K-Mart: Perpetually Late to the Game

Aside from crummy Blu-Ray offers and half-tucked shirts I noticed something else interesting in the Sunday ads today. At the bottom of K-Mart’s circular was the tagline “Want credit for your old electronics?*” Intrigued I checked out the site and, sure enough, K-Mart of all companies is getting into the trade-in business… about six years late. They aren’t taking your bargain bin DVDs or yard sale leftover CD’s however, they’re only dealing in iPods, Zunes, GPS devices, and game consoles.

Actually, K-Mart isn’t doing any of the dealing; they’ve signed up with a company called VenJuvo, a four-year-old outsourced trade-in provider. You go to K-Mart’s VenJuvo site, punch in your info (as seen above), accept their measly offer, ship off your goods (at your expense), and as soon as they verify the condition they’ll send you a K-Mart gift certificate. This sounds perfect for people who hate feeling like a victim when they trade in their electronics in person at a brick-and-mortar store. Now you can wallow in buyer seller remorse and shame without even leaving your seat.

I suppose their offers on more current hardware aren’t terrible (about $180 for a Wii or a 360 Premium) but to trade it all in for K-Mart store credit is hardly worth it. What’re you gonna buy? $100 worth of Martha Stewart Country Home products? You also aren’t likely to see your old system pop up on K-Mart store shelves any time soon. VenJuvo is pretty tight lipped about what they do with the goods they acquire and that just feels extra slimy. GameStop is bad enough with low-low-low balling people on trade value and then jacking up the resale price. I can’t imagine how much the anonymous resellers at VenJuvo are marking things up.