Your kitchen could be hoarding hidden 'FadTech' fortunes – how you can cash in

Did you get some FadTech for Christmas? You know the kind of thing – an absolute must-have gadget for the kitchen that you use once and then store in a cupboard, never to see it again.

Past FadTech favourites have included the bread-maker, the chocolate fountain, the cake-pop maker, the toasted sandwich maker and the ice-cream maker.

The kitchen landscape is littered with the remnants of Christmas presents-past like these.

We’ve all fallen prey to the allure of FadTech – those dazzling devices that once promised culinary utopia but now languish in the forgotten corners of our cupboards, collecting dust and using up space! Everyone has at least one of them.

According to a study by Recycleyourelectricals.org.uk last year, a whopping 92 per cent of households nationwide are harbouring some form of FadTech in their kitchens.

So now, as the cost of living crisis continues to bite, it’s time to dust these items off and make them pay their way – by selling them on your nearest online platform or auction house.

It could help to pay for Christmas too.

RecycleYourElectricals has found that the average potential earnings per FadTech item stand at a tempting £27.

They also say that the average household boasts around four such gadgets, so a potential windfall of £108 beckons for those ready to part ways with their culinary relics.

That money could be very useful for the supermarket shop in January, which is a particularly long and cold month for many families.

Have a dig around your cupboards and see what you have that could be sold.

The top untouchables of kitchen tech, according to the website’s research, emerge as:

• ice-cream makers (there’s estimated to be a staggering 780,128 in our homes)

• and, no prizes for guessing, the second most popular is chocolate fountains (a whopping 409,898 estimated to be in our kitchens).

These can both be resold online quite easily, although don’t expect to make as much as they are worth new and untouched right now (yes, people are still buying them new).

Take, for instance, a FadeTech favourite: the Cuisinart ICE30BCU Ice Cream Maker, a John Lewis darling ,priced at £100.

The Averagefinder.com website reveals that a second-hand counterpart could only fetch around of £48.30 online.

Still, if you’re not using it, and haven’t used it or months/years, it’s worth having that cash instead!

Even the alluring chocolate fountains are not going to bring you riches, although they will make enough for tea and cake in a café if you’d like to treat yourself this month. With Wayfair tempting us with prices starting from £20.99, sadly their resale value hovers around a modest £12.

Other FadTech fantasies can bring you more money, though, and if you want a bit of a declutter before the start of the year, the marketplace awaits your unwanted gizmos in return for some much-needed cash.

Happily nowadays there are lots of places to sell items you don’t want, as you can see here.

Obviously it’s worth considering eBay when it comes to selling your unwanted gadgets – and it’s a handy place to research prices – but if you have larger, heavier items, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or NextDoor.com could prove more fertile grounds.

When it comes to a heavy ice-cream maker, for example, you don’t want to have to bother too much with postage and packing.

Best to sell it to someone local who can pop round and collect it.

The platforms above don’t charge a fee for listings of household products either, so that’s an added bonus.

According to Hannah Rouch, the trends expert at Gumtree, kitchen appliances reign supreme on their platform.

Apparently they have thousands that change hands each year.

She advocates making sure you fill the product descriptions with enticing details, highlighting additional parts and making sure you include original manuals to sweeten the deal.

Alternatively, if a whiff of vintage clings to your once-trendy gadgets, local auction houses could be the best route to a decent pay-out.

I’m talking ‘vintage kitchenalia’ here, which is finding more fans this decade.

In fact, all kinds of ‘vintage’ products can make you good money at auction, as you can see here.

For example, the ‘hostess trolley’ (an estimated 330,563 are stowed away in our homes) is enjoying a new lease of life among those who love a bit of vintage.

Tracy Martin, the antiques and collectibles expert, says the Mad Men relic can fetch £100-200 if it’s an original 60s or 70s gem.

The trollies also find buyers on eBay willing to part with £10 to £89.95 for a slice of vintage nostalgia.

So if you have a nice one, you’re probably better off taking it to a proper auction house than seeing what eBay trawlers will give you.

The resurgence of gold, art-deco style cocktail stands means that if you have one of them you could make a tidy sum, with individual stands going for between £600-800 at auction.

Again, you can sell it on eBay but you’re likely to get a better return at a live auction.

Another item of vintage FadTech is the iconic ‘teasmade’ (185,115 homes are still housing this relic) and it can be surprisingly popular at auction.

It’s’ a nod toa bygone era and reminds many of us of our parents or grandparents.

It’s sought after more for its decorative charm and nostalgia value than its utility, so even if yours doesn’t work, you can still sell it.

Tracy Martin recommends a mid-century auction for an original 70s teasmade, with ‘no reserve’ or a modest £20-40 estimate.

Currently eBay has teasmades ranging from a lowish £7.50 to an impressive £50,000.

Not all FadTech, however, enjoys the luxury of a lucrative afterlife.

The Recycleyourelectricals’ top 20 list of FadTech favourites exposes some other gadgets that make you wonder ‘what were we thinking of’ when you bought them.

An omelette-maker (11th on the list), a pie-maker, and an electric plate-warmer lead the charge on that list! You can resell them but it’s not that easy to find people who want them now.

The resale value of FadTech shows what fashion victims they can be.

The current contender for ‘must-have kitchen tech that will probably stay in the cupboard for years’ is the Velvetiser, a gadget promising to ‘velvetise’ your hot chocolate (because, why not?).

New and second-hand Velvetisers still fetch respectable prices. Hotel Chocolat’s 2022 model boasts an RRP of £99.95, but on eBay, a new model averages £63.46, reaching up to £94.99.

Reselling a used model averages a decent £54.73.

For those grappling with not only wasted space but also malfunctioning FadTech relics, RecycleYourElectricals.org.uk will take your products and help you get cash for them.

Enter your postcode, specify the item and your intentions, and the platform unveils a myriad of participating organizations eager to recycle, donate, or repair your culinary has-beens.

It won’t be a fortune, but if you can’t sell it elsewhere, it’s worth a try.

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