Running until 10/31/15, Amazon has a Sony Trade-In Bonus Promotion that can be applied towards the purchase of select Sony a7* kits or FE lenses. The complete list of eligible cameras and lenses is shown over there.

The “bonus” part of the trade-in is this: in addition to the actual trade-in value of the camera gear you will send them in, you will also receive a promotional code that gets you $45 to $250 off the purchase of the aforementioned Sony a7* cameras or FE lenses. In general, the higher the price of the item, the bigger the promo code discount. For example, the a7S body only gets $250 off, while the 28mm f2 gets $45 off. You receive promo codes for all 17 eligible items. You can use each promo code once. Applies only to items sold and shipped by Amazon herself (not 3rd-party sellers).

The workflow of this trade-in (based on the promotional page (I haven’t done this)) is this:

STEP #1: locate the camera(s) or lens(es) you want to trade-in. The promotional page has big pictures for eligible “Digital SLRs” or “Mirrorless Cameras” or “Lenses”. Once you hit one of those links, you will see eligible products. You don’t have to go through them page by page. The Amazon search box over there morphs into a trade-in search box, so it will only show you eligible items. So, for example, you don’t have to go through 500+ DSLR kits to see if yours is eligible.

STEP #2: select the camera you want to trade-in and follow the steps. It’s easy actually. You click the yellow “Trade-In” button and it shows you price ranges depending on the condition. Your trade-in amount will be adjusted if when they receive it, their evaluation of the item’s condition differs from your own. Even so, you have some control, you can pre-select whether you want them to return the item to you for free, or automatically accept the lower price. (if the price is higher, they’ll obviously give you a bigger trade-in amount). The trade-in amount will be sent to you in an Amazon Gift Card, not a cold-hard-cash check/cheque.

STEP #3: if you accept the offer, you ship your old camera/lens to Amazon for FREE using their printable shipment labels. About 7-10 business days after, you will receive via e-mail the promotional codes that go towards the purchase of Sony a7* or FE lenses. The promotional codes are pre-determined amounts ($45 to $250) depending on which Sony item you buy in the future. These amounts are not linked to the value of your old used traded-in gear.

STEP #4: after your old used trade-in gear is received by Amazon, and their condition evaluated, you will receive an email with their findings, and if accepted by them, you will receive your trade-in value in an Amazon electronic gift card (this is a never-expiring Amazon gift card, not a promotional code).

STEP #5: you can use both the promotional bonus codes ($45 to $250) and your trade-in gift card towards the purchase of a Sony camera or FE lens. This is optional. You don’t have to buy anything. But obviously you can’t undo the trade-in once it is submitted and accepted by Amazon and it survives your “lower condition” conditional choice in Step #2.

STEP #6: as you can see, I can only write short posts or sprawling posts, there’s no middle ground 🙂

DEADLINES: The promotion expires 10/31/15. The promo codes expire 11/7/15.