, rather than into the bin, adds a clear conscience to the purchase. For a customer who cannot bring themselves to throw a device away, that is a reason that makes the decision easier.

One evening, a customer enters the model of their old phone in the form on your website. The next day, someone from your team checks the device at the door and puts an offer on the table. Hearing the figure, the customer asks: “Which model can I move up to with this?” The sale starts right there, with that sentence.

Here’s the thing: the secret is often in the conversation, not in the price. In our view, a short chat at the door can build more trust than a long bargaining session at the counter. Because the customer is welcoming you into their home, the relationship shifts from seller and buyer toward something closer to neighbours.

MediaMarkt has not published its pilot results, so you need to keep your own data. Track trade-in requests, doorstep approvals and new-device sales separately. Those three tell you how your average basket and customer acquisition cost are changing.

Shops with a strong local customer base, fast valuation and their own technical service team have the edge. A seller who knows the neighbourhood can answer the big chain’s speed with closeness.

Shops that only take trade-ins at the counter, pricing by eye, will struggle. When the customer does not like the offer, they walk out the door and buy the new device somewhere else.

Second-hand device platforms, refurbishment workshops and courier companies are part of this shift. As trade-ins move to the doorstep, demand for valuation and logistics services may grow. We follow shifts like this on our retail page, where we interpret the retail agenda for you.

Phrases like “where to sell my old phone” and “phone trade-in” are worth pairing with your city and district names. Building your trade-in page around local place names supports your local visibility directly.

Every model entered in the valuation form tells you something about the stock that will come into your shop. Knowing which SKU comes back through trade-ins makes refurbishing and resale easier to plan.

A phone you take back carries the customer’s photos and accounts. Write a data-wiping step into the process. For the security side, our piece built on the WatchGuard threat report fills in the picture.

Start with your five best-selling models. For each one, set a price range by storage and cosmetic condition, and update the list every week.

Give a written window that your own cash flow can handle. Keeping the promise you made is worth more than promising a short window and missing it.

We build the form, appointment and payment flow on the website side as part of our e-commerce consulting work. Carrying existing customer trust into a new service looks a lot like the category move we see in Pınar’s entry into cold coffee. One principle sums it up: whoever makes the trade-in easy also opens the door to the next sale.

According to the report, after the Istanbul pilot the service opens in Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Mersin, Gaziantep, Aydın, Şanlıurfa, Samsun, Bursa and Kocaeli. For other cities, watch for the company’s announcements.

The report does not mention such a condition; it only says the payment is transferred to a bank account. Check the exact terms through the company’s official channels.

Yes. With an online pre-valuation form, a local appointment calendar and a written payment window, the same logic can work in a smaller area.