I’d been blogging for a few years when I finally made the leap to a smartphone.  I hated the expense, but it since I spend many hours a day waiting for my kids to get done with school and activities, it became a critical part of running the blog.

I also grew to hate my phone.  I started with a BlackBerry Tour, which had the sound quit working on it while it was still under warranty.  Verizon graciously upgraded my phone for free to the BlackBerry Storm 2, which was a major improvement.   At the time, I had an iPod Touch, and was green with envy over the folks who had iPhones.  Verizon didn’t have the iPhone yet, and we didn’t have the budget for it anyway.

Fast forward to last December.  My husband surprised me with an iPhone 4 for my birthday, and I LOVE it.  But now I had this BlackBerry Storm 2 which was becoming more like a paperweight as each day passed.  I knew I had to unload it while it still had some value.

I originally thought about trading it in at Verizon Wireless, where I could get a $30 credit on my Verizon Bill.

I also looked at the trade in value at Swagbucks, but they would only give me a maximum of 940 Swagbucks (or, in common terms $10 in Amazon gift cards).

Then I looked at Amazon’s Trade-in program.  Amazon said they would give up to $53.25.  So I decided to send it there.

I wiped all the data off the phone, removed the battery and cleaned it up. I printed the packing slip and the shipping label.  I chose to have the phone shipped back to me if they determined they did not want it, since the shipping is free. I wrapped the phone, battery and accessories in crumpled paper and tucked them and the packing slip into a small  box and taped it shut.  Then I put the UPS shipping label on it and dropped it at my local UPS drop box.

It was super simple to fill out the form and package my phone to ship, and it didn’t cost me a thing.

About a week later, I received an electronic Amazon gift card for $44.25.  Not bad for just a few minutes of my time.

The Amazon trade-in program was so easy to use that I’m looking for other things I can trade-in, like the video games we never play.

Your turn:  Have you ever used an electronics trade-in program?  What was your experience?

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