Trade-in Program not cost effective?

[Anonymous user]

I have a bunch of older APC units that I would love to Trade-in. However, after going through the steps, I find that I can purchase the same units at the same or lower price elsewhere. And in most cases locally. What really is the reason for the trade-in program. I was hoping for a bigger discount.

I locally recycle all of my batteries at Batteries Plus. I will have to check if our county accepts old UPS units in the electronic recycling bins at the local dump station.

Thanks for any answers.

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Lord,

The problem that most customers come across is that APC is utilizing itself as a channel friendly company. With the trade-ups specifically, unless you trade to something at least 2 times the capacity of what you currently have, the discount is going to be minimal. The benefit on that then becomes the return postage paid for proper disposal of the old UPS.

In this event though, APC Distribution Chains purchase bulk units at a lower cost (just like any other distributor would buy from their vendor), and at that point, the sale price is on them. If it's better than APC's, then use them, all in all the Mission statement is upheld, and you save a few dollars.

[Anonymous user]

I was expecting a greater return. I personally only purchase APC products. A previous NA used to buy Belkin, which are in my opinion, Junk! So brand is not an issue. However, in today's economy, your trade-in program is not an incentive. Usually the electronics don't go bad so I give them away to people who don't have them. Typically a batter doesn't cost more than $20 and it lasts for two years.

I think you answered my initial question. What I get is that it depends on what you are trading in and how your company policies work.

[TheNotoriousKMP_apc]

Tony,

I think your kindheartedness is definitely a good thing. I have made sure my parents' equipment is protected so that I'm not responsible for having to fix it when it breaks. I understand your concern and that seems to be the generalized opinion when trading in Home/Home Office UPS's. I guess the incentive is sort of designed towards getting the Server/Networking UPS's out of customer's sites more than it is designed for someone to make a choice between a battery and another UPS of the same price. If you continually use the same VA capacity to protect and back up your equipment, then the Trade-UPS program will never be a cost-effective decision for you.

[Anonymous user]

Lordfly911, thank you for your information, which has led me to a contact which I did not have before. I work to provide tech support at a non-profit higher education organization and since beginning to work here a decade ago have insisted that only APC units be purchased and used here (I was already using them personally for systems in my home). I began investigating the trade-UPS from APC and found that each unit must be entered on line with serial number and model number. We probably have several dozens of the units, perhaps thirty to sixty, non-functioning and it would be great to have, in effect, a bulk exchange where the new units were trucked here in one load and the old ones taken away, also in one load. I believe that I asked this question directly but am not sure if someone at APC answered me (it would have be via email message).

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

BoBraxton, I am glad you are considering APC's Trade UPS program. It does work very well for trading in a large amount of product for either a few larger units or several other units about the same size. When trading in multiple UPS units, you must be sure that you purchase at least equal the amount of VA as you trade in. For example, if I trade in 10 SUA1000 units (1000 VA each) then I must at the minimum purchase 10,000 VA worth of equipment (10 SUA1000 units x 1000 VA). Here is some information from our Trade UPs policy:

"Trading In Multiple UPSs: Customers can trade in multiple UPSs for larger UPSs. The VA of the multiple units can be combined, and then doubled, to get a maximum VA the customer is eligible to trade up to. Customer cannot trade in UPSs for any single or multiple UPSs of lesser value (VA) than the combined VA of all units traded in.

Hope this helps!