Before you recycle that gently used digital camera, cell phone, HD DVD player or laptop, see if you can get a little green out of it.
Best Buy has an in-store and online Trade-In Program, which offers a gift card or a check (for a reduced value) for your electronics. The in-store program applies to only Apple iPods, Apple laptops, mobile phones and PC laptops purchased from Best Buy, and requires a valid receipt. If you can't find the original receipt, Best Buy claims they will make every effort to help find it for you.
The online program accepts items purchased at another store and additional items not covered in the in-store program. Products eligible for the online program include:
- Apple desktops
- Apple iPods
- Apple laptops
- Camcorders
- Car audio receivers
- Flat-screen computer monitors
- Game systems
- GPS receivers
- HD DVD players
- Home audio receivers
- Mobile phones
- Multimedia projectors
- PC desktops
- PC laptops
- PDAs & handheld computers
- Servers
- Digital cameras
- External hard drives
- Video games
If you're pleased with value returned by the price estimator, you can select the gift card or check option, print out the prepaid mailing label and mail in the item. A gift card or check will be mailed about 14 days after receipt.
If the price estimator doesn't return a value for your product, you can take it to any Best Buy location to recycle it. The retailer is one of the partners for the Plug-In To eCycling program with the Environmental Protection Agency, and will accept nearly any electronic device regardless of where you bought it, what brand it is or how old it is.
They take TVs, DVD players, computer monitors, audio and video cables, cell phones, and more. Most are recycled for free, with a few restrictions. They charge $10 for TVs and monitors, but you receive a $10 gift card to go toward a future purchase, so it doesn't really cost you anything.
Best Buy also offers a few other recycling services, including free recycling kiosks located inside the door of every store where you can drop off inkjet cartridges, rechargeable batteries, CDs/DVDs, and gift cards. A free appliance and TV haul-away is offered whenever you buy a replacement product from Best Buy, and they also offer a pickup service to remove any two items (appliance or TV) to recycle for a fee.
