Swappa, best known as an online marketplace that lets you buy and sell used devices, made negative headlines recently when it announced it would increase the money it would get from sales. The company now hopes to make positive headlines by announcing protection plans for devices bought through the marketplace.
According to Swappa, 30 percent of its users will break their devices at some point. The company did not say how it arrived at such a metric, though that did not stop it from teaming up with Warranty Life to offer three different protection plans. The first plan, which offers protection up to $300, can be bought for $50. The second plan, meanwhile, offers protection up to $500 and can be purchased for $60. Finally, the third plan offers protection up to $1,000 and is available for $70.
Regardless of which protection plan you go for, they all offer accident protection, which means your drops and spills will be covered. Furthermore, any cracked glass or screen, as well as power surge damage, are covered. Make sure the plan you pick covers the cost of the device, however, since the plans pay for either a replacement or repair up to the value of the device.
There are a few things to note, the first being that the plans do not kick in if you lose your device or have it stolen. The plans also do not cover battery failure or leakage, nor does it cover software issues and cosmetic damage that do not affect functionality.
With that said, the protection plans give you one-year renewable and transferable coverage, with the $50 deductible seemingly a fixed amount. You can only purchase them when you buy a device, however, so make sure you want to buy insurance for your device before buying it.
Finally, the protection plans are only available for smartphones, though insurance for tablets and laptops is “coming soon.”
