Attention thieves: Don’t try to trade in stolen iPhones on Gazelle

Erica Ogg — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:35:15 +0000

Consumer-electronics trade-in service Gazelle has long warned customers that it doesn’t accept stolen devices. But now the service is actually checking to see if the used iPhones, tablets, iPods and cameras it receives have shown up in a stolen-goods database. Starting Wednesday, the company has announced it will be running all items through the CheckMend database before sending the customer cash.

When Apple releases a new iPhone, for example, Gazelle and other similar sites tend to see large spikes in customers who are willing to sell or recycle older devices. Gazelle gives them cash for those devices which customers can then put towards an upgrade. For example, during the iPhone 5 press event in September, Gazelle saw two iPhones turned in every second. Gazelle also knows that iPhones and their smartphone brethren are hugely popular among thieves, especially in major cities. In San Francisco, half of robberies involve a cellphone; in New York City, the statistic is about 40 percent.

That’s why Gazelle, which is an easy avenue to get cash for a device, decided to partner with CheckMend. “We are closing off a channel for getting rid of stolen products,” Gazelle CMO Sarah Welch told me. The company has always done a free data wipe on devices it receives from customers so their data isn’t accidentally exposed to whomever ends up buying the used device later. Checking those devices with CheckMend is just “an extension” of that practice, she said.

“The vast majority of trade-ins we get are completely legitimate,” said Welch. “Mostly it’s people looking to upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone. So we believe it’s a very small issue but at the same time we do not want to be a party to creating incentives for anyone to steal those products.”

If a device does match with at item in CheckMend’s database, it is returned to the seller.

Welch says CheckMend’s comprehensive database gives them the ability to check devices it receives against data about lost or stolen devices from several law enforcement agencies, the FBI, as well as all major carriers and “an exhaustive list” of smaller carriers. The database includes information from the national carrier-backed database that went live this month.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user samiksha

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Flipswap – Good for You, Good for the Environment

Jethro Jones — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:00:09 +0000

Flipswap is a service that allows you to send in your old phone for free and get paid for it. They send your old phone to another country where someone less fortunate will be able to use it (while also covering shipping both ways). They will put your phone in a happy place:

If your cell phone is in working condition or can be repaired, we make sure it goes to a place where it can be reused. If your cell phone is broken beyond repair, we recycle it using the most environmentally friendly methods currently available.

It is a better deal than just tossing out your old phone.

In addition to finding a new owner for your phone, Flipswap will also plant a tree for each phone donated, so you can feel more environmentally conscious!

So how do they figure out how much your phone is worth? A complicated algorithm “that allows [them] to offer you a real time trade-in value for any phone.” My three cell phones added up to about $50, which is not bad considering they are old and partially beat up.

So whether you are done with your first iPhone and gearing up for the 3G, or you just want to get rid of your regular cell phone, you can use this and maybe get some more money to add to your 3G fund.

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Attention thieves: Don’t try to trade in stolen iPhones on Gazelle

Flipswap – Good for You, Good for the Environment