UPDATE: October 19, 2011, 4 PM Gazelle has finally responded below. Click to see the comment by Gazelle’s Andrew M. Shallenberger and let’s see if he answers my questions in my new blog post: Gazelle.com: Why They Still Suck.
I was introduced to a site called gazelle.com, that claims it’s willing to buy your old disused electronics. That claim of theirs is wondrous bullshit.
To help illustrate some of the major problems with their site, let’s take a look at one of the categories they push really hard: old satellite radios.
They claim, in their navigation bar, to buy 71 different types of satellite radios. The largest brand in that category is Sirius with 25 different types, so let’s jump to that.
Cycling through the items under that category, you see page after page of items flagged with “sell it now.” Then, two pages on, you start seeing:
What kind of fuckery is this? They claim to buy 25 different Sirius Satellite radios, but when you reach the third page of items you suddenly start seeing “recycle it now” instead. So, in other words, Gazelle doesn’t buy 25 different types of Sirius satellite radios. They buy 17. The others are there to lure you onto their site and to maybe get you to ship your shit to them (at your expense, mind you) for them to “dispose responsibly” for you.
So, they still buy 17 Sirius satellite radios, instead of 25, right? Wrong. Let’s jump to another brand, only because that was where I discovered this discrepancy. Let’s say that you have a brand new, functional, still in box with all the original shit XAct XTR1 Sirius radio.
Here we go. Let’s check all their criteria.
Powers on successfully? Yes. It’s brand new.
Overall condition? Perfect. It’s still in the original box.
Antenna? It’s mint in box. Of course the antenna is in there.
“I Have…” I have everything. It’s mint in box.
So, let’s click to get an offer. Well, lo and behold….
Wow. Brand new in box, the absolute best that this item they supposedly buy can be? And all they’ll do is “recycle it responsibly.” Yet we see that they’re not afraid to flag items that supposedly have no value as such. So why take you through all these steps? All I can say is that when anyone offers to take a perfectly good, brand new mint in box item off your hands and act like they’re doing you a fucking favor, then caveat fucking emptor, baby.
There’s also a question of “disposing.” I can dispose of something responsibly by unloading it on eBay or taking it to a flea market. One has to wonder whether or not someone who is offering to “dispose of” your item is doing this. Or selling it for scrap. Or selling it to someone who will take the component parts and make repaired items for resale.
For example, one of the few things that Gazelle actually seems willing to buy is an old iPod. However, if the headphone jack on your iPod is damaged, they will deduct $66.00 from your offer. $66.00! For a fucking headphone jack. Now, let’s say that I buy an iPod with a damaged headphone jack for $11.00, like Gazelle will. Let’s say that at the same time I “offer to recycle responsibly” another iPod where the case is cracked and the battery is shot, but the headphone jack still works. Wow. That headphone jack is worth $66.00! So swap the broken parts from the $11.00 iPod with the same parts from the “offer to recycle” iPod, and voila a $77.00 iPod.
Now, never let it be said that I don’t try to get the full skinny on a situation before I proclaim that the people behind that scam…er… situation suck. Since they had a huge “LIVE CHAT” button on the site I decided to take advantage of it. The name of the operator has been changed to protect the guilty.
[Pab Sungenis] What exactly do you mean by “recycle your item?”
[Bozo#1] Hello, Welcome to the Gazelle trade in program my name is Bozo#1,
[Bozo#1] I apologize for any confusion.
[Bozo#1] It indicates that the item has no cash value and the only offer available is having it recycled. This of course does not entail any kind of monetary compensation.
[Pab Sungenis] How does your company go about “recycling” these items?
[Bozo#1] You would have to mail the item(s) to us. The shipping cost must be paid by you. Upon arrival of the item(s) we recycle (discard) them responsibly.
[Pab Sungenis] How? What do you do to discard of them responsibly?
[Bozo#1] They are sent to a recycle center that will ensure that they do not end up in a landfill.
[Pab Sungenis] What benefit is there for me to send my items to you to be recycled, instead of disposing of them at my local electronics recycling center?
[Bozo#1] There are none if you are having them recycled responsibly.
Let me interrupt for a moment to underline this. If you choose to take them up on their offer to recycle, you’re paying to do this. In most major metropolitan areas (and a shitload of suburbs and metroburbs, too) there are places you can take old electronics to be recycled. I’ve been using the local one here in town a lot lately. So you’re essentially paying them to do something you can do for free right in your own neighborhood.
Also, I wonder what “recycling center” they use, and whether they get paid for their scrap. Too bad I didn’t think to ask.
[Pab Sungenis] Does your company use the component parts of objects sent to you for disposal to repair other items to be used later for resale?
[Bozo#1] We do not as we do not repair items.
[Pab Sungenis] Not even for items you purchase for resale?
[Bozo#1] What we purchase must be in working condition.
[Bozo#1] We sell them as is (working condition).
Not the hedge. “We” do not repair items. There is nothing about whether or not they have other people do the repairs for them.
I felt the need to let them come clean on items that are on their site as just padding. So I used the above example.
[Pab Sungenis] There are some items on your site where, even though they are flagged as “sell it now” instead of “recycle it now,” and even though they are in perfect condition, will not receive an offer. Why does your site do this? Why not just flag items you do not want, even in perfect condition, as “recycle” instead of “sell?”
For the record, I love when you force a CSR to go off script. This was followed by four minutes of silence, then each of the next three sentences had thirty seconds of silence between them before I decided to put the CSR out of his misery and interrupt.
[Bozo#1] Pab, I understand your concerns.
[Bozo#1] The cosmetic condition of an item does not necessarily mean that it has value.
[Bozo#1] For example….
[Pab Sungenis] No, I mean “perfect.” With all required components and fully functional.
[Bozo#1] A discontinued item, too old perhaps has very little value.
[Bozo#1] Technology takes giant steps.
[Bozo#1] An outdated phone, monitor, etc…
[Bozo#1] It may be in great condition but there is very little market for outdated items.
[Pab Sungenis] Then why not simply flag that item as “recycle” instead of going through the process of trying to obtain a quote?
[Bozo#1] Because, you (the owner) may have done some upgrades to it that may have given the device some value.
[Pab Sungenis] Let’s take one sample item here and go through your criteria: “Powers on successfully,” yes. Overall condition, “perfect” “I Have…” every item is checked. Click on get an offer, and it says “no resale value.” If that item is worthless even after going through all your criteria, why not just flag it for recycling?
Two minutes of silence.
[Bozo#1] Which item is it?
[Pab Sungenis] XAct XTR1 Sirius Satellite radio. I already have screenshots, so don’t bother to go change it now.
[Bozo#1] I’ll check for you.
[Bozo#1] One moment please.
Six minutes of silence.
[Bozo#1] Thanks for holding.
[Bozo#1] You are absolutely right. The item is to be recycled. You should not have the option of rating it.
[Bozo#1] Once in a while we do have to make these corrections.
So I move in for the kill.
[Pab Sungenis] Which brings up the question, how many items that you allegedly will buy will receive no offer at all?
[Bozo#1] Good question.
I agree.
[Bozo#1] Keep this in mind….
[Bozo#1] When you do an assessment and an offer is made, you lock into that price by placing the order.
[Bozo#1] The only way the offer is revised is if we find that the assessment was over rated or under rated by the user.
[Bozo#1] A revision to an offer can go up or down.
[Bozo#1] When offers are revised, we do explain in detail why.
[Bozo#1] And you are given the option to accept or decline.
[Bozo#1] If you decline, we will send the item back at no cost to you.
Aww. He’s back on script. But please note that even if they make an offer to you and you pay to ship your shit out to them, then there’s still no guarantee they’ll live up to your offer. Again, caveat fucking emptor, baby.
[Pab Sungenis] Thank you for addressing my questions and confirming my doubts and fears. Have a good afternoon.
[Bozo#1] You are very welcome Pab.
What’s our lesson? If your item is in good shape go to eBay. If not, drop it off at your local recycling center for free. Avoid scammers like the folks at gazelle.com would appear to be.
For the record, I do take comments, but not from sock puppets. If the gazelle.com people want to comment, they can identify themselves instead of pretending to be a satisfied customer.
And guys? IP’s are ridiculously easy to trace, but I don’t even have to bother with that when a post from a “satisfied customer” is coming from your business domain.
I’m so sorry you wasted 10 minutes of your precious time only to find out you couldn’t sell your shit. You probably wasted even more type typing up this post.
I found this thread via Google search because I wanted to hear what others experienced with Gazelle before I decide to send off my crap to them. I was expecting to find out that you’ve been scammed, either by them changing their initial offer or charging hidden fees, and let me tell you … I’m quite disappointed.
You’re saying Gazelle is a scam because they gave you an offer you didn’t like? What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re acting as if they’re being malicious in any way or if they’re forcing you to sell to them. The only reason why I decided to check out Gazelle is because I heard they actually gave reasonable offers.
With Gazelle, I don’t have to deal with stupid fees like on eBay. Don’t even get me started with that abomination called PayPal, now THAT is a scam. I checked out my local Craigslist after going to Gazelle, I saw other similar items being sold for less than what Gazelle offers. If all goes well with Gazelle, I could even make a few bucks by buying shit via eBay or Craigslist so that I could resell them.
I’m planning on selling my Nokia N800 to Gazelle, they even sent me a free box with a shipping label. Isn’t that nice? Maybe I’ll come back here and report my actual experience with Gazelle for other curious people who happen to stumble across this post as I have.
I’m not even sure why I’m bothering replying to this shit. I just hate seeing people slandering other people/companies with no valid reasons. From seeing the previous reply, I wouldn’t be surprised if your paranoid ass decides to delete my reply or not authorize it.
Actually they are not a very good business. They damaged my laptop and then lied and claimed it did not power on at all because of the broken area right at the power button which someone there broke in the first place, and then after I have a friend who works in IT look at it, 2 seconds later he tapes it, it powers on and surprise there is “GAZELLE-PC” named as the user, and my computer is reformatted. Real honest when the proof right there is that the person filling out the inspection report flat out lied saying it did not power on, then who the fuck reformatted it at Gazelle then? It’s not worth my effort to bother making a legal claim because I already would have accepted a couple hundred trade in value but it’s the principal of the business that will not admit it fucked up and apologize. Instead they tried to say it was damaged due to “inadequate packaging” which I actually used bubblewrap around the entire laptop. There’s no way it could have been smashed like it was in a box with bubblewrap on it and there’s no point in me lying since i’m not even going after them for any money or anything. It’s just the principal of the bullshit they did to me and that is not a good company. I don’t care how many time they didn’t fuck up and no shit the transaction went well in that case, if a business acts this way when they do fuck up, they are not a good business period. It’s unprofessional.
Well, like yo momma said, I hope you’re not as dumb as you look, and believe me, you let her down for sure. Fact is u must be work’n for gazelle.com cause they prey on anyone, in fact they’re trained to take advantage of anyone ready willing and dumb enough to get ripped off by them. They purposely offer ridiculously low prices for items in hopes someone as dumb as u is willing to take the bait, scammed for suckahs & u be one. Please don’t pass on your genes, we can’t afford the idiots we already have. No way did Gazelle offer anything fair , never happened and u b a frick’n liar.
That was what I was going to write!
Molo: some points.
(1) the article is not about how Gazelle.com is a scam, it’s about why they suck. That mainly falls into two categories. To recap:
(a) they’re liars. They claim to buy a lot more than they actually do.
(b) they’re ripoff artists, paying much less than reasonable value for items.
As I can see from your comments, a lot of other people have had problems with Gazelle bait-and-switching by revising their offer downward considerably after the piece is already in their hands.
I stand by my statements. They’re a ripoff, and seem suspiciously like a scam.
wow Molo2366 sounds like a douche
Well pab i enjoy when people take to find out the dirt on questionable places like gazzelle .hmm another interesting fact is this company is paying google so there ad pops up an tricks people very sad time we live in .i curious also where can i buy thee items so cheap they advertise lol so be it
scam company-sent in a like new phone and I even put the condition as good although it was like new.
They never sent me a quote to accept-I found out from their website that they downgraded the condition to poor and claim they sent payment for less than half the value-only $30
I hoped they were reputable but they’re thieves.
Sent my computer to them, followed the packing instructions in their email to use newspaper as the packing material (that’s a *lot* of old paper), it got damaged in shipping, gazelle downgraded offer to zero. Would have used styrofoam peanuts except for their ridiculous advice. I made them pay to send it back. I’ll recycle locally.
Yep, I agree. I have an old Canon SD camera Prosumer SL1s with the removable lens. They offered me $1,320.00 for it! I sent it to them and I called to check on it today. They proceeded to tell me that the heads wouldn’t play back video so I said okay what do you want to give me for the camera then? To which the lady told me, $140.00. I thought what the heck?! So I said send me back my camera and thanks for wasting my time. She said she wasn’t sure she could locate it but would try. I felt like I was being mugged. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. They found my camera and are sending it back or so she tells me.
Did you get it back yet?
I recently made the mistake of sending in my iPhone 3GS to gazelle. I had my phone for about 18 months and it wS kept in an otterbox (defender or what ever their best case was that offered most protection). This phone was spotless except for a few marks around where the 3.5mm jack was. They offered me $165 for it so I sent it in after having it for over a week they contact me say they don’t agree with my condition offer $135. I tell them to stick it up their ass send me back my phone. I wish I had read this before I went with gazelle. But like most people I saw walmarts name involved and thought it was legit. WRONG I would love to see the stats on how many people get the amount they are quoted. I bet none
Actually Gazelle is a pretty trustworthy website if you just follow the instructions… Duh. I sent in my black iPhone 3GS 8GB and they quoted me for 104 dollars. But then when I got the check it was for 130 because I myself had underpriced
It. I say it’s a pretty good site and I really do use it alot.
Thank you for your muckraking of gazelle.com. I always look for online muckrakers before taking new trends seriously.
One thing — I know this is your page, but the “f” word is going to turn off a lot of people. I lived in a vulgarian family myself — no problem for me. But just a tip — the shock value is gone after the first time anyway. [I learned that the hard way.]
The way you wrote about the topic was excellent. The cussing and humor kept the potentially boring details from being too dry to me as a reader. Thank you for ranting about it.
They are a complete scam. You know those people who come up to you at a crowded bazar and say ” Hey I’ll sell this to you at a reeeeely good price! You won’t get such a deal anywhere else!”, but than you walk two feet farther and you see the same thing for half a price. R.I.P.O.F.F. only in reverse. Like hell I’m going to believe that they don’t fix and replace items when they get there. That’s where the big money lies. You get two broken things for pennies, or even free and you make one good one and sell it for lots of cash. This is what the company is all about. Any electronic geek will see that this is the whole point. Someone was just smart enough to make a big online business out of it. I checked in some of my items I’m planning on selling on ebay, Gazelle’s offering price is about 60% lower.
…I would also like to add, after reading other comments, that it also seems like a scam since they always downgrade the price when the item arrive there. That happens in hopes that most customers would not wish to go through more hustle and just give up. ASK FOR YOUR ITEM BACK. This is just another way how they make money. Claiming more damage or lost item – typical. This reminds me of those reasonable-priced hard drive recovery companies that first get your hard drive sent to them and claim the drive is beyond their reach to fix and refer you to “another” company which charges an arm and a leg. They prey on people’s desperation to recover lost files. Once in a while they would fix a small drive just to cover their asses legally. Me and my friend decided to make sure. We sent them (separately) two perfectly working 100gb drives, claiming file corruption. The asking price was about 300$ each. When they got them, they claimed that they could not fix it and “generously” offered to send it (no charge) to another company (quote – about 2 grand each :O) which “was sure to fix it”. That, after charging 75$ for NOT fixing a drive as a non-refundable fee. Got our money back after threatening to sue and reveal their scam.
Yeah, I use http://www.cellitused.com to sell my stuff. Cellitused seems more reliable and has been around a while. Plus thier prices were the best.
Thank you so much for writing. If everone else is sending in things that are top of the line. Ill just keep my year old non smartphone and pay for a droid outright. Thank u
Don’t listen to all the people putting down your post. I just saw a commercail for gazelle and was about to sell my old iPhone 3GS, but after reading this, I have reconsidered. Your were personal in this post, with the cussing, I could relate. It showed emotion, and I liked it. Thank you!
I just did the same thing I was like maybe I can sell my 2 month old iphone4 for the iphone4s and then l was like let me do some research first, and found this. Thank goodness I did !
Xbox 360 20 gb in good condition, and they offer me $30? They sell for no less than $100 used online. I hope no one falls for this. I bet you could get more money at a pawn shop.
Thank you for affirming my suspicions about Gazelle.com. Fortunately, I got no further than the ‘get a quote’ stage. I listed a Sprint Palm Pre that is in mint condition with all the accessories. I’d had it less than a month when the HTC Evo 4G came out and it’s been stored in the original box ever since. The offer I got?? $5.00. I’ll either put it on Ebay or stomp it to pieces before I’ll let those sleazy bastards make a prophit on it.
By the way… I wasn’t the least bit offended by your language. In fact, I found it entertaining.
Appreciate you taking the time to research and post. Just saw the commercial for G.A.Z. And was considering it. I googles it and ur post pops up second on the list, so after getting a quote on my iphone 3GS, I came to ur post. Never really been comfortable with the whole, send me you valuables then I’ll pay you, bullshit. I enjoyed reading what you had to say. The language was not offensive, infact I’d agree that it kept the reading from becoming boring. Good job on the research and a great post! Thanx!!¡¡
total ripoff. “please send me your expensive electronics and we’ll make sure to pay you for them.” i don’t see how anyone could think this site is legit, but i guess if you don’t know any better you may believe it. i also decided to mess around with the live chat and experienced similar dialogue until i basically called them out on the scam and they had no answers for me. DO NOT USE THIS SITE.
I went to sell a PsP just for kicks to see hoe much I would get I said it was perfect in box with all of its parts, cables, ect. and it was $18 that just stupid. gamestop will give you $50 its store credit but still I mean dman.
Saw the commercial and thought YEA RIGHT! Googled “Why does Gazzelle want phones?” Read your evaluation, read the comments (the second was very entertaining with an obvious agenda) and came to a conclusion. DONT USE GAZELLE’S SERVICES!!
I thought the post in interesting. I never used Gazelle but have used Cellitused before and had a good experience selling my old iphone 3g. It is easier than wasting my time selling on craigslist by meeting random people and sifting through spam emails to answer a million questions about the phone. Cellitused was just WAY easier.
Just wanted to make a quick point about a part of your article. I’m not here to defend the company, I’m not dumb enough to use mail order to sell my old electronics. If I can’t take it somewhere and be present for the evaluation then why would you? Not to mention to all the people complaining. Did you take photos of the items condition at the time of shipping? If so you could make a claim with solid proof.
Anyway, my main reason was the comment you made about the iPod. You are telling me you are surprised they knocked $60 bucks off for a non-working headphone jack? Seriously? If the headphone jack isn’t working then how is a person supposed to listen to the music on the iPod, the intent for which the item was made in the first place? No one wants a iPod paper-weight so naturally it was only worth it’s components.
I discuss that. With the sheer number of “broken” iPods they bring in, it’s easy to harvest parts (or sell them to someone who harvests parts) and use them to refurbish. You can sell a refurbed iPod for over $200.00. Gazelle can buy an iPod with a broken headphone jack for $11.00, and one with a broken screen for $11.00. Then they take the headphone jack from the one with the broken screen and use it to repair the broken headphone jack. Voila! $200.00 iPod. Then they can take the battery from the broken screen iPod and use it to replace one that only has a burned out battery. Another $200.00 iPod.
Or better yet, just say “sorry, this is worthless, we’ll recycle it for you” and they don’t even have to pay the $11.00 to get parts for up to six more $200.00 refurbs. Like I illustrated with my example of the brand-new in shrinkwrapped box Sirius radio. They could turn right around and sell that for at least $50.00 (it’s not even a refurb, it’s brand new) and they didn’t pay a penny for it, not even shipping.
Caveat Emptor.
I do not like Gazelle.com tactics and I appreciate your page. However, with this post, I must reply. Gazelle may be a sleezy company but I’m pretty sure they have an overhead with employee’s to pay, etc. So the possible two $11 iPods that would sell for one $200 iPod does not make for $178 profit. This is America and Gazelle is allowed to make a profit. We are supposed to be smart enough to not use them if they are “snake oil”. So, do get jelous or snippy sounding if they are making money – making a profit is the American Way….
Thank you for this review. You have saved me a lot of hassle and stress.
i actually found the Gazelle.com commercial offensive… searched the web and found this post. not surprised at all… keep up the good work!
Thanks for posting this head-up! Of course some of the comments above are from PR shills, but that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?
I was just on their site looking to send in two iPhone 3GSs since we decided to upgrade to the 4S, which will be arriving tomorrow. Nope! I am skipping Gazelle. I’ll find someone else.
WHATEVER YOU DO>>> DO NOT SELL YOUR STUFF ON EBAY!!! THAT IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO WITH IT AFTER YOU SEND IT TO US!!!!
PLEASE DO NOT LOOK ON EBAY TO SEE HOW MUCH YOU COULD REALLY GET FOR YOUR IPHONE4!!!!!
WE WOULD LOVE TO RECYCLE YOUR IPHONES/IPADS/IPODS ALSO =)
I went on gazelle.com and they offered me $12 for a brand new nikon s570, there’s one up for sale on ebay for around $140……this site is such a piece of shit. it’s actually quite entertaining just to see how little they offer for everything we paid so much money for..oh and they offered me $11 for a nintendo wii with all the original crap. Gazelle sucks, you could easily make more than 5x the money selling your stuff on ebay and amazon
I really appreciate everyones posts. I saw the commercial tonight and thought it would be a good idea to get rid of my old blackberry. For 11 dollars Its not even worth my time plus after all I’ve read I wouldn’t fuck with them anyway. I’m glad I did some reasearch on this. I got offered a job from this lady with primerica and it turned out that was a scam so after that experience I always look things up. You can’t trust ANYONE now adays. So sad what has this world come to. Thanks again
Thank you for puttin this up
I think you mean caveat venditor, but that’s just me being a smart ass.
i knew it! obviosly it sounded too good to be true. Thanks for saving my husband and I alot of time and energy we were about to waste with this B.S. scam.
Dear PaBlog,
My name is Andrew, and I am a contracted Customer Service Agent for Gazelle.com.
Personally, I have found this post very interesting. I, myself, have been slowly learning how Gazelle.com works over time. Being simply just a Customer Service agent, I am only trained to be knowleble of basic methods and marketing tactics and how to provide information to customers based on a pretty simple product/company knowledge base. HOWEVER-I would like to inform all of you with doubts a couple things that I have discovered about Gazelle.com, by personal investigation and close contact with management and supervisors.
Gazelle is a legitimate, and accredited business. So calling us a, “scam” is simply a biased opinion-most likely based off a negative experience that was not satisfactory and would cause a customer to reach out to other Gazelle users(such as yourself). I am not saying by any means that this is wrong considering that everyone has the right to their opinion, and even I, myself, have had a negative experience with the company itself. BUT…
When it comes down to your main point of your original post, I do have some commentary.
Gazelle.com has done many improvements and integrations since you have posted this thread of yours.
We have recently been using a new form of technology to determine the quotes customers receive. This system basically takes multiple factors into consideration such as the conditioning listing, accessories, and the overall value in comparison with other ReCommerce companies, and the demand for that product in the general market.
NOTE: Some items may not be deemed applicable for cash value, Yes. I even do agree that some items should be able to be cashed in that are only deemed for recyling purposes, But lets face the facts: Supply and Demand is something that is crucial and well known in America’s economy. If you were to hop onto the website right now, you would notice a lot of hype pertaining to iPhone trade ins. I am sure you are aware-that the iphone 4gS was recently released. Commercials recently being aired, are pertaining to….GUESS WHAT….IPHONES!
See, Our marketing may promote the website as a resource to rid of any old, unused, electronics by either selling them or recycling. This is true, even as you have admitted.
On that note: We do not generate profit from items that are sent in as broken and deemed for recyling purposes as you may beileve. Items that are recycled, are recycled. We ask customers to pay for the shipping due to the fact that our time, and services are not free just as any companies would be. We do not just simply take your old items, throw them in a bin and then it’s done and over. We have to organize, sort, and evaluate/inspect even items that are deemed broken to stick to our promise that we will always give the higher value if an item is deemed to be in better condition that the customer thought it was.
When it comes down to the fact that a lot of items to not generate cash value-Well, Sir-Like i mentioned before: This is America, and we are a Company.
Q. What do Companies do in America to gain recognition, attention, and profit?
A. Marketing!
You seem like a relitivaely inteligent individual, Pab-So what I am going to ask you to do is just sit and think for a moment and consier the whole, “Marketing” concept, and your point of this thread. We (Gazelle) choose the way we advertise and promote sales/purchases by pointing out the positive aspects of our company and the things that have been the most popular-due to the fact that we obviously aim to keep our business going, make some profit, and expand. When considering things that are popular about our website(like the fact that a lot of items generate cash value), we are going to make those things even more obvious, because that is how advertising amd marking just works! We will openly admit that there are plenty items that have no cash value, due to the fact that they are just simply not in demand-or for whatever reason. We will admit we have flaws, as every company and human being does.
And yes: I was so upset about this post-I took the amount of time it took for me to type up this extremely long response. BUT, I am simply just trying to do the same as you did: Make a point.
I would like to conclude this with a Thank you in advance for reading this and taking the things I have said into consideriation.
How can you sleep at night? Have you not read the multiple complaints of dissatisfied customers? You guys offer a couple bucks for even a highly demanded device (IPad, IPhone, IPod)! Your “recycle” option is just reselling the item that has “no-cash-value” in your store. Get a life, please, stop scamming innocent people. Oh and please, read all the comments first before defending your company.
On a second note,
I would be happy to correspond with any followers of this blog with questions or further concerns pertaining to how Gazelle.com works, and our methods of Operation. We are a young, growing company and we are most definately always open to listening to customers experiences, opinions, and even simply words from somone that has not used Gazelle.com-But are simply curious. I am a proud representitive of my Company and will continue to be.
Well do not let your comments of truth stop just because a “paid” customer service rep or ?? tells us some scripted BS to try and overcome the scam they are running.
Fellow business owner here and lets make clear one item and that is when you start up a business you make every effort to make it clean and clear. There is no way that anyone can make me or other believe that gazelle.com is truthful in it’s business mission. 1 person on this post says they were offered more than what was quoted. (Please tell us all your name and business) – most can bet you work for or have been paid by gazelle.com to say those words. If not shame on me for the comment.
I can say with my 7 kids (yes planned and can easily afford them) we have many electronic toys that are upgraded all of the time and yes we use FeeBay/ScrewPal to sale our items but thought why not show our kids a lesson on business. We got a quote for several items, recieved our shipping box from gazelle.com and shipped them away. Yes we got an email saying (get this) all 11 items were (damaged), (not in correct stated condition) or non functional. One of my companies ships more than 2500 items a day and they packed the items, my IT group (13 employees) reviewed the items, wiped memory-format, and made sure they were cleaned so claims were script by gazelle.com.
I did not take screen shots of the process (great idea), I did not hang on to invoices, and I did not even care about the $$. As a parent my job is to teach my kids on how to spot a scam or to good to be true thing in the world.
Our job as Americans is to post on the internet good and bad things so others are not scammed. I think if a future possible customer of gazelle.com reads this post they will hopefully understand we are not trying to say any rude or dishonest things about gazelle.com we are simply explaining that gazelle.com is not operating a honest business plan.
You cannot clean up a dirty business structure after you take people for hard earned money especially after you do it over and over.
My sentiments exactly. You can not un-do a bad business reputation once it has been severely damaged. Gazelle.com has obviously NEVER been in a credible position before now, and as ” individual humans” must be users and takers in this world. Don’t worry, WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND!
i checked out gazelle.com they are in simple words “internet scammers” just my two cents
I had some cell phones laying about and decided to see what they were worth. Gazelle said they were nothing which is odd, they work and nothing wrong with the phones. So I then proceeded to say I had a brand new computer (just to see if I was being scammed) and lo and behold the offer was still 0 dollars.
What a scam.
If you still have those old cell phones laying around doing no good, consider donating them to the T.J. Martell Foundation. The money from recycling them will go to help fund cancer and AIDS research instead of lining Gazelle’s pockets.
Wow! I have a computer I think I’ll send in just to see if they’re dumb enough to give me a reason to sue them. (don’t worry, I’ll take pics first!
I was just watching TV when i saw this commercial for Gazelle.com. I recently upgraded to an iphone 4 and have my 3g lying around. I checked it out and they offered only $35 they are out of their mind! I’d rather keep it around and use it as a backup in case. Pab’s flagrant use of the F-bomb was unnecessary though, you can make a point intelligently without using profanities…that’s just my opinion though.
I just seen this on tv and was thinking this would be great u send in ur old phone and they will send u a newer one. I was going to do this for a friend that has little money and her phone screen is broke and u cant read any texts and can hardly see incoming calls. But thank u for wroning me cause she could of lost the little bit she dose have.
I saw the commercial for gazelle.com and was interested because my boyfriend has an old 16GB iPhone 3G. He was selling it on ebay and saw that many of the phones were selling for at least $150 dollars in okay condition. His is in good working condition barely damaged or used. The ad said they would pay more than you probably think so I decided to check it out and the offer for an almost brand new iPhone 3G 16GB was $64. First of all I’m sure that doesn’t include shipping and I could probably sell it for more online. And who can guarantee you will get the offer they as for anyway. Then for fun I decided to check out the reviews and found this. Glad I did I figured something fishy was going on here. Then for fun I decided to see how much they would give me for my second generation iPod nano. It’s in somewhat crappy shape, few scratches and the white part on top has come off but still works just as good as when I got it and they offered me $1. Why would anyone bother with that? It is obviously such a waste of time and money. Why give yourself the headache and just don’t bother in the first place.
Just for fun I went to check out more reviews and went to the Gazelle.com website. They said 9 out of 10 people had an awesome review which is abviously a lie considering this was out of something like 25,000 people. Second out of 100 recent comments only one was “not so good” and she was disappointed because she got less than she thought. They obviously have the company adding these comments or just only let the very best stay on there.
Thank you so much for this info! I recently saw the gazelle ad on tv and wanted to look into sending them my old blackberry. I simply googled the company name and found your blog. Soooo glad I did because seems they would rip me off! Thanks again.
just put in my new macbook pro 17 w all acc. and perfect condition..top of the line!
i think it was close to 3000 or more (2 or 3 mo. ago) they offered $300!
Thanks for the posts. Saved me a lot of problems. Too many unsatisfied customers to even think using them may be a good idea. Also a “paid” spokesman for the company is not a credible source at all.
I wish I would have believed they weren’t going to take me. I sent them in an iPhone 3gs with 16G that has always been in a rubber case and Invisishield from the first minute it was opened. I carefully inspected the phone and took off the case and shield which was perfectly clean (I wish I video’ed it) and put it into the original box with all the documents. I got my offer back today:
Because we touch so many Cell Phones from different customers we are able to grade condition relatively across thousands of cases. 3 cracks in housing: 1 small crack surrounding Sim Tray slot. 2 hairline cracks at screws on bottom side side of phone.
There was no such cracks that I ever seen before shipping. It was shipped in the iPhone box and padded in a shipping box (not theirs since it still hasn’t came a week later.
I decided to take their offer of $35 less (just because I don’t trust what they will send back – box, same phone in the condition that I sent it, etc), but I will never use them again.
Lesson learned.
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