EZTradein Electronics under eBay’s ReThink
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 02.13.06
We’ve mentioned eBay’s ReThink program for salvaging computer stuff on one or two occasions in the past. Now Tipster Alex D. alerts us to the fact they have a newish scheme, whereby you can get PayPal money by sending in any old electronics goodies that you no longer require. The program is quite broad, it includes the following categories; Desktops-PC, Desktops-Apple, Notebooks-PC, Notebooks-Apple, Camcorders, Digital Cameras, Servers, Multimedia Projectors, Home Audio Receivers, Mobile Phones, Car Audio, Monitors, Game Systems, PDAs and Apple iPods. And is pretty simple. Fill in the online form, it gives you an estimate, if you think the $$$$’s sound half decent, just make a booking, print off the prepaid mailer, and ship the goods to their warehouse. A week later you’ll receive your dough via PayPal. The quoted prices won’t make you rich, but if you’ve run out of friends and family to donate your old computers and hi-fi to, then at least you get something back this way. What exactly happens to the goods at this point isn’t made clear, but given that they've just paid you for them, we doubt they are landfill bound. ::EZtradein.com
I can tell you what happens to your pre-owned electronics after you sell it through eBay's EXTradein program. Dealtree, the company in charge of many of the large electronics retailer trade-in programs, sells the items on, well, where else but eBay. Some of the items are bought to be reused, others are fixed up and sold, and others (like our company) cannibalize those electronics for parts.