Whenever we come across the fabled question: used versus brand-new, we’ve always been amazed at how people react. This has been a long-running question that has led people to many heated debates and discussions arguing whether or not one should be on the side of buying used or brand new.
The main argument proponents of buying new say is that while things may be more expensive upfront, the long-term implications, less maintenance, and overall better efficiency due to technology getting better may lead to you getting an overall better deal and having less headaches in the long run. On the flipside, proponents for buying used argue that depending on the price, you can get a much better deal on used items, plus you no longer have to deal with the depreciation that comes with used items. Used items, especially older ones, have probably already proved themselves as being more reliable and tried and tested over a longer period of time. With used items, you no longer need to deal with the break-in period or any known or unknown bugs that come with adopting to new technologies as most of these things may have already been learned and eventually addressed with used items.
Edispo is an online marketplace for e-waste, but…
It is also in our best interest, not just as a company, but individually, to make things last and prevent things from becoming e-waste in the first place. After all, as the saying goes: Prevention is better than cure
Because of this, we’ve made the strategic decision to cater to the used item crowd as well. Our platform allows users to sell their used items, both in good working condition and non-working condition, in order to keep the value chain spinning before things inevitably end up in the trash. We want to give things a new lease on life, with a new owner, and perhaps to prolong the usable life of things for years on-end.
Whether you’re an advocate for used or brand new items
We at Edispo are on the side that we need to make items last as long as they can before letting them go to a landfill or a materials recovery facility. May it be a a phone, a laptop, a refrigerator, a light bulb, or any other household appliance.
Why is this important?
In a world of single-use consumer products, things are discarded left and right, no longer being resold or repaired. Take into consideration one of the latest gizmos that the world has to offer. With the removal of the headphone jack comes the rise of the True Wireless Stereo earphones or TWS earphones for short (also called wireless earbuds). Some of the more renown TWS earphones are Apple’s Airpods, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, and Huawei’s Freebuds. These earphones, while providing a better usable experience, are classified by iFixit as unrepairable, scoring a zero out of ten in their repairability metric.
What does this mean? It means that on your next purchase of wireless earbuds, once they go bust, you can no longer repair them without them looking or sounding impractical. Other than wireless earbuds, there are also more and more products that are becoming single-use or are being designed to be single-use. Phones, while becoming more and more advanced, have become harder to repair. While not, impossible to repair, phones are becoming more like single-use items that have to be sent straight to recycling rather than being able to retain its value in the market for a longer period of time. Make no mistake, there are plenty of repairable items on the market, but they’re growing smaller as the days pass by.
It is our goal to not let these things go to waste
Even items already classified as e-waste can be saved from the landfill. These can be repurposed and have a new lease on life.
