Don't just toss your old electronics. Ever think of swapping?
Two events are conspiring to render your quiver of electronics obsolete: last month's spasm of holiday gift-giving and this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the annual event where gadget makers unveil their latest.
The upshot is that capacious closets and the darker corners of basements everywhere are filling with once-current goodies displaced by new arrivals: cell phones, iPods, DVD players, gaming consoles, and PCs -- disconnected, forlorn, and taking up precious space.
Assuming you don't want to keep the stuff indefinitely, and hope that your heirs will one day receive great news about its worth on "Antiques Roadshow," there are three productive ways to oust those outmoded electronics from your home.
Donate them. Donating no-longer-new electronics is a way to start the year with a generous act.
Hull is home to one of the largest charities in North America that sends used computers overseas, World Computer Exchange.
Since its founding, the exchange has delivered more than 20,000 computers, with the goal of connecting young people in developing countries to the Internet. The non profit has drop-off sites in Hull, Boston, and Williston, Vt. More information is available at: worldcomputerexchange.org.
TecsChange, a Roxbury organization that uses older computers for computer repair courses, is hunting for Pentium III and IV desktops, and will accept laptops slightly older than that. More information is at tecschange.org/donations/donation-faq.html.
WasteCap of Massachusetts, a public-private partnership that promotes recycling, has a good list of organizations that accept computer donations. For more information, go to wastecap.org/wastecap/commodities/computers /compdonations.htm.
The Salvation Army will accept old televisions, computers, and other electronics; Goodwill will not.
Cell phones can be donated to charity via sites like CollectiveGood.com and ReCellular.com.
"Most old cell phones sit around in drawers," says Mike Newman, marketing vice president at ReCellular.
The company refurbishes many of the phones it receives and then re sells them, donating anywhere from $2 to $50 to charity per phone.
On the website WirelessRecycling.com, which ReCellular operates, you can enter your ZIP code to find drop-off locations near you, and see which charity will benefit.
You can also sell any kind of electronics on eBay and donate the proceeds, or a portion of the proceeds. Details at missionfish.org.
To take advantage of a tax deduction, get a receipt from the organization to which you donate, and write down your own estimate of the item's fair market value; if the item still works, 25 percent of the original purchase price is a good starting point. If you donate more than $500 worth of goods to charity, you'll need to fill out an extra form at tax time -- Form 8283. Fun!
Sell Them. If a piece of electronics equipment still works well, and has all its accoutrements, you may be able to sell it, raising money to help cover those December credit card bills.
The fastest way to find a buyer is via Craigslist. It's free to post a listing on Craigslist.com in the "For Sale" area. You can choose whether to include photos in your listing and whether you'd like to be contacted only by e-mail or include your phone number . (To get more responses, include both.)
Be straightforward about the item's condition, to avoid disappointing someone who drives across town to see it. If you want the item to sell quickly, price it $20 below similar items that are up for sale on Craigslist. I've had buyers show up at my doorstep within hours to pick up an item I've listed on the site.
Selling an old iPod or TiVo at auction on eBay is a bit more time-consuming and expensive, but you may get a better price for it, and you won't have to deal with any haggling.
For many kinds of electronics, eBay's site will help you fill in most of the technical specs on your listing. Including a few photos is a good idea, and you'll probably want an account with the payment service PayPal, so that you can accept payment before you ship the item.
Boston blogger Stephen A. Smith has written an excellent primer on eBay selling, including the best time to start your auction, which you can find at http: cribnotes.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-sell-on-ebay.html.
With both Craigslist and eBay, you should beware of e-mails that ask you to sell the item above your asking price, or to send the item to a buyer in a foreign country. Usually, these are inquiries from scammers.
There are two sites that will buy various cell phone models, CellforCash.com and RipMobile.com. The former was recently offering $43 cash for a Motorola Razr, and the latter was dangling $45 for the same model, in either cash or gift certificates redeemable at retailers like Circuit City or Starbucks.
Of course, I should also mention -- though I don't think I'm contractually required to do so -- that placing a classified ad in a major newspaper is another fine option for selling electronics.
Trade Them. Perhaps the busiest online trading post for Bostonians is the barter section of Craigslist (boston.craigslist.org/bar). About 25 to 30 new listings are posted each day, offering trades like a PlayStation 3 in exchange for a couch, or a Titleist golf club in exchange for an iPod. The site www.WoonBa.com has a few recent listings in Massachusetts, like a user in Haverhill looking to trade a PC for an Xbox 360 game system, or another user offering a new pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones as an open trade; users interested in a particular item can post a description of what they're willing to trade.
Vivian Wong, the founder of WoonBa.com, says computers and electronics are two of the site's most popular categories. She says some people prefer to barter, rather than simply selling an item on eBay or Craigslist, because "you combine two transactions into one transaction, and it just feels more fun," she says. "You might have a Palm V handheld, which is not selling for too much money on eBay, but you can put it up as an open trade, and people will suggest all sorts of interesting things that might surprise you."
It'll be like Christmas in January. Happy jettisoning!
Scott Kirsner is a freelance writer in San Francisco who maintains a blog on entertainment and technology, cinematech.blogspot.com. He can be reached at kirsner@pobox.com. 
