Exchange Of E-Waste

Many new for-profit electronic recycling companies purchase and recycle all brands of working and broken electronics, whether from individuals or corporations. Such companies also offer free recycling for old electronics without market value. A basic business model is to provide a seller an instant online quotation based on usability characteristics, then to send a shipping label and prepaid box to the seller, to erase, reformat, and process any internal memory, and to pay rapidly by check. Building a market for exchange recycling of desktop computers has proven more difficult than exchange programs for laptops, smartphones, and other smaller electronics. Notable recyclers include:
• BuyMyTronics.com purchases a variety of electronic waste but does not pay for shipping.
• Cash For iPhones is a business of Cash For Laptops created in 2008 in response to the popularity of the iPhone 3G and a high degree of upgrades from outdated iPhones. Cash For Laptops claims to be the first to buy laptops online, in 2001.
• Cell for Cash lists a directory of cellphone makes and models available for refurbishing; many are listed as having no value other than as free recycling.
• Cycled Cells (Austin, TX) offers real-time market based prices based on recent online sales.
• EcoNEW has a tech trade-in program where consumers can trade in certain used electronics at Office Depot, Sam's Club, or Navy Exchange for gift cards for the retailer where the electronics were exchanged at.
• Flipswap (CEO Sohrob Farudi) offers prices adjusted based on realtime sales data from a wide network of stores and buyers, and resells all its iPhones to South America, where used phones have especially high appeal.
• GreenSight Technologies provides gift cards from various retailers when consumers exchange trade-ins.
• NextWorth Solutions Inc., in Lawrence, Massachusetts (CEO David Chen), redeems iPods and iPhones, Cell Phones, Video Games, Video Game Consoles, GPS Systems, Laptops, Digital Cameras and more. Pioneers and leaders in incentivized trade-in and recycling solutions for Consumers, Retailers, Manufacturers and OEMs.
• ReCellular, Inc., in Dexter, Michigan (founder Chuck Newman), receives 75,000 phones each week for recycling or reuse from partners like Best Buy, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Wal-Mart.
• Second Rotation (founded in July 2007 and rebranded as Gazelle) employs eBay and Amazon.com prices to purchase "any old electronics" and to resell or recycle them (half of them on eBay); unlisted items must be submitted for a separate price quotation. Payment takes about two weeks, and 1% of products are sent back due to unresolved disagreed assessments. Though it is not profitable, COO Israel Ganot says such "reCommerce", through partners ReCellular and TechTurn, is "the first step to recycling".
Online auction at eBay is an alternative for consumers willing to resell for cash less fees, in a complicated, self-managed, competitive environment where paid listings might not sell. Craigslist can be similarly risky due to forgery scams and uncertainty. Some municipal solid waste facilities collect a limited amount of e-waste from local residents for free.