Who doesn’t love saving money, especially by going green? Recycling is an excellent way to go green. Reusing is taking it a step further. We all know the traditional way to get rid of stuff we no longer use/need. We could sell it in eBay or Craigslist or give it away on Freecycle. But all of them have their own problems. For busy people, taking a picture, researching a fair price, 
listing it, responding to questions, packing and shipping it after its sold… takes too much time. If you can’t find a buyer soon, you have to restart the cycle after adjusting the price. No, it’s much more convenient to give it away. Even then, there are too many flakes on both Freecycle & Craigslist. So I almost always end up dropping stuff off in the recycle bin. That might be better than trashing it, but they still might have a lot of life left in them. Reusing perfectly good items will save them from premature recycling or ending up in a landfill. Getting money for being responsible is a definite win in my book! So how do you reuse and make some cash without using eBay or Craigslist?
You can trade-in the following for cash or gift cards:
- Movies/DVD/Music/Games
- Consumer Electronics
- Appliances
- Textbooks
Movies/DVD/Music/Games :
If you have old DVDs, Blu-ray discs, music or game CDs that you have enjoyed and are now ready to try new ones, visit Amazon Movies & TV trade-in zone. You can type in your title and see what they are worth. If you like the price, ship it using the prepaid label you can print online. The amount is credited directly to your Amazon account.
Note : Amazon is currently running a promotion. If you trade-in $50 worth of stuff you can get an extra $10 credit good towards your next purchase in the Blu-ray store at Amazon.
Consumer Electronics :
If you want the newest and coolest gadget, but have a perfectly good older version, your wallet might thank you for trading-in the older version. Almost all major electronic’s retailers have their own trade-in program. Depending on where you shop frequently, pick one of
- Abt Electronics Trade-in your gear powered by CExchange
- Amazon Electronics Trade-in via Green Earth Exchange
- BestBuy Trade-in center via EZTradein
- Buy.com Trade-in center via EZTradein
- Costco Trade-in Program powered by Gazelle
- Dell Trade-in program via EZTradein
- RadioShack Trade-in powered by CExchange
- Sam’s Club via ecoNew
- Target Trade-in program via Nextworth
- Walmart Trade-in powered by Gazelle
Appliances :
If you are in the market for a new appliance this is a great time to grab a sweet deal. If you plan on getting an energy star qualified appliance, you can not only save money on your energy bill, but the government will also pitch in for you new appliance. Depending on the state, you don’t need to recycle your old appliance to get a rebate on the new one. In some states the rebate program has closed due to depletion of funding. Check the rebates in your state and the requirement for getting the rebate here – EnergySavers.gov. There are also plenty of rebates available for energy saving modifications to your home – see the energy tax credit available here.
Textbooks :
You can trade in textbooks using quite a few sites. For example, Valorebooks, Abebooks, Chegg or Bookbyte. Recently Amazon joined the race and so far they have the best price for my books. If you list the books and sell it, you will definitely get a better price. But you will have to wait to sell the book and pay for shipping. Compare what different stores are willing to offer at Bigwords. Bigwords let you type in all your books’ ISBN or title and compiles a list of all the stores that are buying back the books along with price and shipping options. You can choose the best option.
Happy recycling!
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