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Newegg now takes GPU trade-ins

Newegg now takes GPU trade-ins

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That was once a nice graphics card. How would you like to get between $30 and $561 for it?

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Image of a serious-looking man with black hair and white cotton gloves examining an Nvidia Geforce GTX graphics card. Hey, wait a minute, those aren’t even eligible for this program!
Newegg’s caption for this photo was “Joseph Olmedo of Newegg examines a graphics card to determine its condition.” Joseph, you’re doing great, man.
Image: Newegg

Newegg will now take your old GPU off your hands in exchange for a trade-in credit on a new one. The Newegg Trade-In Program, which soft-launched earlier this month but was officially announced today, gives you a modest bit of cash back on your new GPU and Newegg a steady stream of cards to refurbish and resell.

Estimated trade-in values range from $30 for a 4GB AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT all the way up to $561 for an Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti 24GB. You check your trade-in value by clicking the big ol’ “Check Your Trade-In Value” button on the product page for a GPU and selecting your card from a drop-down menu. Despite the “GeForce GTX” card in the photo above, Newegg won’t take cards older than the AMD RX 5000 series (launched in July 2019) or the Nvidia RTX 20 series, from fall 2018. Bad news for me and my apparently worthless GTX 1070!

Screenshot of a banner from Newegg’s website reading “Newegg Trade In. Get $30 - $561 credit toward your new GPU. Check your trade-in value”
This simple banner is your gateway into realizing your old GPU is basically worthless.

You don’t get the trade-in credit right away. Instead, after you buy your new GPU, Newegg sends you a prepaid label, and then you have 14 days to return the old one for the quoted value. Once they inspect the card, they’ll apply the credit as a refund to your original form of payment, although the terms and conditions page says that the company reserves the right to pay via Newegg gift card instead.

When we reached out for clarification, Eric Wein, Newegg’s global head of public relations, told The Verge that the original form of payment will be credited in “the majority of transactions” but that gift cards would be issued in some circumstances.

An example can be if the new GPU order was canceled or voided and they’ve already sent their used GPU, Newegg will need to send a gift card for the amount of the trade-in GPU. That’s not the expected process for this program, but that’s a solution in this instance.

Newegg’s press release touts the program as a way to reduce electronic waste and avoid the hassle of selling your old GPU. As with basically all trade-in programs, you could get more money elsewhere but at the cost of convenience. Wein told The Verge via email that Newegg refurbishes the GPUs it receives and resells them with a 30-day warranty. You can see Newegg’s first-party refurbished cards here.

Update September 26th, 2023, 4:40PM ET: Added statement from Newegg clarifying under which circumstances trade-in credits would be issued as gift cards instead of refunds to the original form of payment.