Second Rotation, the company behind gadget ‘reCommerce’ site Gazelle, has closed a $6 million Series B funding round led by RockPort Capital Partners, with existing investors Venrock Associates, Austin Ligon, and Henry Vogel also participating.
Gazelle’s service, which launched in July, allows users to receive cash for their used gadgets without having to deal with online marketplaces like eBay or Craigslist. After entering some basic information about a product (including model number, condition, and accessories) Gazelle will make an instant cash offer. If the user accepts, Gazelle will pay any shipping charges and pays out the cash amount within a few days of receiving the gadget, assuming the product’s condition corresponds with what the user described. Users generally receive less money than they would through eBay, but Gazelle is usually more convenient.
The site will also help recycle any items it can’t resell, which makes it more eco-friendly than most other online marketplaces. And it’s a quick way to get some cash – the relatively small effort involved will appeal to users looking to clear out the random gadgetry filling their desks without having to deal with eBay’s auction process.
Another similar competitor in this space is Venjuvo. Ztail has also experimented with this, but it isn’t the site’s primary focus.
Update:This post originally noted that Gazelle wasn’t much more ‘green’ than garage sales, eBay, or pawn shops. However, the site will help users recycle goods that can’t be resold, so the ‘green’ label is warranted.
This sounds brilliant! Not only could it be beneficial to the tech marketplace in general (maybe make much of it more affordable to the masses, even if it is second hand), but also saves some of these from landfills (or at least delay their arrival a little longer).
Buy.com had tied up with a company a few years ago to do just this. Was great. I returned a bunch of old phones and got about $15 on average for them.
I wonder where these items go after they buy them from you? Nowhere on their website do they have any ‘buy’ buttons, only ’sell,’ wikipedia and their about page also don’t give any clues on how they make money or resell the products…
They make money by: using spiders to determine they price they will get reselling your goods on ebay/craigslist (hence receiving a little less than you would get otherwise), then actually retailing these items on these sites (or I am guessing they may sell some to wholesalers/export).
For me, it is a time issue. If it takes 2 hours to deal with an ebay auction for an old phone (pictures/description/S&H/feedback), but I can sell it to Gazelle for $5-10 bucks less and let them hassle with it, it is really worth it.
I used Gazelle to sell a Nokia e61 phone and it worked great. It’s true that you probably earn less money than selling it yourself on ebay, but it’s totally hassle free.
Sounds like something is amis in thier business plan. I have also used http://www.CExchange.com and was very satisfied with the service and speed offered through that company.