You guys are brutal...
No company is going to give you high trade ins for used electronics, AW is just responding to customers requests for a trade-in setup.
They can't sell used stuff and expect a decent return, and it costs them labor to deal with this stuff on top of anything they can get for salvage.
A lot of people don't like selling used stuff, myself included, so if you've got old crap you want to get rid of, you can get a little credit towards a new system this way. I'd imagine some people would jump at the chance to get rid of some of their old stuff they don't use anymore for a few hundred off a new system.
Nobody is forcing anyone to do this, if you want more for your crap, sell it on eBay.