timeforcake: ‘It's easy, it's free. You make money'

By Erin Pheil special to the daily

A (Really, Really) Easy Way to Get an Amazon Gift Card

You can get an Amazon Gift Card quickly and easily. No joke, no catch, no scam here. Just take advantage of Amazon's Trade In program.

Got a Texas Instruments 89TVSC/CBX/1L1/A calculator lying around? Amazon will give you $36.75 for it. Star Wars Trilogy DVD set? They'll give you $22.75. Toy Story 2? They'll give you $5.75.

It's easy. It's fast. You make money.

Here's how it works:

1) Rummage through your drawers, closets, bookshelves and piles of maybe-it'll-get-donated-or-maybe-I'll-toss-it stuff. Pull out any books, DVDs, video games, video game consoles, cameras, iPods, phones, camcorders, calculators, GPSs, etc. that you no longer use and/or would like to trade in for Amazon credit.

2) Make sure the items you've found are in very good (or better) condition. No books with highlighted pages. No DVDs with ripped packaging.

3) Visit www.Amazon.com/trade-in.

4) Choose one of your items to start with. Select its category in the drop down menu in the middle of the page, then type in its title or ISBN # in the next field.

5) Click the Go button.

6) On the following page, find your product. You'll see the amount of trade Amazon is offering for it. If you're happy with the amount, click the yellow “Trade In” button. (At this point you'll need to login to Amazon or create an account if you don't have one).

7) You'll arrive at a screen displaying a summary of your trade-ins and how much your Amazon Gift Card will be worth. Keep adding items to this list and you'll keep bumping up the value of your gift card.

8) Click continue when you've added everything you'd like to trade in.

9) Choose either a free USPS shipping label or a free UPS shipping label. Select your last remaining options from the final questions Amazon asks you.

10) When you're done, pack up your products in a box, slap on the printed label that Amazon generated for you, and drop the box off at the post office or nearest UPS drop-off location.

11) Sit back and wait for the email from Amazon that says “We got your stuff, you got your Amazon credit, thanks very much, send in more whenever you'd like!”

Keep in mind here: Amazon's trade in program is similar to the trade in programs at car dealerships. Fast. Easy. Painless. You get your credit/money quickly. You don't have to keep your fingers crossed that someone out there in the world will find, then buy, what you're

selling at the price you set. Accordingly, in exchange for this convenience and sure-money, Amazon offers some pretty low trade in prices. Every now and then you'll score big, but it's typical to get a buck or two for a good hardback book. Perhaps four dollars for a DVD.

Remember though, we're talking easy money here. So if you don't watch those DVDs, read those books or use those gadgets anymore anyhow, you can clear them out of your home or office and receive a bit of Amazon credit for it as well. Good deal all around.

In fact, I have a stack of shiny new books right here on my desk, thanks to the boxes of trade-ins I sent in to Amazon a while back. Now that I think about it, I can't even recall what I traded in. But I am very excited to read these new books.

erin pheil is the owner of timeforcake creative media-the Web Design company voted #1 in Best of Summit. Visit the timeforcake website at www.timeforcake.com or email Erin at erin@timeforcake.com.