By Paul Thurrott
Publication Date: 2026-08-26 15:28:00
This morning, Google emailed me to tell me the Pixel 10 Pro I traded-in to purchase the Pixel 11 Pro was rejected. As a result, it is returning the old device to me and will charge another $600–the value of that trade-in–to my payment method.
What?
“We inspected your trade-in device, and its value is less than the estimate,” the email explains. “As you requested, your device will be returned to you … To reverse your instant trade-in credit, your payment method will be charged $600.00 plus taxes if applicable.”
Aside from the “as you requested” bit–I don’t recall even getting that option–this seems straightforward enough: I believe that the phone I traded in is in near mint condition, but Google (or whatever Google partner) must have found some defect I did not see or know about. Surely, the email explains this.
It does not.
According to the email, I reported the device condition as:
Device turns On
No cracks
Factory reset
But the email explains that the device…
