CD stores, which are almost non-existence these days with the invention of downloading, iPods, and iTunes used to have a trade-policy that allowed you to bring in old CDs in any condition and trade them in for either cash or store credit. This not only allowed you to purchase some new music, but gave music lovers a chance to purchased used CDs for a fraction of the cost.

Since more people are purchasing albums online it has become rare that you can find a place that allows for such trades. Amazon, the online retailer, began a trade-in program that would let you search for items to trade in (such as books, video games, and electronics), ship them to the retailer for free, and then receive an Amazon gift card added to your account. Amazon has decided to expand its program again and allow for users to send in used CDs for Amazon.com (News - Alert) gift cards, which can then be used to purchase anything on Amazon.com, including of course, more digital music.

According to Amazon’s terms and conditions, the trade-in process could take anywhere between six to 10 business days to process once they receive the material. After the material has been processed the user will get a notification that the item has been received. The rest of the process can be tracked directly in the Trade-In account portal.

Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff, posted an article saying that although it’s nice to have Amazon expand its trade-in program, don’t expect to make big bucks off your trades.

“Clearly the value will vary based on demand, as you can tell from their video trade-in program. Example: Amazon will pay you $12.25 for a copy of Madden NFL 12, $2.50 for Madden 11, $2 for Madden 10, and $0.25 for Madden 9. So, no don’t expect to generate big bucks for your complete collection of Hall & Oats and Peter Frampton CDs,” said Savitz.

Although the addition of CDs to the program has been announced, the Trade-In website isn’t yet showing them as an option when you go in to list an item, nor are they available yet for browsing through in the site’s navigation. As Savitz stated, there is also currently no pricing information regarding how much you will receive when you send in your CDs.

Either way, it looks like Amazon has found a way to make more of a profit by getting users to submit materials for a low cost and reselling them to interested parties at a higher price. Currently, the Trade-In website is pretty popular and has hundreds of listings.