Got an old iPod? Seven ways to offload your used electronics for cash

The Internet was supposed to make selling your old gadgets easier, but in some ways, it has only become a bigger pain in the ass over time. Who really wants to put a laptop on eBay these days, or deal with the flakes who make up craigslist? Sometimes, the amount you're looking to recover from your used device might not be enough to justify the headaches involved in selling it—luckily, some devices tend to hold a relatively high resale value compared to some of their more common counterparts, but even Macs and iDevices can be a pain to offload much of the time.

That's undoubtedly a reason why there has been an explosion of services that offer to buy back your old computer or gadget in exchange for cash to spend on new gear. But which ones are legit, and what are the differences between them? Ars readers are always asking us about the most efficient ways to get rid of their old junk, so we thought we'd give a quick rundown on what's out there when it comes to the gadget buyback market.

Most of these services work in roughly the same way (unless otherwise noted), so I'll just give a quick, general explanation. You begin by selecting the product you're trying to sell back, whether it's an iPhone, an old Nokia phone, a laptop, or a tablet. Once you're done choosing the exact item you have—and you must choose the right version with the right specs—they ask you to rate your gadget's physical condition, ability to boot properly, and a handful of other questions (Did you reset the passwords? Are you including a power cable? Are there restore CDs?).

Then, they usually make you an "offer" based on the information you've supplied—this offer isn't a final number, but rather an estimate before you send in your device. After that, they usually send you a box for you to use to mail your gadget to them—at that point, they take some time to analyze it to ensure it's up to snuff. Then they let you know the final price they're willing to pay, and if you accept, you then get to determine how you want to be paid. Some services pay in "cash" (in the form of checks or PayPal transfers) while others pay in the form of gift cards. For each service, I entered in the details for the same "gently loved" 2011 MacBook Air as well as a 16GB iPhone 4, just to see what the differences might be in price.

	Payment options	Kinds of devices	Jacqui's MacBook Air quote	Jacqui's iPhone 4 quote
Gazelle	Amazon gift card Check PayPal	Many smartphones, all Apple products (incl. desktops & laptops)	$555	$150
Amazon	Amazon gift card	Dependent upon demand	N/A	$229.50
NextWorth	Target gift card Check PayPal	Smartphones, cameras, tablets, GPS, almost all Apple products, and more	$735	$170
uSell	Check PayPal	Dependent upon demand	N/A	$152
Totem	Check PayPal	Mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, e-readers)	N/A	$135.96
Apple	Apple gift card	Apple products, some PCs	$642	$120
Radio Shack	Radio Shack gift card	Smartphones, cameras, tablets, GPS, radar detectors, MP3 players—everything under the sun	$538	$162.85

Gazelle

Gazelle is one of the most popular options available today when it comes to buying used electronics. It's popular because it's straightforward and easy-to-use, not to mention that it seems to spread easily via word of mouth.

Gazelle will even accept devices that are straight-up broken (time to dig up that old iPhone with a shattered screen, eh?). But you won't get as much money for your gadget if it's broken, so keep that in mind when you dive in. Additionally, Gazelle only accepts certain products—a list that sometimes changes, but almost always includes Apple products:

This isn't entirely unique to Gazelle, though—these services will usually only accept what they see a demand for on the secondhand market, so if you can't find your gadget on their site, it's time to move on to another one.

Gazelle pays via Amazon gift card, check, or PayPal. Gazelle gave me a quote of $555 for my MacBook Air and $150 for my iPhone 4.

Amazon

Many people don't realize that Amazon will buy used electronics from you—and I'm not talking about you reselling your device to someone else through Amazon. But this only applies to some products, and the list is always changing, so there's no way to unilaterally declare that Amazon will always buy an iPhone 4 versus a Droid, for example.

In order to find out what Amazon will buy from you, you just have to search for your (again, exact) product on the site. If you see a little "Sell on Amazon" button on the right side, it means Amazon won't buy it from you directly (though you can certainly list it for sale as a used item) and you can set your own price. But if you see a button that says "Trade in here," you're in luck.

Amazon, unlike the others, tends to tell you its maximum trade-in value up front (as per the screenshot above), but you still have to go through the process of describing the condition of your device. Amazon only pays in gift cards, and quoted me nothing for my MacBook Air (I could only sell it directly to other Amazon users), and $229.50 for my iPhone 4.

NextWorth

NextWorth is a lot like Gazelle, except that it appears to accept a lot more items. Not only does NextWorth take the usual iPhones, iPads, and iPods, it also accepts cameras, GPS units, calculators, TVs, video game consoles, and more. If you have a huge variety of things to sell, this may be a better bet than some of the other options.

From my observations, NextWorth seems to ask a lot more questions about your item than the other services. But the upside to answering all those questions is that NextWorth seems to quote a higher price than Gazelle. The site offered me $735 for my MacBook Air (almost $200 more than Gazelle) and $170 for my iPhone 4. NextWorth pays via Target gift card, PayPal, or check.

uSell

uSell is slightly different from its competition in that it doesn't buy your electronics directly, but also doesn't make you wait around to find a buyer. The goal is to list your item in a similar way as you would with NextWorth or Gazelle and then choose from a list of already existing buyers. I found that many of the buyers waiting to buy your stuff were just other recycling or refurbishing companies, but unless you care deeply about what ends up happening to your precious MacBook, this doesn't seem to be much of a speedbump. The key is to actually find a buyer—if you answer all the questions about your old iPhone and there are no buyers listed, then there just isn't a way to offload your stuff through uSell.

As such, I wasn't able to find any buyers interested in my MacBook Air on uSell. I did, however, find some buyers for my iPhone 4, the general range of their offers being $152-$158. So, the prices they were willing to pay were ever-so-slightly higher than Gazelle and lower than NextWorth, and quite a bit lower than Amazon. uSell pays via check or PayPal.

Totem

Totem is pretty typical when it comes to buyback services, except that it only accepts mobile devices and e-readers. So, while you're likely to have an easy time getting rid of your iPad, BlackBerry, HTC EVO, Barnes & Noble Nook, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid, and so on, you won't quite be so lucky trying to get rid of a MacBook Air or an Acer ultrabook. And forget anything else like cameras or GPS devices.

Totem annoyed me by making me enter my e-mail address before getting a quote, but otherwise, the site worked just like the others. (Totem does make use of that e-mail address, too. They e-mailed me several times in the days following my queries saying their offer for my stuff is still on the table.) Like uSell, Totem only pays via check or PayPal. I wasn't able to get a quote for my MacBook Air, but Totem quoted me $135.96 for my iPhone 4—lower than most of the others, but your mileage may vary.

Apple recycling program

Apple's electronics recycling program isn't just about recycling. If you're specifically getting rid of an Apple device or a select PCs, Apple will trade you an Apple gift card. (If you're trying to offload a non-Apple smartphone, displays, cameras, or anything else, Apple is happy to recycle them for you but won't give you any money for your troubles.)

Apple only pays in gift cards, though, so the options are a little less flexible than some other services. Still, depending on what you're selling, it may end up being one of the easiest options. Apple quoted me $642 for my MacBook Air—a higher price than all other options in this article except for NextWorth—and $120 for my iPhone 4. Just for fun, I also entered in a full-size PC tower with a quad-core Intel 2.26GHz processor in excellent condition (no display, but with a keyboard/mouse, power cord, and OS disc) and it quoted me $75.60.

Radio Shack trade-ins

Did you know Radio Shack did trade-ins for gift cards? I didn't before I did research for this article, but it turns out that Radio Shack is actually a popular option for many people to get rid of their used stuff. As you might expect, Radio Shack also accepts a wide variety of devices, ranging from laptops to tablets to video games to camcorders and beyond. Even pretty outdated (at this point) devices are on the accepted list, including Zunes and fifth-gen iPods, as well as obscure things like radar detectors and car audio systems. If you have it, Radio Shack wants it.

The benefit to Radio Shack is that you can do your trade-in both online and in-store. (All of the other buyback/trade-in services discussed in this piece are online-only.) For my MacBook Air, Radio Shack offered me $538—roughly the same price as Gazelle, lower than NextWorth and Apple. For my iPhone 4, Radio Shack offered me $162.85, which was on the high end of the range (lower than Amazon and NextWorth, but higher than Gazelle, uSell, Apple, and Totem). Like Apple, though, Radio Shack only trades for gift cards. But unlike Apple, Radio Shack sells a million things besides MacBooks and iPads, so it might be easier to spend your gift card there—assuming you actually like shopping at Radio Shack.

Conclusion

Though there are plenty of other trade-in and buyback services available, these were the most popular ones we could find when searching around online. (Personally, I wouldn't send a laptop to a no-name service without any kind of payment first, but that's just me.) Are there others that you've found to be speedy and reliable?