In our quest to enable more consumers to trade in their pre-owned goods to save money and help the environment, we are keen give credit (where credit is due) to big companies who help encourage it too.

Sadly though, some for them are doing everything but openly discourage the market. On the one hand they offer a convenience service, but give a terrible trade in price with the other. We previously put the spotlight on Sony’s trade and save program which offers the same service:

The beauty of the service is that you can trade in your used electronics in the same transaction as buying that 52″  LCD TV you’ve dreamed of. In the wake of our harsh economic climate it’s also an ideal way for Best Buy or Sony to turn that dream into a solid sale.

But in reality customers aren’t saving any money at all. Quite from it they are being openly ripped off at a time when consumers can ill afford to be.

Like Gazelle, who operate independently from big name retailers, Best Buy provides a convenient user interface to achieve a fast trade in price. By checking on boxes like ‘Yes it has a power cord’ ‘ yes, it powers on ok’ and ‘excellent condition’, a customer can have a trade-in price estimated within a few seconds - all be it a very bad trade-in estimate.

A customer who is tech savvy enough to take advantage of the Best Buy or Sony Trade in program, shouldn’t have too much trouble in checking out comparable trade in prices on eBay, Amazon or even Craigslist.

Some automated trade in responses were nonsensical, however the example below is a fair example of the kind of mark up they expect from customers.