Asda has launched a new gadget trade-in service, which allows customers to hand in their old electrical goods in exchange for cash.
Used mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, sat navs and portable games consoles can all be traded-in for money, while larger electronic products such as laptops, tablet computers and games consoles will be added to the service next month.
Asda promises that its Tech Trade-in scheme will not be beaten on price by Boots, Envirofone, Mazuma Mobile, Sainsburys and Tesco .
Prices offered by these five competitors will be scanned at the time the electrical item is entered on the Asda site. Under its price pledge, customers will be paid the difference if they can prove that Asda’s offer is not the highest within 24 hours.
The launch of Asda Tech Trade-in comes after research conducted for the retailer suggested that there are some 35 million old and unwanted mobile phones lying around UK homes, as well as 11m digital cameras, 12m games consoles, 9m PCs, 5.5m laptops and more than a million sat navs .
Phil Stout, Asda’s electronics service manager, said: “We reckon the average UK home has hundreds of pounds worth of old gadgets that could be traded in for cash.”
“There are more mobile phones in the UK than people, for example, so there is a lot of cash out there waiting to be released.”
Stout added that goods traded in at Asda stores will either be recycled by specialist firms or repaired and resold to help the UK “become greener”.
