Make extra cash from your unwanted gadgets

If you remember the episode of Only Fools and Horses in which the Trotters discover they have a multimillion-pound antique sitting around in their garage, then we’re sure you’d love to unearth your own hidden treasure. While unwanted gadgets are unlikely to set you up for life, old technology can reap a modest return if you know where to dispose of it.

In this feature we’ll show you how to take advantage of a range of recycling schemes, auction sites and shops that can help you generate a bit of extra cash. According to research by the personal finance company Motley Fool, the average household has about £375 of unwanted but usable gadgets lying around the home.

Environmental charity Waste Watch estimates that about one million tonnes of perfectly good electronic devices are discarded each year. There are many ways in which you can make money from old mobile phones, portable music players, cameras, handheld PCs and more. Online classified advertisement sites, such as Loot and Gumtree, are worth investigating.

As well as selling products, Gumtree offers a bartering option that enables you to swap items with other people. Swap It Shop is another example of this trend. Users set a starting bid for their item, but instead of earning hard cash when the item sells, the site pays out in ‘Swapit’ points that enable you to purchase something else on the site.

For example, we found a Nintendo DS Lite handheld games console earning 250,000 points, a handheld PC raking in around 8,000 while a new iPod Nano was sold for 5,250 points. Cex is another site that lets people exchange or sell their gadgets. It buys unboxed phones and other gadgets, and gives users payment depending on the state of the products.

For example a boxed Nintendo Wii will earn you £184 to spend on its site, or £172 cash. A second-generation iPod Nano will earn you £60 of credit or £48 cash. It offers several ways to convert old electronics into cash. You can either complete some details online and then post the item to Cex or take it straight to a branch. Cex buys and sells games, gadgets, computing peripherals, phones and more.

Old mobile phones are particularly easy to make a return on. According to Mopay, a mobile phone recycling company, unused handsets that could turn a profit are discarded at a rate of 1,700 an hour in the UK. Robert Fox of recycling company Envirofone says phone trade-in prices vary from £1 up to about £100, with an average of £25 paid for each handset.

Of the mobile phone companies, only T-Mobile and Virgin provide a cash-back recycling service, although other providers will accept old handsets for safe disposal. Internet service provider Tiscali has set up a similar scheme where people can use a Recycle Calculator to work out how much their old mobile is worth before trading it in for cash. In the US some big companies have started similar schemes.

PC manufacturer Alienware has opened an exchange website that allows users to trade in PCs, Apple Macs, notebook PCs, mobile phones, iPods, digital cameras and games consoles for payment or credit towards a new gaming computer.

Under the hammer
Online auction sites are a popular destination for bargain hunters. Although Ebay is the best known, we recommend you also take a look at QXL, CQ Out and Total Bids. As long as your gadget is in good condition, it could turn into a nice little earner. For example, we found a second-generation 2GB iPod Nano, bought in 2006 for £99, attracting bids of about £40 on Ebay.

Similarly, mobile phones, whether bought or provided free with a contract, can be sold, providing you have completed or paid out the contract. If the phone is locked to a single phone company, you must be clear about this in your advert. Make sure you give as much information about the gadget, including any minor faults or scratches, and provide at least one clear photograph.

Pricing a gadget higher than similar items could also mean it is left on the shelf, so scout around the auction site to see what kind of bids similar items attract. If having people fight over your product is not your cup of tea, then online shop Amazon also has a marketplace, where you can sell second-hand goods at a set price rather than risking an auction.

The item has to be the same as something sold as new on the main Amazon site, so it can be included in the ‘New and Used’ section of product listings. Digging out old gadgets can be a profitable experience, but there are a few things you need to do before you sell them on. For example, deleting music files from portable music players means you won’t fall foul of copyright laws.

Finally, remember to remove all SIM cards from phones and to delete any hard disks, phonebooks or other stored personal information.