In a strip mall storefront in Long Island in 2005, long before words like “eco-conscious tech resale” entered the cultural lexicon, a young entrepreneur named Stephen R. Preuss Sr. was tinkering with a simple but potent idea: what if people could trade their old electronics for cash—instantly, securely, and sustainably?

Fast forward nearly two decades, and that once-humble vision has become a sweeping franchise empire known as PayMore—a brand with over 600 units in development and a business model that sits at the intersection of environmental sustainability, tech innovation, and franchising opportunity. Part pawn shop, part Apple Genius Bar, part eBay—PayMore is reshaping how we think about the lifecycle of our devices.

“It started with a problem we saw every day,” Preuss says. “People had drawers full of old tech—phones, laptops, game consoles—but no safe, easy way to sell them. It was either meet a stranger in a parking lot or ship it off and hope for the best. We knew there had to be a better way.”

What Preuss and his co-founder Erik Helgesen built wasn’t just a resale store—it was a system, a scalable platform powered by proprietary technology and guided by values that feel tailor-made for the 21st century: privacy, transparency, community, and sustainability.

And in the age of $1.2 trillion worth of unused devices sitting idle in American and European homes, that system might just be exactly what the world needs.

A Business with a Mission

At its core, PayMore is a franchise-based retail and e-commerce network where consumers can walk into a local store with their old gadgets and walk out minutes later with cash in hand. The process is seamless: devices are inspected, data is professionally wiped, and customers are paid on the spot. Devices that are still functional are resold affordably. Those that aren’t are recycled responsibly.

But what sets PayMore apart from the typical pawn-shop or big-box trade-in counter is the experience—clean, modern stores; high-tech kiosks; and a brand culture obsessed with trust and ease.

“Our mission is simple,” says Preuss. “Offer the highest possible cash value for electronics, protect customer data, and make tech recycling easy, responsible, and safe.”

That purpose-driven foundation is more than just a tagline. In 2023 alone, PayMore recycled over 400,000 pounds of electronic waste, diverting it from landfills and giving thousands of devices a second life. As a result, it’s not just a business—it’s a movement.

The Genesis of PayMore

Preuss and Helgesen’s partnership goes back to their early days of selling secondhand goods online. At the time, both were hustling in the gray market of resale—scouring auctions, flipping goods on eBay. But one category stood out in terms of volume, demand, and pain points: electronics.

They realized that the real opportunity wasn’t just in resale—it was in solving a set of friction points plaguing both sellers and buyers. From clunky transactions to fears about data privacy to the hassle of shipping or haggling, the existing channels were broken.

So, they built something better.

By 2011, PayMore was launched with a bold idea: what if you could walk into a store with a cracked iPhone or an aging PlayStation and walk out with instant cash—no guesswork, no shady deals, no shipping labels?

With Preuss’s background in real estate and entrepreneurship and Helgesen’s in IT and e-commerce, they set about designing not just stores, but the software behind them. The result was a proprietary POS and inventory system that could track, price, and manage electronics in real-time—making PayMore’s model not only scalable but uniquely defensible.

“The biggest franchises today—whether it’s Starbucks or Domino’s—aren’t just selling coffee or pizza,” Preuss explains. “They’re platforms. We knew we had to be one too.”