Gazelle, one of the most popular websites for trading in unwanted gadgets by mail, has decided to drop that portion of its business completely.
While many used the site to sell their stuff, the change signals a shift in the way customers deal with replacing their current smartphones and other tech devices.
Gazelle Is Leaving the Mail-In Business
As first reported by The Verge, Gazelle is dropping its mail-in device sale program starting on February 1, 2021. That means you can still receive a quote for your devices until January 31, 2021. If you choose to get a quote at the last minute, you'll have 30 days to mail your device to Gazelle before the company cancels the transaction.
The company will continue to process trade-ins that are already underway after the end date, but it will not accept any additional trades. It feels like the end of an era, as Gazelle was one of the first companies to become a household name in the used tech space.
Gazelle isn't going away completely. ecoATM, the parent company of Gazelle operates kiosks where you can take your devices for instant cash, though reports indicate that the kiosks don't pay as well as the mail-in arm of the business. The Gazelle brand will stick around to serve as a place for ecoATM to resell the devices it receives through its in-person kiosks.
Ultimately, we can't be sure why Gazelle is leaving the mail-in business, but we can speculate that the shift towards more users leasing their phones or trading them in directly to their carrier could be a big reason for the change. With carriers and device manufacturers offering substantial discounts on new phones in exchange for previous-generation models, it's hard for companies like Gazelle to stay competitive.
Where Can You Sell Your Stuff?
Just because Gazelle is leaving the business doesn't mean you can't still find places to sell off your old tech. If you want to maximize your cash, eBay is a great option, as you're selling directly and cutting out the middle man.
A site that tends to offer great payouts is Decluttr. I recently sold an iPhone XR to Decluttr after researching, as it paid more than any of the other trade-in websites.
You can also look into Facebook Marketplace, as it offers a good way to sell popular devices without needing to pay a fee. It even lets you ship devices with some degree of protection now.
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