As technology enthusiasts, we often find ourselves wanting (and buying!) the latest gadget which leaves us with a lot of hardware we no longer use. How many old cell phones, cameras, computers, PDA’s and other personal computing devices do you have no idea how to get rid of? Well – there’s a cool new solution in Gazelle. Think of Gazelle as an “eBay-like” solution for technology. You go online, select the item you are looking to sell, answer a few qualifying questions, and receive a 30-day guaranteed quote. Gazelle will mail you packaging to send in your technology that arrives quickly and once your package is received, the promised money is en route to you – either via check or Paypal (when I recently used Gazelle, you could also select gift cards from certain vendors that offered an additional percentage of your total payment). Should you feel extra generous, you can also select to have the proceeds of your sale donated to charity. Gazelle not only offers a valuable service, they also pride themselves on being eco-friendly and have special offers for groups that are looking for volume related offers. I can’t say enough about their quality of service – Gazelle kept me updated every step of the way, emails to generic customer service email addresses were answered quickly and professionally, products were processed efficiently and payment was received as promised. An important caveat, while Gazelle advertises their focus on cleaning all your hardware before resale, you should definitely take any and all necessary steps to clean your hard drive, database, phone data before shipping your equipment away. Remember, that you need to be sure to securely wipe all data from your device – simply deleting data doesn’t remove it completely. Feel free to contact us for tips or resources on how to accomplish this if you are not sure how. Also, if you choose to send your equipment in to Gazelle on your own, consider if it is worth it to you to ensure and/or pay for tracking on the package (if you use USPS). All in all, using Gazelle was a pain-free, professional way to put my old personal electronics to good use. I recommend it to anyone looking to get rid of your old devices and perhaps even make a little money along the way! **If you are considering using this service for business asset, please consult with your IT specialist before making your equipment available to Gazelle

In case you missed the early December official announcement, the 2010 IRS business mileage rate is reduced to 50 cents per mile to reflect lower transportation costs - mostly a drop in gas prices from 2009. You may need to manually change this rate in your time/billing/accounting software. If you need assistance with this task, contact your Affinity Consulting Group office. If it is part of your job to stay up to date with changes in IRS rules, you can subscribe to IRS email updates here.

I have written my last paper check. Well, not entirely. There are still times when I need to write a check, such as for appellate filing fees in my cases. But otherwise, I am through. I am avoiding paper checks not due to any new technology employed in my practice. It is because for each of the last two days someone has passed a counterfeit check bearing my routing and account number at two different Walmart stores, neither in my community. I am not missing any paper checks. None have been misplaced or stolen. Instead, it appears that someone obtained my routing and account numbers from a paper check I wrote somewhere (I write only a handful each month, so there are not many possibilities) and then printed a batch of counterfeit checks bearing my information. Because many retailers, including Walmart, now use electronic debit systems and immediately return the paper check to the customer, there is no clear paper trail for law enforcement to follow (nor any chance of obtaining fingerprints from the check). Fortunately, at least Walmart has video recordings of transactions at checkout counters. Most also have video cameras recording the comings and goings in the parking lot, so it is often possible to associate the culprit at the checkout with a particular vehicle in the parking lot. I pay the vast majority of my bills by credit card or using my bank's on-line payment service. That service can pay large vendors electronically. But you can add anyone as a payee and have the bank mail a paper check mailed to that person or business. The great thing about the bank mailing a check is that the bank's check does not contain your account information. That omission provides greater protection from identify theft and the type of check fraud I've experienced the last two days. Trust me. Being a crime victim is no fun. I hope the culprit enjoys his new Blu-ray players purchased with checks written on my account - NOT! You may want to avoid writing paper checks in any situation where it is not absolutely necessary.

The days are (hopefully) long gone when lawyers thought it was unseemly to accept client payments via credit card.  My former firm (two-lawyer family law practice) began accepting credit cards with some trepidation a decade ago.  Amazingly, we discovered that our gross receipts increased approximately $100,000 the first year we accepted credit cards.  Although our practice was growing somewhat, we attributed most of that increase to client payments by credit card.  Clients who were slow to pay if they had to come up with a check or cash suddenly paid more willingly.  And new clients without the money for a large retainer were more able to afford our services if they could charge it and pay it off over time.