Comments on: Gadget trade-in services that pay off

Many Web sites pledge to pay you for mailing in used electronics. Which ones look the most lucrative?

[Crunchy Doodle]

Has anyone heard of eBay and PayPal? That's where I "trade-in" my gadgets. I regularly sell off cameras, lenses, PDAs, multi-media storage and display gadgets, speaker systems, stereo gear, cell phones and radios. Some of this stuff is older, but works well. I doubt I'd get anything for a 25 year-old stereo receiver from any of these guys, but was able to sell one on eBay. For high-tech gadgets that might be a year old, I regularly get half to two-thirds of what I bought it for. Sure, it's more work to come up with an attractive ad with pictures, and then pack and ship out, but I say it's worth the satisfaction of selling an item to someone who really wants it and get a decent price for it.

[humanssssss]

My experience is different from yours. I was never able to sell 3 of my used items on ebay. It's extremely cumbersome to go through all the pages to get an item up. I don't like the way ebay interface work, it sux and gotten tired working with it.

craigslist is better for me. I was able to sell 2 items, and 1 I donated. Ebay is yesterday's news.

[fcg1502]

Thank you for the article! One question though. I recently built a new computer so I have the old desktop tower sitting around collecting dust. It's missing a hard drive and memory, but other than that has everything else. Will any of these services take anything like that?

[hblauer]

Try a charity, Salvation Army, Goodwill, any church thrift stores in your area.

[hblauer]

Anybody take VCRs at no cost? How about CRT monitors? If not, they're probably going into the trash! I realize that's not the correct way to dispose old electronics but most places I've found want $10 a unit. Trash can is cheaper and easier!

[Joe Real]

If you get caught dumping electronics into the trash bin, some municipalities consider it as misdemeanor, punishable byy fine or jail time or both.

[BenFlavoredCandy]

eztradein.com will give you either Circuit City or Best Buy gift cards. I didn't compare their offers, but I'm guessing I got more from them for my old laptop than I would have on eBay. They do offer hard drive wipes at a charge, but they also have tutorials telling you how to do it yourself.

Regarding recycling anything else, check out earth911.org

[chriss03]

before trashing your electronics, try contacting yur county or township recycling center. in new jersy, most counties and towns have great recycling facilities that accept everythig electronic, including crt monitors and tv's.
check your yellow pages for recyclers. where i live there are two that will accept anything.
also, our county has a county wide recycling day every summer. you can bring anything you want, like electronics, to be recycled.

[kumars1]

Are you kidding me... these guys quoted $6 for my ipod 4gen 20gb. i can get 10 times of it on ebay.
It looks like a big joke...
cnet should restrain themselves to publishing this kind of scam.
the site clearly says that they are NOT a non-profit organization...

[nakamura15]

How do people get on the other side of these services? As in, how do we buy the used or refurbished products from these companies or their partners?

[Jeffcols]

Don't use NextWorth. Real bad experience. They may quote a high price but they are quick to reduce the payout.