Maingear’s new program offers instant trade-ins for gaming PC buyers

American custom and prebuilt computer seller Maingear has launched a new instant trade-in program in partnership with SELLIT9. The new collab gives customers instant credit on any new Maingear desktop or laptop PC. A broad range of used tech can swiftly be exchanged for Maingear gift cards, including laptops, phones, tablets, smartwatches, headphones, cameras, lenses, and microphones. Instant trade-ins are live today, and until October 14, all those taking advantage of this low-friction old-for-new plan can earn an extra 5% on their traded-in products using the code EXTRA5.

In a press release sent to Tom’s Hardware, Maingear says that it knows that “Memory prices are up. Component prices are up. Meanwhile, perfectly good tech is collecting dust in drawers across the country.” This old and neglected tech can help you get your next hand-built gaming rig, suggests the company.

Naturally, Maingear sings the praises of its collab with SELLIT9’s recycling and refurbishment business. The New Jersey-based PC firm says the quotes its customers can get through SELLIT9 are truly instant. For example, it says that you will get a quote in minutes, and a Maingear gift card on the spot. That means you won’t have to wait for a shipping carton for your used gear to arrive, then make its way to SELLIT9, and subsequently pass inspections. However, we note some wording indicates that there’s “a temporary hold on the shopper’s card” until any traded-in gear “checks out.”

We have no experience of Maingear’s chosen partner SELLIT9, but its 4.6/5 score on TrustPilot looks pretty good for such a service, which can easily attract ire. SELLIT9 is a Canadian business that recently raised $4.1 million to expand across North America. Perhaps this Maingear partnership is its first foray into the U.S. We’ll have to see what else happens on Oct 1.

I checked some CAD prices for various used tech stuff on SELLIT9 and converted them to USD, suggesting you could get the following sums for used tech in the U.S.:

• Ryzen 7 9800X3D – up to $141
• Core i7-14700K – up to $120
• RTX 4080 Super – up to $530
• GTX 1080 Ti – up to $71
• 32GB desktop DDR4 RAM – up to $42
• iPhone 14 Pro 128GB – up to $278
• PS5 Slim (Digital Edition) – up to $160

We aren’t sure if these prices are directly translatable to the U.S. market, but they should give you a rough idea. Maingear also highlights that using its new trade-in service offers minimal friction for customers. That means “no listings, no lowball offers, and no meeting strangers in parking lots.”

When this article goes live, the new instant trade-in service goes live. Make sure to nose around the offers and let us know what you think.

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