Trade in your old electronics with Amazon

Keep your e-waste out of the landfill AND get an Amazon gift card of equal value

E-cycling just got a lot more rewarding. Amazon announced late Wednesday that it is expanding its trade-in program, which lets customers trade in an item in exchange for an Amazon gift card, to include electronics. Customers can now trade in their old cell phones, MP3 players, tablets, cameras, GPS devices, and more and get Amazon store credit deposited directly into their accounts within 48 hours.

To get started, users can go to the Amazon trade-in program page and select from among four categories: textbooks, video games, movies, and now electronics. Users type in the item they wish to trade in and receive a slew of results to sort through, with the items’ trade-in value printed below the title. To narrow down the trade-in value, the customer can select from among different condition types, including “like new,” “good,” and “acceptable.”

For example, a first generation 8GB iPod Touch in “like new” condition has a trade-in value of $67.50, while an iPod Touch in “good” condition has a trade-in value of $57, while an iPod Touch in “acceptable” condition trades in for $48.50.

Once customers have added all the items they want to trade in to their trade-in shipment, they can print out a pre-paid shipping label and ship all of the items at once in a single box for free. After the items have been received and inspected, an Amazon “gift card” in the amount of the total trade-in value is deposited into the user’s Amazon account within 48 hours.

It definitely gives customers a new incentive to responsibly dispose of electronics rather than chuck them into the trash.

“Technology is constantly evolving and newer, better versions of consumer electronics are introduced all the time,” says Paul Ryder, VP of Electronics for Amazon.com, in a statement. “We want to give customers the opportunity to get great value from their used electronics. Hundreds of thousands of customers have already received millions of dollars in gift cards from the other products in our program. The Electronics category is a natural extension and we are delighted to offer our customers more trade-in options.”

There are limits, however. Single shipments are limited to a combined trade-in value of $500, so if a customer’s shipment exceeds that amount, he/she will need to break it down into smaller shipments. No big deal. So go dig your old clunky GPS device out of the garbage and (assuming it’s still usable and doesn’t smell) give it to Amazon.