Amazon US offers gift cards, free shipment for your e-junk

Amazon has launched an online junk shop which allows people to trade electronic goods in exchange for gift cards. The Electronic Trade-In Store will accept old phones, MP3 players, cameras and DVDs and computer games. Textbooks are also acceptable for trading. But the site warns that your item must exactly match descriptions …

[Purlieu]

Amazon UK was unaware of the US service

Holy crap can you believe that ... erm yes

[Nigel R]

People who disposed of this item...

also disposed of....

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure it'll happen here.

Don't electrical goods need to be inspected by an electrician before being resold?

[Graham Marsden]

@Not sure it'll happen here

AFAIK that's only if they're sold through eg a charity shop, not if it's a private sale.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe

Maybe not. Doesn't seem to stop ebay and high street re-sellers of used goods

[Anonymous Coward]

Inspections

No inspections necessary if the crap is sent to the US.

[Nomedias]

A good deal ... for amazon

Might be good for cheaper items not worth wasting your time on ebay, but $122 trade-in value for an unlocked Google Nexus One. They ebay for over twice that easily. Appears to be same for other items like Ipads. I may be wrong, but I see this disappearing after a time in a puff of smoke.

[Lance 3]

Overhead

Maybe because it is something called overhead. If Amazon paid you what they were selling for on eBay, how would they make any money off of it. If you want market price, sell it on the market. if you want to get rid of it by using a broker, then don't expect market prices.

The fail is all on you.

[Nomedias]

guess I shouldn't have used the "fail" icon ;)

I'll concede the "fail" icon doesn't necessarily apply here. And yes I understand the concept of overhead. I was simply saying I don't think there is enough demand for this sort of service for it to continue long term. In my experience, when someone has been willing to let go of an item for %50 or less of market value, they very often sell/give it to a friend or family member for that amount, or sell to a pawn shop where they get immediate cash-in-hand instead of waiting for a gift card.

[lance_dowds]

amazon uk telling porkies

So Amazon UK are denying knowledge? What's this then?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trade-In/b?ie=UTF8&node=440443031

[Reverend Brown]

Why not just flog it yourself?

I can understand going for the immediate and guaranteed gift card grab. It's definitely not for me, though. Looking at the prices they're offering and what the going rate is on a lot of that stuff, I'd much sooner go ahead and flog the merchandise on Amazon's own marketplace and make a significantly higher amount of actual money.

Now, that takes some more time, isn't a guaranteed sale, and involves doing a bit of customer service on occasion, but I want my money, not a gift card. Meeeh?

Paris, 'cause she don't take Amazon credit, either.

[Lance 3]

Pawn stores

The same could be said for pawn stores. They give you a fraction of what it is worth as they need to make a profit. You pay for the convenience of selling it now with little to no hassle. Is it for everyone? No.