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February 13, 2009

FlipSwap – Put Your Old Cell Phones to Good Use

ss-flipswap

Millions of cell phones are bought each year with their unwanted predecessors often being handed a one-way ticket to the landfill. Unfortunately, many electronics like cell phones can contain toxic levels of mercury, lead, and other nasty chemicals. FlipSwap aims to curb some of this waste by providing a painless process for returning unused handsets that may even net you some extra cash.

The concept is rather simple, log onto FlipSwap’s website and provide the make and model of your phone along with its condition. Based on the current market value, FlipSwap with either offer you cash or pledge to plant a tree if you ship your handset to them. To sweeten the deal even further, the shipping cost is covered by FlipSwap so all you need to provide is a box or padded envelope. Virtually every handset manufactured in recent years is listed in FlipSwap’s database making the process straightforward and quick.

The service also recognizes that not everyone cares about getting what some may call a small check in the mail. As an alternative, FlipSwap enables users to donate their money to one of several major charitable organizations and even increases the payment amount over a standard cash offer.

Practical Uses:

  • Trade in your tired mobile phone for some cash to help fund a new iPhone
  • Use FlipSwap to defray the cost of terminating your wireless service before the contract end date
  • Unload your old mobile phones and donate the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen foundation

Insider Tips:

  • Regardless of your phone’s value, FlipSwap always provides a prepaid shipping label – if the phone ends up being worthless, FlipSwap will still plant a tree in your name
  • Make sure you’ve saved any phone numbers off your address book before sending to FlipSwap
  • Although FlipSwap attempts to erase any data it’s wise to erase any sensitive information yourself before shipping

What we liked:

  • It’s completely free to use the service as even shipping charges are covered by FlipSwap
  • The entire process feels very environmentally friendly and certainly helps reduce toxic waste in landfills
  • FlipSwap has agreements with many local merchants to accept phones without having to ship anything
  • The entire process is a breeze (assuming you know your phone’s model number)
  • We loved the ability to donate money to one of several worthy charitable causes
  • FlipSwap recently started accepting iPods in addition to cell phones

What we didn’t like:

  • Pricing on most phones is less than what you can receive from places like eBay or Craigslist
  • Minor request, but it would be great to enable charitable giving to any non-profit organization

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: November 2004
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Torrance, CA
  • Founded by: Sohrob Farudi, Cyrus Farudi, Rahmeen Farudi, Edo Cohen, and Andrew Berman
  • Web site: http://www.flipswap.com

Costs:

  • Free

Comments

  1. May 3, 2013

    Reply
    Clara

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your
    efforts and I am waiting for your next write ups thanks once again.

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