Page 56 - CommerceMagazine_Sat_Vanijya

Written by Sabari
These kiosks will pay good money for your old,

knackered phones

If you’re anywhere close to average, you have two, three, maybe

four abandoned smartphones in your home, either battered
beyond worthwhile repair or relics from two or three phones

ago. Why not let a slightly tacky looking, soon to be ubiquitous

Gazelle kiosk save them from landfill?

The machines belong to San Diego-based trade-in company

ecoATM, and the idea is to take all the hassle out of selling the

devices you used to clutch all day and take to bed at night but
have since fallen out of love with. If your phone won’t turn on,

Gazelle can still come up with a little cash for your scrap metal.

And if you’re worried about who could potentially access your

photos and messages, ecoATM vows to wipe your personal data

for you as part of the process.

After a small, successful trial of “a few kiosks” in 2015,
ecoATM’s CEO Dave Maquera says it currently has units inside

both Westfield centres in London, as well as shopping centres

and Morrisons stores scattered around the UK. That’s a total

of 18 kiosks in the UK so far versus the 3,500 kiosks it

operates in the US where it has resold or recycled 20 million

smartphones to date. Maquera is in town because ecoATM is