Missed holiday sales? Costco’s electronics trade-in program can provide extra shopping cash

Costco has an electronics trade-in program that could help consumers save money while shopping at its warehouse stores.

Under the program, the retailer will do trade-ins of eligible devices and give the owners turning them in physical or digital Costco Shop Cards worth the value of the electronics.

Costco partners with Phobio to provide the program.

While the trade-in program is available year-round, it could come in particularly handy for consumers who bought a new device from a retailer during the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend – or those who are getting one as a gift during the holidays – and find themselves in possession of old electronics they don’t have any use for anymore.

With the gift cards, it could also be useful for people looking to do some shopping at Costco amid the holiday season and New Year, whether that be for groceries, last-minute presents or other items. 

The Costco-Phobio program will take a slew of Apple phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, desktops, displays and media players, according to Phobio’s website.

It is also open to some devices from other brands. 

Things like the type of electronics and its age factor into the trade-in value.

Phones can fetch up to $665, the Phobio site showed.

Participants will get a shipping label or box with “prepaid shipping supplies and packing instructions” to ship their devices to Phobio, Costco’s website explained.

Their Costco Shop Card will arrive via mail or email, depending on which type of card they chose, after the company has looked at their device.

Costco and Phobio first teamed up on the electronics trade-in program back in 2019, according to a press release.

When it was first started, only Apple computers could be traded in for the Costco Shop Cards, but the program has since broadened the types of devices it accepts. 

From start to finish, it “typically takes about 3 weeks,” Phobio’s site said.

Consumers can buy products from the warehouse retailer with the Costco Shop Cards, as well as its memberships, according to Costco.

Costco has over 600 warehouse stores across the US and nearly 280 more in other countries.

Its total number of membership cardholders, meanwhile, amounted to 136.8 million.