Open the drawer next to your bed. Check the shelf in the hall closet. Look in that box in the garage you haven’t touched since you moved the Christmas decorations last year. Somewhere in there, you’ll find a phone you stopped using, a camera that lost to your phone, a laptop that got slow, or a tablet nobody picks up anymore. All of it still works. All of it is worth money. And all of it is losing value every month it sits there.
The average American household has between $500 and $1,500 in unused electronics lying around the house. Not broken stuff – working devices that got replaced by something newer and then forgotten.
Laptops and Desktop Computers
Old laptops are one of the most common things people keep for no good reason. The thinking is usually something like “I might need it as a backup” or “there might be files on there I need.” In most cases, neither of those things is true, and the laptop has been sitting untouched for two or three years.
A laptop that’s three to five years old and still works can be worth $75 to $300, depending on the brand and specs. MacBooks hold their value the best. For example, a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro from 2019 or 2020 can still bring in $150 to $350. Windows laptops from brands like Dell, HP, and Lenovo are worth less but still sell in the $50 to $150 range if they’re functional.
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Even desktop computers have value, though they’re harder to ship. If you have an old iMac sitting in a corner, it can be worth $100 to $400, depending on the year and model.
Before selling any computer, back up anything you want to keep onto a USB drive or upload it to the cloud, then wipe the hard drive. This is important for your security, not just for the sale.
Old Smartphones
This is the big one. Almost everyone who has owned a smartphone for more than a few years has at least one old one tucked in a drawer somewhere. Many folks have two or three.
An iPhone that’s two or three generations old can still bring in $80 to $200 depending on the model and condition. Even phones that are five or six years old can be worth $30 to $75 if they still turn on and the screen isn’t cracked.
Android phones hold their value less than iPhones, but a Samsung Galaxy that’s a few years old can still fetch $40 to $120.
The key is that the phone needs to be factory reset and removed from your account before you sell it. If it’s still tied to your Apple ID or Google account, buyers can’t use it and it’s essentially worthless to them. A quick trip to the settings menu takes care of this. If you’re not sure how to do it, any phone repair shop will do it for you for free or close to it, because they want to buy the phone from you anyway.
Where to sell: Swappa and Gazelle are the two most straightforward options for people who don’t want to deal with the hassle of eBay. You enter your phone model, answer a few questions about its condition, and they give you a price.
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iPads hold their value remarkably well. An iPad that’s four or five years old can still be worth $80 to $200. Even the basic models from a few generations back sell for more than most people expect.
Android tablets and Amazon Fire tablets are worth less, usually in the $20 to $60 range, but that’s still money sitting in a drawer doing nothing.
The same rules apply as with phones. Factory reset it, make sure it’s signed out of all your accounts, and wipe it clean before selling.
Digital Cameras
You most probably bought a decent digital camera in the 2000s or early 2010s – a Canon PowerShot, a Nikon Coolpix, or maybe a DSLR for vacations and family events.
When phone cameras got good enough, the dedicated camera went into a drawer or a closet shelf and stayed there.
Here’s what most people don’t know: there’s a strong market for used cameras right now, partly driven by younger people who have gotten interested in photography as a hobby and prefer dedicated cameras over phones.
A DSLR from Canon or Nikon that’s ten to fifteen years old can still sell for $100 to $300 with a basic lens. Even point-and-shoot cameras from the mid-2000s can bring $20 to $60 if they work and come with a charger.
If you have extra lenses, those are often worth more than the camera body itself. A decent Canon or Nikon lens can sell for $75 to $400, depending on the model.
Flat Screen TVs
If you’ve upgraded your TV in the last few years, there’s a good chance the old one is sitting in a spare room, a basement, or leaning against a garage wall.
Older flat screens – especially anything 40 inches or larger that still works – are worth $50 to $200. Smart TVs from name brands like Samsung, LG, or Sony in the 50 to 65 inch range can go for $100 to $300 if they’re only a few years old.
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TVs are harder to ship, so local sales work best. Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are the usual options. The trick with TVs is to take a photo of the screen turned on showing a clear picture. Keep in mind that buyers want to see that there are no dead pixels, lines, or color issues before they drive over to pick it up.
Gaming Consoles the Kids Left Behind
If you raised children anytime in the last twenty years, there’s a decent chance a gaming console got left behind when they moved out. A PlayStation 4 can sell for $100 to $180. An Xbox One goes for $80 to $150.
Even older systems have value – a Nintendo Wii in good condition with controllers and cables sells for $30 to $60, and original Nintendo or Super Nintendo consoles from the late ’80s and early ’90s have become collector’s items worth $50 to $150 or more.
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Check the closets and the boxes in the garage. If the games are still with the console, they add to the value. Some individual game discs and cartridges are worth more than you’d think, especially if they’re from popular series.
GPS Devices
Standalone GPS units from Garmin or TomTom were standard in a lot of cars before phones took over navigation. Most of them ended up in a glove compartment or a junk drawer. They’re not worth a fortune, but a Garmin GPS in working condition can sell for $20 to $60.
Garmin handheld GPS units designed for hiking or hunting tend to be worth more – $40 to $120 – because people still use them in areas without cell signal.
iPods and MP3 Players
Apple killed the iPod in 2022, which turned every surviving one into a minor collectible. An iPod Classic that still spins up can move for $80 to $250, and even the smaller Nanos and Shuffles sell because people want them for running, yard work, or just nostalgia.
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If yours is still sitting in a dock or paired with one of those old Bose speaker setups, sell them as a set – the accessories often push the price up more than the device itself.
Home Office Equipment
Nobody gets excited about buying a used printer, but people do it all the time because new toner and ink make buying brand new feel like a ripoff.
A working laser printer with some toner left in it will move for $30 to $80 without much effort. Inkjets are a harder sell since buyers know the cartridge racket, but they’re still worth $15 to $40 if functional.
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That router you swapped out when you upgraded your internet is worth checking too. If it’s yours and not rented from your provider, models from Netgear, Asus, or Linksys sell in the $15 to $50 range. People buy them as backups, for guest networks, or because their internet company’s rental fees are highway robbery.
How to Actually Add This Up
Here’s what a realistic haul looks like when you go room by room:
- Old iPhone – $120
- iPad collecting dust – $130
- Laptop that’s been sitting for three years – $150
- Digital camera with a lens – $180
- Flat screen TV from the bedroom you upgraded – $100
- PlayStation 4 the kids left behind – $140
- Garmin GPS from the glove compartment – $35
- iPod Classic – $100
- Total: $955
That’s before you count chargers, cables, cases, extra lenses, game discs, or any of the smaller stuff that adds $10 or $20 here and there. Most homes cross $1,000 once you actually start looking.
Where to Sell and What to Avoid
For phones, tablets, and laptops, Swappa and Gazelle are the easiest options. For everything else, Facebook Marketplace is the most active platform for local sales, and eBay works well for items you’re willing to ship. Craigslist still works in bigger cities.
Avoid pawn shops for electronics unless you need cash the same day. They typically pay 30 to 50 percent of what you’d get selling directly to a buyer.
Also be cautious with “we buy electronics” kiosks in malls – they tend to lowball, especially on anything that isn’t a recent-model phone.
If you’re selling locally, meet in a public place during the day. Many police stations now have designated safe exchange zones in their parking lots specifically for this purpose.
The Stuff You’re Keeping “Just in Case”
By the time you’d actually reach for that backup phone or tablet, it’d be so outdated you wouldn’t bother. Meanwhile, its resale value is quietly bleeding out, month after month.
So here’s the move: if it hasn’t been touched in a year, sell it. Take the money. It’s already more useful as cash than it ever will be as a dusty paperweight.
But now that you’ve got the mindset of squeezing real dollars out of things most people ignore – don’t stop at the junk drawer.
Because there’s a good chance your energy bill is the biggest piece of dead weight in your household. Especially if you’re homesteading or even thinking about going off-grid. Most people assume that means dropping $15,000–$20,000 on solar panels and crossing your fingers during hurricane season.
A growing number of off-gridders are quietly switching to something called The Ultimate OFF-GRID Generator – and once you see the numbers, you’ll wonder why anyone still bothers with solar panels:
- 50% to 80%+ savings over conventional solar – without a single panel on your roof
- Three tweaks, each under 20 minutes, that can nearly triple your power output
- Enough juice to run refrigerators, AC units, and everything in between
- Light enough to grab and go if things get bad – no bolted-down panels for the next storm to rip off, no gas cans in the garage
And unlike that “just in case” laptop collecting dust? The Ultimate OFF-GRID Generator actually earns its keep – every single day your lights turn on and your bill doesn’t show up. 👉 I want to see how it works!
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Many of the things we throw away have hidden value not in sale :
but Gold, Silver, precious metals
the phone is not the value , it is the metals in the phone
at 5k per ounce , 100 per ounce for gold and an average of 1000-1800 for other metals
the value is not the electronics
break them up , throw out the plastics , glass, other byproducts , then collect until you have large amt
The circuit board s , the chips , the processors all Gold , even the older printers, and boards from expecially the 1950-1980s have large value
You are absolutely right. Another article on this exact subject is set to be published within the next two weeks.
This article is all very nice….BUT you left out the most
important part—-WHERE do we go to sell them, WHO buys them?
Hello! Thank you for your comment. The article has many recommendations on where to sell it – most chapters provide this type of information.
Ahh this is naive the older stuff has a lot less tracking on them especially laptops and PC’s and can be converted to OS that do not, are you trying to get preppers screwed over? Also in grid down the older ones are less dependent on the cloud having files in them and actualy software, very very superfical keep that stuff you will find out when it all blows how useless the new stuff really is even if you have electric going.