Recycle Your Cell Phones and Electronics For Cash

How many old cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, tablets, game consoles and e-readers do you have laying around? I’ll bet it’s more than one. Some people have half a dozen or more cell phones stuck in a desk drawer because they just don’t know what to do with them. How about converting this unwanted technology to cash? You can do that now. It’s quick and easy to sell cell phones and other electronics for quick cash online.

What makes this really easy is a service called uSell that gets you cash for your unwanted electronic gadgets. You may have heard of or seen companies that offer to recycle your stuff for free or make you a cash offer if they happen to want your make or model. This is a similar idea, but with multiple buyers.

You know those travel services that mash up multiple airlines, hotels, and rental car offers so that you can find the best deal? This is something like that. What you do is enter the make and model of your cell phone or other device and then check the boxes on what condition it is in and what accessories you still have. Then click the “find top cash offers” button. Almost instantly, you’ll be presented with one or more offers to buy your phone. These are from a variety of companies in the business of buying, refurbishing and recycling used electronic devices.

I gave the system a try by entering a digital camera that returned one offer. An Apple iPad 32 GB WiFi came back with 7 separate offers. The top offer can be twice or more the lowest offer, confirming the benefit of having more than one vendor to chose from. Sure, you can do a lot of searching yourself, visit a lot of sites, enter a lot of data or even try selling your device through auctions or classified ads. That’s going to take awhile. This took a matter of seconds. Really, the system is so fast that I had the offers as soon as I clicked the button.

It gets even better. Your next move is to pick one of the buyers so you can sell your phone. You’ll probably go immediately to the highest offer, but it makes sense to do a little due diligence and check out reviews of that company from other uSell users who’ve recently dealt with them. This is all provided for you, so it’s still quick and easy.

Ah, but what does it cost for shipping? Shipping is always extra, right? Nope. Shipping is free. You fill out a form and the buyer will send you a free shipping kit that includes a prepaid shipping label and often a box, too. Put your item inside and send it on its way.

What happens next is that your device is received by the buyer and inspected & tested to confirm that it matches your assessment. If so, you’ll get a quick payment, typically by check or PayPal depending on what you prefer. This is typically a week or two, not forever and a day. To get to this point you have invested, what, an hour tops?

Compare this with other methods of selling or disposing of your old electronics. It’s getting to be that you’ll get in trouble with the law if you simply throw electronics in the trash. So, you have to haul it somewhere that accepts such items and do it during their business hours. What do you get for all that trouble? A satisfying feeling, perhaps, but no cash.

Wouldn’t you rather get paid as well as clean out all that old electronics? Of course. Cash is always the most satisfying of all. So, wouldn’t this be a good time to fish through those desk drawers, boxes in the closet, basement or garage? Don’t reject items that are damaged or missing accessories. There may still be a market for them. Enter the make and model number and see if you can get an offer before you give up on that junker.

Don’t Be Part Of The Impending Worldwide E-Waste Crisis

Most of have heard by now that it’s not a good idea to just throw your old electronic devices in the trash. The awareness of hazardous e-waste has gotten to the point where some office supply and electronics or hardware stores have a big box where you can drop off your unwanted cell phones, old laptop batteries or compact fluorescent light bulbs. Communities have places where you can take your old computer or special recycling days a couple of times a year just for electronics. Savvy businesses and consumers also know that you can sell your unwanted electronics for cash rather than giving it the old heave-ho. So, why is the United Nations warning of a coming crises in e-waste?

This impending threat is coming countries that are now in a rapid development period as well as established patterns in the U.S. and other developed countries. China, India, Africa and Latin America are expected to be dumping large quantities of e-waste in the next 10 years. Why? Primarily because these countries are also becoming big consumers of electronic gadgets. E-waste just from discarded mobile phones will be 7x higher in 2020 than it was in 2007 in China. In India it will be much worse at 18x higher. There are similar large increases predicted for e-waste from old computers and televisions.

Much of this increase in e-waste volume will surely come from the modernization of these now developing countries. But some of it also comes from the industrialized world dumping their electronic trash in other countries. Nigeria, in particular, has long been an international landfill for electronic waste from the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea, among other countries.

So, what’s the big deal with dumping e-waste as long as it isn’t in your back yard? First of all, it’s just not right to be victimizing these poverty stricken people who don’t even realize the toxicity of the materials they’re handling. Your cell phone or computer isn’t going to disintegrate in your home and poison you. But when these devices are smashed apart and cooked to try and recover valuable elements like gold and silver or left to decay in a trash heap, they release toxic chemicals that can ruin your health.

Do you really think that the global ecosphere keeps the bad chemicals over there and completely away from our air and water? Think again. The atmosphere doesn’t observe any national boundaries. It goes around and around the Earth, collecting dust and vapors from one country and blowing them into or raining them down upon other countries. The oceans work the same way. Dump it in the water way over there and you’ll eventually find it washing up on your shores too.

I think it’s good that an international body like the United Nations is sounding the alarm about the growing e-waste problem. We’re long past the day when we can turn a blind eye to pollution no matter where it occurs. This will almost certainly require an international effort to tackle the problem, especially in areas where there is so little awareness of the danger and few resources to properly recycle these materials. Companies like Apple have taken the initiative of offering a free recycling service for your old computer when you buy one of their new ones. That would be a good approach for all manufacturers.

In the meantime, we can all do our parts by ensuring that we turn our old unwanted electronic equipment over to companies that have the capacity to properly dismantle and process the cases and electronic circuit boards. Plus, don’t forget that many electronic gadgets can be easily sold for cash so that they’ll get a new lease on life and you’ll get money you can use for your next high tech acquisition.

They Buy Used Cell Phones

When you get a new cell phone and service plan, what’s the best thing to do with the phone you are no longer using?

A. Toss it in the trash. It’s worthless now.

B. Toss it in a drawer. It might come in handy someday.

C. Sell it immediately while it has maximum value.

If you answered anything but “C,” you are losing money. So run, don’t walk, to wherever you stashed that cellphone that just came out of service and bring it over here to the computer. You’re about to find out just how much of a jackpot you hit as you check the current market value of your cell phone.

Find your phone on the list and answer a few questions about what shape it’s in and the accessories you have. Hit the “calculate” button and you’ll find out how much this buyer will pay for your old cell phone. If you take the offer, they’ll send you a free postage paid mailer box and, when the condition of your phone has been verified, you’ll get a check in the mail.

Pretty easy, right? It doesn’t really get easier than this. But notice that time is of the essence. The pricing graph for your phone shows you the historical price of your used phone and a projection of how much it will be worth in the near future. As you can see, cell phones lose value with time. They’re not exactly heirlooms. There’s always a new model right around the corner that everyone’s going to want. So if you are going to sell, the best time is right when your phone goes out of service. The second best time is right now.

How about all those other electronic gadgets taking up space in your closet? Are they worth anything. You bet they are. That unwanted eBook reader, digital camera, MP3 player, camcorder, GPS device, gaming console, satellite radio home audio system, Blu-Ray player, PDA, external drive, video game, laptop or desktop computer, projector, streaming media device, camera lens, or movie is worth cash right now. Round up all your recent vintage gadgets and check their value now. You may be surprised how much it all adds up to. And you were going to throw that stuff out, why?

There’s $$$ In E-Waste

Did you know there’s a $100 bill in that trash you set out at the curb? Oh, I’m sorry. The truck’s already come. Looks like that c-note is headed for the landfill. It will probably be found by future generations, but be so decayed by then that it will have no value. Pity about all the poisons that will have leached into the environment.

What am I talking about? E-waste. That’s short for electronic waste. Ah, I’ll bet you can guess what’s going on now. The $100 bill in the trash wasn’t in the form of a greenback. It represents the value of that smartphone or navigation system you chucked because you bought a newer model. You can set it out for pickup or you can send it in for cash. It’s your choice.

Electronic waste has been a problem since the first radios and TVs started showing up at the city dump. Nobody made a big deal of it because the early electronic appliances were big, expensive and not likely to be trashed until after decades of service. There was also a lot less environmental awareness back then. That doesn’t mean that these things were benign trash like old chairs or broken window panes. Those metal chassis were chock full of lead solder and chemical filled electrolytic capacitors. Some had batteries with paper wrappers that quickly decomposed.

Fast forward to today’s electronics. Cell phones have a life cycle of around two years each. That’s how long it takes for the contract to expire. With the rapid advance of technology, many people want a new phone every couple of years just to get the latest goodies. They can often get a cell phone for free when they sign a new contract.

Computers don’t fare much better, especially in business. Few microprocessor boards ever wear out. They go obsolete years before they would have failed in service. All those circuit boards are still full of lead solder and components made of various elements. Some, like gold, are valuable. Many are toxic and tend to leach out when exposed to water over many years. Think of the millions and millions of electronic circuit boards piling up as electronic waste, and you begin to sense the potential size of the cleanup problem downstream.

Just as tragic is the residual value of the electronic devices being casually tossed away. Some people may take a stab at selling their old gear using ads on craigslist or eBay. For most, though, that's just way too much effort for the expected reward. After all, that old gadget doesn’t have any value to them since they aren’t using it any more. What they don’t know is that for almost no effort whatsoever they could be pocketing $10, $20, $50, even $100 or more for that “electronic junk.”

What types of devices are we talking about? Cell phones, of course. But also some laptop computers, digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs, gaming consoles, GPS devices, LCD monitors, satellite radios, projectors, streaming media devices, home audio equipment, camcorders, external drives and Blu-ray players. Even content such as movies on DVD and video games may have residual value.

How can you be sure that you have something of value rather than junk? Better yet, how can you cash in with little effort? The way to do that is to sell your used electronic devices to a recycler that specializes in trading cash for gadgets. You simply visit the website and check the value of what you have in whatever condition its in. If you like what you see, you request a free prepaid mailer and send your gadget in for evaluation. Once approved, a check will be on its way to you quickly. Even if your offering has no remaining financial value, you can still send it in for proper recycling as the responsible thing to do.

So, treat yourself to a fancy coffee or a nice cold beer with part of your proceeds. Be sure to toast the device that served you well through those years and then gave you the opportunity to get a little cash at the end. From now on, you’ll be collecting on all your e-waste.