The best ways to sell your old electronics

The best ways to sell old electronics Ross McLaughlin reports on the best way to get rid of those old devices you might not know what to do with.

There’s always a lot of chatter about what new gadgets people received for the holidays. But what about the stuff they already have? What may be in perfectly good shape in November or December can feel like old news in January. But that doesn’t mean those old devices aren’t worth something.

“A lot of big electronics companies are putting out their new products, they do a lot to make everything seem exciting and fresh. But your old stuff that you have lying around is still perfectly good and if it’s working, it’s a great way to make some extra cash,” said Thomas Germain with Consumer Reports.

There are plenty of online classified services, like Craigslist, but if you want to sell your gadgets even quicker there are eco-ATM’s. You won’t find them in Canada yet, but they’re all over the U.S. and they will take your Canadian devices. You can sell MP3 players, tablets and cell phones.

Just plug in your device at the kiosk and it will examine it to determine the storage, the condition and the value on the market. You’ll get an offer, and if you agree to sell, you’ll receive cash on the spot.

But if you’re not planning a trip across the border, Canadian online buyback services like Orchard or Sphere work in much the same way.

Answering a few quick questions gets you a price, and if you’re happy with it you can just print a free shipping label, box up your device and send it off.

Maybe you’ll even make enough to pay off some of those holiday bills.

But remember, before you sell electronics that once housed any personal data, it’s important to protect yourself by logging out of any accounts, including cloud-based storage and disabling any apps that track your device, like Find My iPhone.

Then, be sure the device has been completely erased. On a phone, you should perform a factory reset, which scrubs it clean. You don’t want any bank account information, family pictures or even your browsing history ending up in the hands of someone you don’t know.