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Today I got the opportunity to speak with Geoffrey Fowler, a reporter for the Wall St. Journal, about our new partnership with Costco. Post here in WSJ’s Digits blog. I enjoyed the conversation so much that I jotted down a few notes and got to thinking about how life-changing it will be when retailers all follow Costco’s lead, and we all begin to consume electronics (and other products) in an entirely new way.

Our partnership with Costco is starting online at Costco.com, where Costco members can trade in more than 30,000 different electronics from more than 20 categories.  At www.costco.gazelle.com, Costco members get offers on their items and then trade them in for Costco cash. As additional incentive, they get a 2.5% bonus. In just the 10 or so days since launch, we have already had more than 1,500 transactions; I guess that number alone makes it the most successful electronic trade-in program by a retailer to date.

We’re certainly not the first to try trade-in and recycle programs with retailers, but I expect this is the first one that will actually work. Costco’s commitment to the program is driving its early success. With the full support of Costco’s ecommerce team and complete marketing strategy, millions of Costco members are already aware of the service and able to take advantage of it. And there’s a plan in place to continue to drive awareness and utilization.

Like I said in the Journal, we’re turning used cell phones, laptops, MP3 players, etc. into next week’s groceries. And this program is just the beginning. Imagine a world where we buy electronics in a whole new way. Imagine always trading in the old for the new, caring about the depreciation of laptops and smart phones, and simple, easy and reliable ways to recycle. Imagine… no more e-Waste.

To be clear, this is not a recycling program. Recycling is an add-on service at Gazelle, we don’t make money on it and we’re not in the recycling business (about 10% of items that come to Gazelle are recycled). We provide it as a pure service to our customers, allowing us to partner with only the best domestic recyclers. This is about changing behavior – about changing consumption. Soon you’ll buy everything from TVs to camcorders the same way you buy cars. You’ll care about the depreciation value and the ‘gas mileage’ of your electronics; you’ll only own electronics you actually use; you’ll trade in (reCommerce) electronics you’re done using to offset the purchase of new technology; and when electronics reach their true end of life, you’ll be able to simply recycle them and know it’s done safely.

Costco has taken the lead with this first step. Now let’s see who will be next to join the reCommerce revolution!