Spring is right around the corner, which means it’s time to do some spring cleaning!
Once you start digging through your drawers and cabinets, you’re bound to uncover a lot of old electronics.
It might be tempting to fill a few garbage bags with all those gadgets, throw them away, and forget about them.
Before you reflexively toss them in the trash, however, consider the amount of money you could make from your “junk” electronics.
There are 6 great locations online where you can sell your electronics for some extra cash:
- eBay
- Nextworth
- Decluttr
- Gazelle
- Facebook Marketplace
- Craigslist
Each one of them functions differently from the other, leaving you to choose whichever one best fits your wants and your lifestyle.
After reading this, you’ll know plenty of ways to make some extra money simply for getting rid of your old electronics.
eBay’s Strengths
If you haven’t heard of eBay, then you’ve probably been living under a rock.
Founded in 1995, it’s one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world.
It holds this title for good reason.
Audience
As I previously mentioned, eBay is absolutely massive. It reaches hundreds of millions of viewers every year. An untold amount of transactions happen on eBay.
If you have something to sell, then someone on eBay wants to buy it. Trust me, when we say anything will sell on this on the eBay platform.
Multiple Selling Methods
To give you as much choice as possible, eBay provides multiple ways to get the most money out of your old electronics.
The simplest selling method they offer is a fixed price. You have complete control over what you want your electronics to sell for.
However, it’s usually difficult to find the highest price you can sell something for. You don’t want to miss out on any money, but you also want to actually sell your old stuff.
Fortunately for you, eBay has other methods that help you get more money for your stuff.
The first of these is an auction. You determine the starting price of your electronics and how long you’d like the auction to be, then let the market do the rest.
Interested buyers on eBay will bid for your items throughout the duration of your auction period. Once your auction period ends, your items will be sold to the highest bidder.
Nowadays, auctions aren’t as great on eBay. They’re most effective if you manage to dig up something rare or of considerable value. If you’re only trying to get rid of an old iPhone 4, you won’t get too much attention.
eBay’s last selling method is a “classifieds” type of deal. Listing an item through eBay Classifieds brings together the best of fixed-price and auction. Here’s how:
- You set starting price of item(s)
- Interested buyer reaches out to you
- Both of you finalize transaction details outside of eBay
As you can see, this process leaves some room for negotiation. Perhaps you’re desperate to get rid of your electronics, but the buyer won’t pay your price. You guys get to negotiate until you both agree on a price, then you can sell it to them.
eBay’s Main Weakness: Fees
Buyer’s don’t have to pay anything beyond the listed price and shipping.
On the other hand, sellers have a few fees they must pay if they want to sell things on eBay.
eBay has two main types of seller fees:
- Insertion fees
- Final value fees
Insertion Fees
Insertion fees are charged every time you list a new item or relist an old item. They are also charged per category; this means if you list an item in two separate categories, you have to pay the corresponding insertion fees for each category.
Luckily, eBay gives you some free listings every month. They call these “Zero insertion fee listings”.
Since you’re just looking to clean out some old electronics, you probably won’t reach 50 listings in a month; don’t worry too much about insertion fees unless you’re running a business on eBay.
Final Value Fees
As for final value fees, these are charged when you actually sell your item or when eBay determines that you’re going to sell it outside of eBay.
Final value fees are charged as a percentage of the sale amount, so you’ll pay a bit more money to sell your electronics if they’re worth a lot. Also, unlike insertion fees, final value fees occur on every sale.
Oh, and if the product is not as described or doesn’t work, you might get charged even more final values fees.
On eBay’s help pages, you can find more information about their fee structure.
Nextworth’s Strengths
Nextworth isn’t as well known as some other sites on this list, but don’t count it out! Here’s why.
Speed, Speed, Speed
Over at Nextworth, everything is about speed.
For one, getting a quote is ridiculously fast. All you need to do is give Nextworth some basic information about the devices you’d like to sell (such as type of device, brand, model, and some questions about the device’s condition) and they’ll quote a price.
Another process at Nextworth that’s reasonably quick is their payment.
Once you ship off your old electronics, Nextworth has to inspect the devices, wipe your data, and recondition them for sale. After the initial inspection, Nextworth sends you payment via check or PayPal.
They claim that most customer receive their payments within a week after the device arrives at their facilities. Not too bad!
Transparency
Nextworth prides themselves on transparency, and they do a few things to uphold that reputation.
For one, they have no hidden fees. You won’t be surprised by a bunch of charges at the last second when you’re selling your old devices. What they quote is what you get (barring any outright lies about the condition of your items).
Another thing they do is lay out their inspection process in their FAQs. You’ll know exactly what they do when your old stuff arrives at their facilities.
You can rest assured that whatever personal data remains on your device will be secure until they wipe it clean.
Speaking of FAQs, there is a ton of other great info on that page that contributes to more transparency.
Got a question about preparing your items for shipment?
Unsure how to deactivate “find my iPhone” type functions on your old devices?
Or maybe you just aren’t sure why you should trust Nextworth?
In an effort to be as transparent as possible, they answer all those questions and more on their FAQs page.
Nextworth’s Weaknesses
Nextworth doesn’t have any large fees to worry about, but there are some other areas that they fall short in.
Products They Accept
Some people are looking to sell old electronics that aren’t necessarily old iPhones or iPads.
Unfortunately, Nextworth is quite limited in the types of items they’ll buy from you.
In fact, if you go to the FAQs page again, you’ll see that they only accept three types of devices:
- Smartphones
- Tablets
- Wearables (like an Apple Watch)
Things like old TVs, computer monitors, external hard drives, and other computer peripherals are off-limits when selling to Nextworth.
This is bad news as you probably have more to sell than just your old iPhone or Samsung.
The Price
As with most things, convenience comes at the expense of price.
You don’t get to choose how much your devices sell for; that’s up to Nextworth. They generally are pretty fair about their quotes and honor them as much as possible, but since they decide, you might get a lower price than on a site such as eBay.
This shouldn’t affect your decision too much as you’re simply getting rid of old electronics you don’t use anymore, but always browse around and try to find the best bang for your old stuff.
Decluttr’s Strengths
Decluttr is similar to Nextworth in that they buy your old stuff, but there are a few areas where Decluttr shines.
Expanded “Inventory”
Nextworth only accepts a narrow range of products, making it hard to offload your old electronics if you have anything that’s not a phone, tablet, or wearable.
On the other hand, Decluttr has an expanded “inventory” that contains other devices and media. Some of these additional items include
- CDs
- DVDs
- Video games
I bet you have a lot of ancient CDs and DVDs you no longer want due to the proliferation of streaming services and other modern technology.
But how do you find these additional items?
Decluttr has a great solution for that.
If you’re looking to sell an item that isn’t a smartphone, tablet, or wearable, all you have to do is enter the barcode number into their system and it’ll find it for you.
All of a sudden, it’s quite easy to clean out your CD/DVD shelves and pocket some extra money!
Oh, they also sell books if you happen upon some old, unwanted tomes when gathering up your old electronics.
Mobile App
To make your selling experience even more pleasant and convenient, Decluttr created a mobile app.
On said mobile app, you can scan barcodes and instantly add items to your selling list. Decluttr streamlined and simplified valuation and sale of your goods as well so that you can get your money quickly.
Price Promise
With most other services that allow you to sell old electronics, Decluttr won’t automatically lower your price if they find a discrepancy between the product and your description of the product.
Instead, they’ll shoot you an email with a new price based on their evaluation. If you’re happy with the price, you can confirm that you’d like to sell it at that amount. Otherwise, they’ll ship it right back to you at no extra cost.
Decluttr understands that you want to get the best possible price for your old stuff, so they go out of their way to help you achieve that goal whenever possible.
Decluttr’s Weaknesses
Decluttr doesn’t have any crippling flaws that would exclude particular sellers. The only thing to look out for is low offers, especially if your item is of particular rarity and/or value.
That price promise will save you in case of an offer that’s nowhere near what your item is worth, but at the price of some wasted time.
Gazelle’s Strengths
Gazelle is one of the better known sites for unloading your old electronics and banking some extra cash. Using Gazelle comes with many advantages.
The Inspection Process
One of Gazelle’s biggest selling points is their comprehensive inspection process, which they call a “30+ point inspection process”.
Over many years of buying old devices and restoring them for resale, they’ve developed a rigorous system of inspection in order to determine the value of used products and to protect any sensitive data that may remain on your device after you’ve sent it to them.
It’s so rigorous that they hire tech-savvy professionals to inspect each and every device by hand. These professional use software that is approved by the Department of Defense (yes, that’s how strict they are about customer data) to destroy all your personal data in a secure environment.
No need to worry about your personal data falling into the wrong hands.
Gazelle’s Downsides
Similar to other sites on here, Gazelle doesn’t have any glaring flaws.
Still, look out for lowball offers. You have plenty of options in terms of sites that will buy your old electronics from you, so feel free to shop around for the best offer!
Also, despite their strict inspection process, you should still take precautions to eliminate any of your personal data from your devices. Even the greatest systems aren’t perfect.
Facebook Marketplace’s Strengths
Everyone uses Facebook.
Well, almost everyone.
Although mainly a social medium, Facebook introduced a Marketplace feature a few years ago in an effort to improve the platform.
Let’s look at some strengths of Facebook’s Marketplace.
Again, The Reach
Similar to eBay, everyone’s heard of Facebook.
You can advertise your old electronics to millions of other Facebook users through the Facebook Marketplace.
In fact, according to Facebook, over 450 million people use Facebook groups to buy and sell items every day!
With a reach like that, your trash could very quickly become a happy buyer’s treasure.
Simplicity and Seamlessness
While most other sites require you to jump through some hoops in order to start selling, Facebook makes it very easy.
First of all, creating your listing on Facebook is extremely easy. All you need to do is snap a few pictures of your electronics, import them to your Marketplace post, write a short description, set a price, then post your listing.
Within minutes, your listing could reach thousands (if not millions) of users!
Second, buyers have the ability to search for keywords in the Facebook search bar, similar to an E-Commerce store. Once they locate your product, all they have to do is send you a Facebook Messenger chat if they’re interested.
Play your cards right, and you could be ditching that old iPod for some cash by the end of the day.
Safety (In Comparison To Similar Sites)
Since Facebook is a social medium, you need to have a relatively complete profile to take full advantage of what the platform has to offer.
This makes Facebook’s Marketplace a safer option than Craigslist (which we’ll talk about in a minute).
Facebook Marketplace’s Downsides
Facebook is free, which means the marketplace is free.
But with more flexibility for selling your old stuff comes additional concerns.
Safety (In General)
Yes, Facebook is safer than Craigslist. However, you still have to meet face-to-face with a stranger in order to make a sale.
To stay safe when selling stuff on Facebook, take precautions such as the following:
- Stay local – Local buyers are more likely to be legitimate buyers than someone who wants you to ship something 1,000 miles.
- View the buyer’s Facebook profile – Gather some basic information about the buyer. You want to make sure they’ve been on Facebook for a while, have a normal looking profile, and don’t have duplicate profiles (this could be a red flag). If they have mutual friends with you, that’s a plus since they’re more likely to be a real person AND know your friends.
- Meet the buyer in a public place – We highly recommend that you DON’T visit a buyers house nor do you let them come to your house for obvious reasons. Meet in a public place to minimize risk.
- Buddy system – If you don’t feel comfortable meeting alone with a stranger to sell your old stuff, bring a friend. There’s no harm in doing so, and any decent buyer not looking to mug you will completely understand (and they might bring a friend themselves!)
YOU Close The Sale
Gazelle, Nextworth, and Decluttr do all the work for you since they’re the ones buying your items.
But Facebook Marketplace exists solely as a platform to facilitate exchanges between Facebook users.
It’s up to you to find buyers, negotiate everything, and close the sale.
Now this is all well and good if you have the time; however, if you live a busy lifestyle, one of the aforementioned sites that buys and resells your devices may be a better option.
However, with added convenience comes subtracted profit, and vice-versa.
Craigslist’s Strengths
Last on our list of sites to sell your electronics is the infamous Craigslist.
Known for everything under the sun – from roomates/romantic partners to household items, Craigslist is a great place for you to cash out on electronics you no longer use.
(Free)dom
Listing items on Craigslist is absolutely free. You can make as many listings as you want, or you can combine them all into one bulk listing for more search hits on said listing!
Selling your old stuff has never been cheaper or easier.
The Minimalist Design
Craigslist is known for having an extremely simple design.
It’s so simple, it’s almost unattractive to look at. However, this good for you because you won’t be distracted by a million other features on Craigslist.
No flashy, laggy web design or wild arrays of annoying features. Just good old selling your junk for money.
Craigslist’s Downsides
Craigslist is like an anonymous version of the Facebook Marketplace. Such anonymity brings about obvious concerns with selling on Craigslist.
Safety Concerns
I’m sure you’ve heard many horror stories about Craigslist meet-ups gone wrong. They make sense since Craigslist is very informal and anonymous.
While those are a total possibility, they are relatively easy to avoid by taking the same basic safety precautions as the Facebook Marketplace.
And if you still feel unsafe using Craigslist, you can always use Facebook!
Convert Your Unused Electronic Gadgets Into Cold, Hard Cash
As you can see, you have a plethora of options for selling your old electronics.
Whether you live a busy lifestyle and just want to pocket something for your junk electronics, or you have lots of time to clean your house out, there’s a site out there that will help you offload things you no longer use.
Plus, you can feel good about yourself when you opt to sell your old phone, tablet, or DVD because you’re helping to save the planet (and getting paid to do so)!
Most of the sites that buy your phones back from you will recycle your old electronics to reduce pollution and use the parts in other ways.
And when you sell your stuff to a private buyer using Facebook or Craigslist, the device is avoiding the landfill and providing utility to someone.
Perhaps one day, the person who bought your old phone will sell it to a site that’ll recycle it too.
So don’t throw away your electronics; sell them instead.
Not only are you being green, but you’re also getting some green in the process!