CONSUMER PRICE COMPARISON - 31.03.2011

Spring clean - make money

1. “Get cash for your stuff, quickly.” That’s the boast of relaunched site SpeedSell (http://www.speedsell.co.uk) that offers money for PCs, phones, games, books, DIY goods and more. It’s easy to use, you just enter a description of your item along with its condition and you receive an instant quote. This could be increased if you agree to recommend the site on Facebook. SpeedSell will also collect your goods (free for orders over £25) or you can post items to them. You then sit back and wait for a cheque (or use PayPal).

2. Alternative sites. First up is Mopay (http://www.mopay.co.uk). It’s different from SpeedSell in that it focuses purely on mobile phones. It works in a similar way; you describe the phone and its condition, then get a quote together with an option for Marks & Spencer vouchers, PC World gift cards, etc. Mobilephonexchange (http://www.Mobilephonexchange.co.uk) is comparable, with a different set of voucher options. BootsRecycle (http://www.bootsrecycle.com) allows you to recycle mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players etc. and in return you’re “paid” in Boots points.

3. Comparison sites. You can also use a comparison site to look for the best deal for your unwanted goods. Sellmymobile.com (http://www.sellmymobile.com) says it’s the UK’s No 1 mobile phone price comparison site. It searches 36 recycling companies and is very easy to use. A similar site is Compareandrecycle (http://www.compareandrecycle.co.uk) which allows you to check for trades not only on phones, but also on digital cameras, games and satnavs. For these two sites, the former recommendeds TopDollar (http://www.topdollarmobile.co.uk), which had better prices than the latter’s pick: Cash4phones (http://www.cash4phones.co.uk).