How To Get Cash For Old Gadgets

CHICAGO (CBS) -- High-tech gadgets are always hot picks for the holidays, but with the new "toys" arriving, the older ones get dumped.

And those old phones, mp3 players and laptops can load up your junk drawers pretty quickly. As Mary Kay Kleist reports, did you ever think of trading them for cash?

Anthony Scarsella is the CGO, Chief Gadget Officer, at gazelle.com. It's one of the growing number of websites that let you trade in your tech toys for cold, hard cash.

"Most people probably have about $100 worth of stuff just lying around their house collecting dust," Scarsella said.

We went to gazelle.com and tried to get cash for a 16 GB, 3GS iPhone. We selected the model and answered a few simple questions. Our phone is in good working order and looks new.

Turns out, Gazelle will pay $126 for the phone. We also checked Best Buy. They will offer a gift card worth $114. And through its trade-in partner, Target offered us a gift card worth $165.

But don't count out your other gadgets. Old Blackberries can average $30 to $40.

Digital cameras and mp3 players will get you about the same. Laptops and video game systems go for around $80 dollars. And you can even cash in on some broken tech toys.

"iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, even if they're not functional they even should have a small payout of around $40, $50, $60 depending on the device," Scarsella said.

And if you act fast, you could get that money just in time for last minute holiday shopping. Gazelle says they'll send you a shipping label and pay you out within five business days.

So if you have a few old tech toys, get the model number of each one. Compare the offers like we did in a number of places.

We first went to gazelle.com, then to bestbuy.com and then searched out Target's partner for trade-ins - NextWorth.com.

It's interesting to see the different offers come in for the same old item.