Consumer Watch: Web vendor gives troops extra cash for recycling electronics - Military Financial Advice - Military Times

Consumer Watch: Web vendor gives troops extra cash for recycling electronics

Your options for recycling — and making some cash — just expanded.

A new online vendor, NextWorth, has joined the Exchange Online Mall, allowing you to get cash for your old iPod, BlackBerry, game console, camera, video game, GPS unit and other gadgets.

NextWorth buys older electronics, offering an extra 10 percent to military exchange customers compared to what it would offer other customers for the same item.

“Our big thing is to put something in customers’ pockets and to make it easy for them to do the right thing,” said Don Walker, merchandise manager for the Exchange Online Mall.

The payment can be made to you either through PayPal or with a check in the mail.

A check of a BlackBerry Pearl 8100c AT&T Smartphone, with light wear, turns up an offer of $46.01 on the site, and it tells you the normal NextWorth price is $41.83. A check of that exact item on the regular NextWorth site for the public confirms: $41.83.

Getting a price quote is painless. You check a few boxes indicating the condition of your item — “like new,” “light wear,” “heavy wear.” If you have the accessories to go with it, such as the adapter, battery, cables and manual, you’ll get more money.

Visit www.exchangeonlinemall.com or log on to www.aafes.com, www.usmc-mccs.org, www.navy-nex.com or www.cg-exchange.com, and click the Exchange Mall logo. Pull down the “NextWorth” store on the menu. You must go through one of these Web sites to get the extra 10 percent benefit.

NextWorth refurbishes these electronics for other retailers, Walker said. Its listed retail partners are Target.com and J&R Music and Computer World, in New York City, at www.jr.com, but it also works with others.

You can find some refurbished electronics for sale at those sites — search for “pre-owned” on Target.com and for “refurbished” at JR.com. But you won’t find them for sale on the exchange Web sites — not yet, at least.

“There is talk of offering some refurbished electronics for resale,” Walker said.

Is there a special Web site you like to use to buy recycled electronics? E-mail me the details at kjowers@militarytimes.com.

Click to Brick

If you don’t want to pay shipping costs when you buy through the military exchange online store, there’s another free option for some items: Have them shipped to your Army and Air Force Exchange Service store, and pick them up.

You can buy almost 500 items through this program. More items are coming online every day, and about 1,000 are expected to be available in the near future, AAFES spokesman Judd Anstey said.

To use this free service, just choose “Click to Brick” as the shipping address at checkout, and then select the state and the exchange store where you want to pick up the item.