Cash for your old mobile, even if it's broken! (mazumamobile.com)

Member Name: cognition

Product:	mazumamobile.com
Date:	03/06/09 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Requires a minimum of effort, pays for broken phones

Disadvantages: Not much money, if your phone is not broken can get better price elsewhere

INTRODUCTION
How often does the average person upgrade their mobile phone? Some seem to get a new mobile phone every year or so, while others can go for as much as 3-5 years before they upgrade, but most of us do find that at some point we have to upgrade. Our old mobile phones get worn out or break, the sound quality degrades, they become less reliable or we simply feel the desire to upgrade to a phone that's smaller and has more advanced functionality. You may find that if you sign a monthly contract you are sometimes offered a new phone "for free". But what about those old phones? Wouldn't it be great if you could sell them, even if they were broken? You can!

THE CONCEPT
Mazuma Mobile accepts your old mobile whether it is functional or broken, they recycle it, and your phone is put to use in developing markets like China, Africa, India and Pakistan. The best part is, while you are contributing to save the environment, as your old mobile phone is recycled rather than trashed, you get paid. This is a business model followed by several companies in the UK. Mazuma Mobile is the only one of them I have tried out, and the reason I chose them to begin with was, for the phone I wanted to trade in, they seemed to offer the best price, and also, they send an addressed envelope out to you, with the postage paid. One of the other companies I looked at expected the end user to provide the envelope themselves.

THE PROCESS
Mazuma Mobile's web site has a search function, so you simply look up the model name of your phone in their database, and it tells you how much they will pay for that particular mobile phone, both in working and non-working condition. You can get paid by cheque, or Argos vouchers. If you choose the Argos voucher, you will get about 20% more for your phone. I chose the cheque option, as I want to save the money rather than find an excuse to look for something to buy at Argos. The next step is putting in your order for a trade-in of that phone. This requires you to register an account with Mazuma Mobile. They require your name, address and e-mail address, and the sign up process takes roughly 1-2 minutes. Once you've put in your order, stipulating what model your phone is, if it is working or non working and the amount of phones you wish to trade in (probably just one for the time being), all you have to do is sit back and wait. Within a couple of days you will receive an addressed envelope from Mazuma Mobile with postage paid. You simply put your mobile phone with one battery inserted in the supplied envelope, no charger, no manuals, no additional peripherals, and that's it. The envelope is not a jiffy bag. It's a very thin envelope that does not offer much protection for the contents. Mazuma Mobile does state you could wrap your mobile in some tissue if you wish to protect the screen. Even though I was sending them my phone as non-working, because of a broken joystick, I wrapped my phone in toilet paper. Once you've posted the envelope, you're in for another couple of days of waiting, as your phone arrives with Mazuma Mobile, and they need to ensure the phone meets the minimum standards of what is required for them to pay you the stated price for your phone. Then you receive an e-mail stating that your order has been completed, and within the next few days your cheque (or Argos voucher) arrives in the mail. The entire process takes about a week, up to a week and a half.

THE PRICE
How much you are offered for your phone depends on how fancy your phone is, and if it's in working order or not. In general, the prices are not mind blowing. I sent in a Sony Ericsson K310i with a broken joystick. The phone was about 3 years old, I think, and the new price was around £50 if i'm not mistaken. Had the phone been in working condition I would have been offered £4. Since I ticked the box for it not being in working condition, I was offered £2. That makes it seem hardly worth doing, but keep in mind that all you have to do is fill out a form on their web site, which takes 2 minutes, and then when you receive the envelope you post it back to them. The added benefit is of course, that you should be environmentally responsible and recycle your phone anyway. I would argue, though, that if your phone is in working condition, you should be able to get a lot more for it on eBay. I had an old working Motorola phone, which Mazuma Mobile was offering me £1 for, but I managed to sell it on eBay for around £8. I've never tried selling a faulty mobile phone on eBay, but I would assume the market for faulty mobile phones is far smaller.

CONCLUSION
My experience with Mazuma Mobile was efficient and flawless and required a minimum of effort for me to responsibly recycle and get paid for my old broken phone. I would argue that if your phone is in working condition you might be able to get a better price for it on eBay or similar.

Summary: Be responsible and recycle your old mobile phone... and earn money doing it!