Should you sell used products in exchange for something else?

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This festive season, you may also be exchanging something like a phone, TV, washing machine or car. While an exchange offer sounds like a good deal, you should remember that the items you are offering in exchange will fetch you the right price only if the product is in the perfect condition. For example, take your phone. When you exchange your phone on Flipkart or Amazon, you will not get a higher price for the phone and there is also a 90 percent chance that the delivery staff will find some defect in your phone and reject it.

You will get a good price for the product in exchange only if the product is not too old. You can get a good price if you exchange an item that is used for one or two years. However, if it is older than this, the e-commerce site will refuse your purchase and will give you half the price of the product. This can be understood with an example. On e-commerce sites like Flipkart and Amazon, you will get only Rs 300-350 in exchange for a one-and-a-half year old 24 inch LED TV. For a 43 inch LED TV you will get only Rs 600-650 in exchange. Similarly, for an old top load washing machine of 7 to 8 kg capacity, the exchange price will be only Rs 1,300-1,400, while for an old refrigerator of 100 to 200 litres, the price will be only Rs 1,400-1,500. Which means, the price of the goods which you had bought at such a high price will remain so low.

So before exchanging, think about why you want a new product? Is your product nearing the end of its life, or do you need the latest model? Apart from this, many people also exchange products because their friends or acquaintances have the latest model phone, car, TV. This is not a logical decision to sell in exchange.

Regarding this, investment expert Balwant Jain says that the job of e-commerce sites is to attract people in the name of exchange offers. This increases their sales. Now whether to exchange the goods or not depends on the customer. If you feel that you are getting the right price then exchange it, if not, look for other options. But do always compare the prices available in online and offline exchanges. Go where you get the best deals.

So, keep these things in mind before selling goods in exchange. The value of every item is low, but the value may appear much lower on the e-commerce site. So while making any such purchase, be a little cautious about selling your old item in exchange.