Gazelle

Gazelle is an interesting Boston startup. They buy your used electronic gadgets. What they do with them after that, I don't know.

What struck me about Gazelle was how easy they make the whole process of selling to them. You select your old gadget from a list, estimate the quality, and they make you an offer on the spot. They then send you a shipping box with a prepaid FedEx label. You send them your gadget and they send you a check. Very well managed.

But is it such a great deal? I recently upgraded my old 2G iPhone to a 3Gs through AT&T. The new phone cost my $99, plus a 2-year contract renewal. Gazelle offered me $74 for my old 2G iPhone. "Great deal!", I thought. I sent in my phone, and got my money, and had a new 3Gs and it cost me $25 (plus a lot more in monthly fees, but that's another story).

Then I checked for used iPhone 2G sales on ebay. They were selling for over $300!. So my convenient transaction with Gazelle really wasn't such a good deal after all.


Jim on 07.03.10 @ 08:52 AM ET [link]