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Lincolnshire business recycles old electronic products
Yan Bolotin and Dimitry Shraybman in the shipping room of their Lincolnshire business TradeInSpot, specializing in trading in and recycling used cell phones, iphones and electronics. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
TradeInSpot
•On the web: TradeInSpot.com
•Location: 600 Heathrow Drive, Lincolnshire
•Find them on eBay: Cellular Stream
•Walk-in consultations are welcome
Article Extras
Updated: February 4, 2013 1:15AM
LINCOLNSHIRE — Tucked away in a business park in Lincolnshire is a warehouse filled with cell phones, tablets, cameras and more — in the process of being refurbished, resold or recycled.
That business is TradeInSpot, which specializing in buying used devices from consumers and either reselling them in good, working condition, or recycling them. While these businesses are popular on the Internet, as is TradeInSpot, this business is locally owned.
President Yan Bolotin, a Northbrook native, who has been in the electronics buy-back business for 10 years, said TradeInSpot’s ability to repair and refurbish broken items makes them a draw to consumers.
“It’s educating consumers that you can get cash for your old phones, and a lot of people say, ‘oh, I have a drawer full of old devices,’ and those old devices still have value,” Bolotin said.
Bolotin said, though older devices don’t have as much value as their most-popular trade-in, the iPhone, it’s still more value than sitting in a drawer.
Recycling the older devices is just as important as refurbishing the newer ones, Bolotin said.
“We take in devices that have no value, and if we can resell them somehow and provide a second use for them, we do,” Bolotin said. “If we can’t, then we have recyclers that we work with that break them down for parts.”
Co-founder Dimitry Shraybman said the value in recycling is not necessarily for the device’s working parts.
“They melt them down,” Shraybman said, of the recyclers they work with. “They break them down for components, plastics and plastic metals.”
Bolotin said, whereas a lot of their competitors got into the electronics buy-back business because it was a good growing industry, they don’t have the capabilities to repair or refurbish a broken item.
“We do,” Bolotin said.
TradeInSpot works like most other electronic buy-back or trade-in companies, whereas consumers mail in their used devices and TradeInSpot cuts them a fair-value check, except they offer a more local option as well.
“We can offer them cash for those devices here, without having to go through the Internet or mail-in process,” Bolotin said.
In other words, local customers can by-pass the waiting time and bring their used devices in to their Lincolnshire location, and get on-the-spot, professional appraisal and cash for their item.
Bolotin said their services are often helpful to larger corporations, who upgrade employee cell phones, and are left with hundreds of older phones lying around.
“They don’t know what to do with them,” Bolotin said. “We are always looking to partner with companies like that.”
Bolotin and Shraybman said the company prides itself on not wasting any materials.
“There is a reuse for everything,” Bolotin said. “And it’s definitely fair pricing.”
“We are very competitive online,” Shraybman said. “If you compare us to some of the top online trade-in websites, we’re usually offering higher values than others.”
