Where Can I Trade In My Old Electronics And Games For Fast Cash?

(Earth2Kim)

There are a lot of websites out there that are happy to take your electronics, games, music, and movies off your hands for a modest fee. You unload your stuff with a minimum of effort, and the buyer resells your old crap in volumes that regular consumers can hardly comprehend. Where’s the best place to unload your stuff, though? Does it really matter?

A few articles crossed our desk recently where writers tried to sell the same items to different outlets. Where did they determine were the best places to get rid of your games, DVDs, phones, and tablets? As you might expect, it depends on what you want to sell.

Our phone-hawking colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports pretended to sell an iPhone, an iPad, a Samsung smartphone, and a Kindle on a wide variety of services, and were particularly impressed with these:

For variety: Amazon. Some Consumerist readers have reported trouble with Amazon downgrading the condition of their trade-in items after they’re received, resulting in a smaller payout for the seller. Amazon accepts the widest variety of items, though, including some older and obscure ones.

Best prices: Glyde made the most generous offers, even taking the site’s fees into account. They also offer payments in Bitcoin, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Convenience: NextWorth has some in-person drop-off spots at Target stores, if you don’t want to mail items in.

What about media? Consumerist alumnus Phil Villarreal set out to get rid of a game (Gears of War: Judgment for Xbox 360) and a Blu-Ray (The Dark Knight Rises) at a variety of online and in-person disc-hawking places. He didn’t have much luck, but was surprised at the good prices Walmart and Gamestop offered. No, really.

Worst offer: Amazon wasn’t interested in the game, and offered 25 cents for the movie. Technically, this was the best offer that he received for the Blu-Ray, but it wasn’t a good one.

Best offer: It may surprise you, but Best Buy and Walmart made the best offers for the game, at $7 and $7.35 respectively.

None of these trade-in options was particularly pleasant, and he describes the Best Buy trade-in experience as something like “having to drive across town to make an appointment with the school bully to steal your milk money.” Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you were already planning to visit Best Buy. Or whatever store is next door to Best Buy.

Funny Money: Who’ll Pay the Most Cash for Video Game and DVD Trade-ins? [Money Under 30]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist