setting up home

When I bought my Kindle Paperwhite more than a year ago, I had visions of cleaning out all of our dusty old books and enjoying a world of virtual book ownership. In reality, I downloaded just two books in my year as a Kindle owner. More often that not, I would pick up my neglected Kindle to find that it had sat idle so long that the battery was dead. I guess I’m just more of an old-fashioned book kind guy after all.

When I saw that I could trade my rarely used Kindle for a gift card to Amazon, it seemed like the perfect way to turn something old into something new. Here’s how the process works:

• I visited the Amazon Trade-In Store to search for eligible trade-in items. Amazon is mostly looking for electronics, books, video games and music for trade.
• Once I selected the Kindle as my trade-in item, I was taken to a “shopping cart” page. I was prompted to selection the condition of my item from a list that displayed how much I would receive for my trade-in. For “good” condition, I would receive a $50.50 gift card. For “like new,” $58.55. I selected “good” condition instead of “like new” because I don’t have the packaging or charger for my Kindle.
• Then, I was provided a packing slip and shipping label to print. I had to rustle up my own packaging.
• After carefully packing the Kindle, I dropped it off at a UPS Store.

So how did it go? Well, I dropped my packaged Kindle at a UPS store last Saturday afternoon. I received an email letting me know that the gift card had been applied to my Amazon account yesterday (Thursday). Happily, the condition of my Kindle was upgraded to “like new.” I was given the $58.55 credit after all!

I originally paid $119 for the Kindle a little over a year ago. Being able to effortlessly sell it back was kind of a dream. Honestly, I wish I could do that with everything that I’ve bought and rarely used (side eye at all of the like new shoes in my closet). And with the $58 burning a hole in my virtual pocket, I’m already thinking about how I’ll spend it.

Check out the Amazon Trade-In program for yourself*.

Image: Mr. and Mr. Blandings

*Full disclosure: If you follow the link and do actually sell something to the Amazon trade-in program, Mr. and Mr. Blandings will receive 4% of the value. We were not, however, compensated for this post.

Full disclosure part 2: Of the two books I downloaded to my Kindle, one was a silly novel about an actress and a directly falling in love. I just wanted to point that out in case you focus in on the words displayed on the Kindle in the photo above.