If you're like me, you have an old cell phone or other gadget sitting around and gathering dust, but you don't want to bother selling it on Craig's List or eBay, and you're not sure of its value, anyway. I just had a wonderful experience with a startup company named Second Rotation that I heard about in a small article tucked away in the Merc's business section. The process is designed to be very simple: You sign up on the Web site, find what price you can get for your unused gear, and then print out a DHL shipping slip and send it away(They pay the postage!) You get paid by check or through PayPal.
I replaced my Palm Treo 600 with the 750 model last year, and had no idea what to do with the old one. After a few minutes on the computer, they offered me $59 for it. I wrapped it, attached the packing slip, and arranged for DHL to pick it up at my office...a week later, I'm $59 richer!
Behind the scenes, Second Rotation collects data from eBay to check current prices. It makes money by buying your goods a bit cheaper than what it thinks it can sell them for on eBay, according to company CEO Israel Ganot.
Right now, Second Rotation lists about 2,500 items and intends to expand to about 5,000 items in the coming months. The categories are cell phones, digital cameras, digital music players, camcorders and GPS devices.
"The premise of the business is that in the last two years the pace of innovation and upgrades is getting faster and faster," said Ganot. "We're trying to plug into the faster pace and help move things from one place to another."
People could sell these items themselves but the idea behind Second Rotation is to make it really easy for casual sellers. The company also intends to let people recycle consumer electronics that don't have any resale value. Rather than sell them on eBay, it will salvage parts and potentially work with recyclers, Ganot said. But this sounds like a convenient way to recycle and get money for your stuff at the same time.
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