iPad owners are preparing for the release of the iPad 3 by getting rid of their old models to collect some cash to apply to the purchase of the upcoming new models. The number of iPads traded in to eBay during the month of February was up tenfold over the same period last year.
AppleInsider’s Josh Ong:
CNet reports that eBay made over 125,000 tablet trade-in offers in February, 97.6 percent of which were versions of Apple’s iPad. That number includes only trade-ins are submitted to eBay’s Instant Sale program, which offers cash to owners and takes care of wiping the devices and pays for shipping.
In fact, Apple’s iPhones, iPods and iPads have made up the bulk of the trade-in items submitted to Instant Sale, despite the fact that other electronics brands are also accepted. eBay said it has made 7.3 million trade-in offers since launching the program.
The 1st-generation iPad 3G is the most commonly traded-in iPad, followed by the original Wi-Fi only iPad.
Ong says, “A significant jump in the number of iPads being traded-in was to be expected, as the available pool of used iPads last February were all less than a year old. Given that the first-generation iPad took the two top spots for tablet trade-ins, it would appear that some purchasers of the original iPad in 2010 skipped last year’s second-generation and are now trading in their tablets in preparation for the third-generation.”
A March 7th unveiling date for the new iPad was confirmed Tuesday when Apple sent out invitations to a media event that will take place at 10AM PST at the Yerba Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
MacTrast recently offered advice on “How to Sell Your iPad 2 for the Most Money“.
