Gold Rush

In January, Sony started a campaign which made them hated by other companies and loved by the public. That program was called “Trade-In”, and with it, when you brought an old Dell notebook to Sony, you automatically received a $500 rebate on its VAIO Professional BX line notebooks. This maneuver was thought in order to gain an advantage against the competitors, and the rebate was bigger than the standard one offered for other manufacturers’ products (300$). (More details here, in an article by John Hazard.)

Now, the Sony program is extended, and whenever they feel like marching in in someone’s field of activity, they are using the same tactics. Increase the value for the rebate and people will start bringing in other brands to buy Sony products.

At the Sony site, things look rather simple: Take your old notebook into your local Sony Style or Sony Outlet store. A Sony sales representative will assist you to confirm your hardware value. You will receive an instant Sony Style gift card for that confirmed value. Your Sony Style gift card can be used for your next purchase at any Sony Style or Sony Outlet store, or online at SonyStyle.com. That seems easy enough, doesn’t it? (www.sonystyle.com.)

On the other hand, on various forums, this idea is well developed, and people have started to notice not only that Sony is gaining new clients (who have their hands tied up when they are using the trade-in facility, because the only advantage they have is that they can get a new piece of hardware, but they cannot control the manufacturer to which the hardware belongs), but the fact that Sony is gaining from materials used in the old components, like gold and platinum that are recycled from them.

In the end, some users started to apply the idea themselves, and started to sell their old hardware to people in Africa or other poor regions. They say they can gain more than they could by selling to Sony. Maybe it’s time for the giant to step in again and start another round of „hard negotiation”, allowing people to bring in for an exchange with a notebook, let’s say old jewelry or other trinkets. Who knows? Maybe they can lead this sector too.