Sounds like a clickbait I know, but I believe this is a good way of utilizing your contract price for phones. So if you are looking at either not replacing your phone or buying phones off-contract, you could potentially save a lot of money here, so join me as I go through my process of a re-contract.
Side-note is that if you are getting an iPhone or a Samsung device, usually the telco offers rather competitive prices and would offer very little savings. If however you are looking at other brands, this is a good way to save some money as well.
Step 1: Research
For this step, you need to know the following:
- Your contract tier for your telco.
- Phones offered by the telco.
- Pricing for each phone on contract.
- Pricing for each phone when selling.
To access the price list of the telco, look at their respective online shops and there should be a price-list which is dependent of your contract tier.
For price research off-contract, look at online mobile phone retailers which offers the “Buy-back” option or something that sounds similar. Look at the list over there as well. To calculate your profits, look at the price-incurred of your phone’s subsidised prices and the selling price on the website. That gives you a good estimate of how much you will be getting. Obviously you should find something with the highest profit possible. However that would depend on your budget with the re-contract as well.
For instance, mine is a Combo 2 plan that is under Singtel, so I would be using their combo 2 price list for comparison. After doing some research, the Xiaomi Mi Note offers the best value by costing 98 SGD on contract, and 450 SGD when sold to the mobile retailer. Coupling with the online sale promotion (which I saved another 30 SGD), I could potential earn a minimum of 382 SGD. Not too shabby.
Note that your phone choice would decide the amount of money you earn. If you have a high capital for re-contract and want the easiest way out, buy the latest iPhone as they can be easily sold away at a pretty good profit.
Step 2: Phone Re-contract
Now it is the time to re-contract. However there are some things you need to take note. If you are physically purchasing the phone, try to convince the staff to not open the packaging, as there might be a penalty from the selling price.
So for me, I opted to use Singtelshop.com to make my purchase. The set would come sealed in the box, so it is much easier to sell the device. I used my bank transfer to pay for the phone, and I receive the phone 2 days later.
To increase my savings even further, I opted for POPStation delivery, which means no delivery charges. The set comes totally sealed, which is good to sell with.
Step 3: Phone selling
This is the step which will also determine your profit margins. There are 2 ways of selling your phone.
The first way is to put up your brand new phone online for sale. Use online marketplaces such as HardwareZone, Carousell, eBay, or some other site which can get your phone sold. You can use the price list from the online retailers as a guide. However this might backfire as you make take much longer to sell your phone.
The second method yields minimum profit, however is the fastest and most convenient way. Go to a phone shop to sell your phone. I highly recommend Far East Plaza, as there are quite a few reputable shops with their price list available. Do remember to bring your receipt along as well.
So if you are just looking for profits, you are done by this step. If you are looking to buy the phone still, look at the next step.
Step 4: Phone purchasing
This is where you can get the phone for your choice. You can either purchase your phone from that same retailer you go to for maximum convenience, or purchase your phone separately. Below are some examples which will work out extremely well. For conservative estimates, I pegged the profit at $300 for consistency reasons.
Phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
- Original contract price (Combo 2): -$48
- Profits from phone selling: +$300
- Off-contract price: -$228 (XiaoMi website)
- Net: +$72
This is one example which would work out very well, with you not spending a single cent, and instead leave you with some extra money to do something else.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S6
- Original contract price (Combo 2): -$498
- Profits from phone selling: +$300
- Off-contract price: $700 (some online retailers)
- Net: -$400
You still spend about $400 for your Galaxy S6, however it is still a rather note-worthy savings. In fact you can probably get a S6 64GB configuration at the same price as the original contract price this way.
Phone: Oneplus X
- Original contract price: NOT AVAILABLE.
- Profits from selling: +$300
- Off-contract price: $438 (Lazada)
- Net: -$138
Another thing about this method is that you are not restricted by the phones available by your telco. This will not only work for this model, but also any other model that are not available in your telco as well.
Conclusion
If you are willing to put some work, you can get either a sweeter deal in general, or actually earn a small profit to buy something nice for yourself. Hope this is a clear enough tutorial for everyone who are looking to re-contract their phone. All the best everyone.
NUS TECH FRIENDS 