Why isn't my iPhone eligible for trade in?

Good afternoon,

I recently just went to the Apple Store near me to trade my unlocked iPhone 14 Pro in for an upgrade.

I purchased this phone in Florida in 2023 and did not finance it. I paid for the device in full.

Upon scanning the serial number, there was a message that showed on their phone that said

"Device Ineligible - The device has been upgraded in the past 180 days."

I have contacted Apple Support via phone and they stated it has to be a software issue at the Apple Store. They ran diagnostics and said everything is working perfectly fine and my battery is above standards.

The store representative stated they have worked there for around 10 years and have seen this message several times although they have no idea how its fixed.

The agent on the phone suggested trying another store but that is like 1 hour from me.

Does anyone have an idea on what causes this in the store during the trade in process and how to fix this? Apple Support can't escalate it as they have told me on the phone there is no department to escalate this issue to.