Turn all your old gadgets into cash in time for the holidays

After my recent post on trading in your used cell phones for cash at Flipswap, I heard from a few readers who had additional suggestions for ways to turn obsolete gadgets into fistfuls of green. Among the best ideas, Gazelle, a free online service that makes it easy to trade-in all of your unwanted devices (not just cell phones) for cash, an Amazon.com Gift Card, PayPal money, or a charitable donation.

Gazelle will take MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops, GPS devices, gaming consoles, camcorders, satellite radios, external hard drives, video games, and movies. Like Flipswap, the site asks you to identify your model and rate its condition. You print out a prepaid shipping label, send in the gadget, and wait to see what kind of payment you'll ultimately receive.

Gazelle claims that its average user gets a $115 payout, not bad for your old junk, but note that the highest prices go to newish and highly desirable gadgets. The site seems to be collecting a lot of first-generation iPhones, for example, with payouts around $100. People are already tossing their iPhones? Wow.

Gazelle's ultimate goal is to strip the items they receive of all personal information and sell them on as refurbished items. It's a sensible solution that addresses the problem of almost instant obsolescence that plagues those of us who just have to have the latest and greatest gizmo.