There are a few buyback programs out there, and at CES we even saw a meta-buyback program, EcoSquid, that lets you get the best price from among those. But retail electronics juggernaut Best Buy had to have a piece of the pie — and why not? They have a captive audience of people who like to shop “in real life” and who would probably be excited to get anything for an old TV.

And that’s really the only type of person that the Best Buy program will work for. Digital Trends did a little investigation and found that most products you’d want to sell back (an iPhone 3GS, a two-year-old TV, that sort of thing) fetch less of a price at Best Buy than they would on Craigslist or many other sites, and in addition to that there’s a fee to join the service! It’s plainly predatory and I hope it disappears without a trace.

Honestly. If you have something you want to sell, put it up on Craigslist with a fair offer and a product photo (since pictures on CL always look bad). If you don’t get a favorable response, check online services like Gazelle to see what buyback sites are paying. It works