Welcome to Casual reCommerce, a series of posts on selling your stuff online. I've previously posted an Introduction to Selling your Stuff Online and each day this week, I'll cover each method in a little more detail. I've already covered eBay and Amazon.com's Seller Services, and today I talk about a way to trade your stuff for cash with AbundaTrade.
AbundaTrade.com evolved out of a music retailer's CD trade-in program and is now areCommerce pioneer. Their site says "Get the most cash for your CDs, DVDs, Video Games & Books". Unlike other trading sites, which facilitate individual direct or indirect trades of items on have & want lists, orAmazon's trade-in program which pays you in Amazon Gift Cards, AbundaTrade will buy your stuff for cash. You can also choose to receive 25% more value by choosing store credit and buying from the Abunda Store where they sell inventory. They also offer payment by gift cards. If you want to skip cash altogether, they also offer an option to "Trade for it!" and request an item in trade such as an iPod (or an air conditioner!). You can also use it as a fundraiser. Lots of options for turning your "clutter to cash"!
Fees/Cost: None to Low
- Pay to ship items to AbundaTrade. However...
- FREE shipping if your items pre-value at $50 total or more and you aren't shipping books
- PayPal fees if you choose that method of payment.
Complexity: Low
- Turn lots of used CDs/DVDs/Videogames/Books into cash in one transaction
- No picture taking
- Use their web form to estimate the total value of your items, weed out what they won't accept, package and ship it to them (for free if you total over $50 and aren't shipping books)
- Receive payment after they receive shipment...many payment methods to choose from, including cash via PayPal or check (they offer higher value if you choose to "trade").
Reliability/Feedback: High
- You deal directly with AbundaTrade
- They are fast, responsive and flexible
- You know upfront what they will buy and for how much.
Shipping: Medium
- Easy if shipping a few items, just pack and ship
- Complexity rises with amount of items to ship with sorting and double-checking
- Free shipping option requires a manual email to them with box weights + printing of pre-paid labels
- No shipping automation.
Pros...
- Easy
- Fast
- Minimal time investment
- Decent profit per item with low effort
- Can be done in one large transaction.
Cons...
- Can be tedious to sort and pack a large collection
- Minor usability quirks
- If you opt for the UPC scanner to enter a large collection, you have to buy it (vs. return for deposit refund)
Best for...
- Quickly turning a larger amount of CDs, DVDs & Videogames into cash.
See how AbundaTrade stacks up to the competition in the series Introduction. I sent close to a total of 200 CDs, DVDs, and Videogames to AbundaTrade and received about $250, which is about $1.25 per item on average (mostly for CDs from the 90s). The win for me was the amount of time it took to use AbundaTrade, pack it all up and ship it, versus trying to sell each item on eBay or Amazon and ship each individually...no thanks!
What do you think? Have you used AbundaTrade.com's services? If so, what do you think they are best at?
I used Abundatrade to trade my old Cds for Cash. I had my music in my IPod/Itunes so did not need the Cds. I was able to clear out a good section in my room. I also traded a textbook from college. One of these days I will try to part with my DVDs so I will hold onto DVD collection. Good experience and liked getting paid via paypal. You did a good summary of the process to trade items with Abundatrade.
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