‘Get your Costco card from Groupon !!!’: Atlanta woman goes to Costco. Then she realizes she can get an iPhone for 50% off through T-Mobile

‘I am not using my Costco membership to its full extent.’

Costco cards offer a surprising amount of deals. Outside of the warehouse amenities, customers can get better rates when purchasing vehicles, prescriptions, vacations, and, as one woman has pointed out, phones.

Ak Roulette (@akroulette), a Georgia-based content creator, shared a hack to get an iPhone 15 for $300 with a Costco card. According to her, Costco members can grab a brand new iPhone for 50% off from T-Mobile.

As of this writing, her post discussing the hack, alongside its quirks, has more than 5 million views.

How to Get an iPhone 50% Off at Costco

Costco has a vendor relationship with T-Mobile, which means that Costco members can take advantage of exclusive rates and deals with the cellphone service provider. Online, the wholesale store says that members can “Get $450 in value … When [they] switch to T-Mobile and activate a new phone on Experience Beyond. $150 & $50 Costco Digital Shop Cards + $250 Prepaid Visa Card.”

Costco does have the iPhone 15 available for customers to purchase through T-Mobile, which is noted on its website.

Ak Roulette said that all she had to do was acquire a Costco membership, go inside a warehouse, purchase the phone, and then pick it up at T-Mobile. She said she received the phone for “50% off,” or $300. The iPhone 15 is $629.99 on T-Mobile’s website, so the $300 she paid was a little more than half off.

Outside of the deal Ak Roulette mentioned, Costco has other offerings for phones. For instance, the warehouse retailer has deals for customers to get an iPhone 17, a Galaxy S25, gift cards, or different plans with the warehouse chain’s two carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile.

What Issues Did This Costco Customer Run Into With T-Mobile?

Ak Roulette ran into some trouble fulfilling the deal when she got to T-Mobile, which she noted in her video. According to her, the employee she worked with was unfamiliar with Costco and T-Mobile’s vendor relationship. She says that when she arrived at T-Mobile, the employee tried to tell her that she couldn’t pick up the phone she had just purchased.

“She’s telling me over and over, ‘I can’t do that. I can’t do that.’ Well, I think I can. I think I can,” Ak Roulette said.

After some back-and-forth, she was able to secure her brand-new device, which she unboxed in her video.

“It feels so much better than the 13,” Ak Roulette said.

Viewers, however, said there were additional complications with Ak Roulette’s purchase. For one, some viewers claimed that customers have to get the phones shipped from Costco, not from T-Mobile.

“The t-mobile rep at the store was right tho. Costco and Sam’s HAS to ship the phone to you, they do get in trouble when they send customers to a different store, so i’m sure the Costco rep got chewed out by their manager after the Tmobile rep told their manager,” one viewer said. “Also, it’s a monthly credit that’s applied to your bill, you don’t get the $315 all at once, it’s split up into 24 months so if you leave you lose the credit and have to pay the full balance of the phone.”

Others mentioned that the deal likely came with a T-Mobile plan. They recommended other cellphone carriers, such as Mint Mobile, instead. Ak Roulette, however, seemed happy with her purchase.

How to Get a Better Deal on Costco Memberships

Some viewers shared additional tips in the comments section on how to get better deals on Costco memberships.

“Step one – go to Groupon & get a membership for 50% off. I paid $35 for my first year,” one viewer said. Ak Roulette replied, “Ima start asking y’all before I do stuff cause now I’m mad I didn’t save more.”

Groupon has a promotion that offers potential customers benefits when purchasing a Costco membership. When a person purchases a deal from the platform, they can get a discount on the base cost of a membership or bonus credit to use inside the store.

As of this writing, Groupon is offering a $50 or $100 bonus credit alongside Costco memberships. The company doesn’t always offer discounts, but it does have offers that customers can frequently take advantage of.

“Within two weeks of your successful membership purchase, Costco will email you a $50 or $100 Costco.com online promo code. Eligible customers receive it automatically, no action needed,” the platform states.

AllHipHop reached out to Ak Roulette and T-Mobile via email, as well as Costco via press form, for more information. We will update this story if any party responds.

@akroulette Costco X T-Mobile new iPhone 50% off #akroulette #fyp ♬ original sound – Ak Roulette

Related