Would You Pay Now to Sell Old Gadgets Later?

How would you feel about paying to recycle your old gadgets? Or, really, to pay up front to have it bought back when you're ready to trade up to a newer laptop or MP3 player? Got that?

Companies are awakening to the growing number of unused gadgets and a growing unease among consumers about how they are being disposed of. They're betting you are so concerned you're willing to pay for some assurance that your laptop won't end up in a landfill.

The AP reports on two companies that are taking different approaches to the second lives of unwanted gadgets. TechForward is working with retailers to offer a buyback program for electronics. 

An example on the TechForward web site is an Apple MacBook Pro. Pay $60 when you buy one now, and you're guaranteed $610 if you turn it in two years from today. The amount drops with every six-month increment. That is, if "you return your device in on time and in good condition." So be sure what good condition means before signing up for something like this.

And it's good only up to two years from the date of purchase, so a plan like this is, as TechForward's CEO Jade Van Doren tells the AP, is a way to encourage "people to live that lifestyle of temporary ownership."

Meanwhile, NEW Corp, which runs extended warranty programs at Best Buy and Wal-Mart, is planning ecoNEW, a trade-in program that will give customers store credit when they turn in old gadgets.

Neither program will match the kind of prices you could probably get on eBay. But you'd be paying for convenience and, supposedly, the assurance it will be reused or recycled in an environmentally friendly way. 

Do either approaches appeal?

LINK: Companies launch gadget buyback services [AP]