I’ll make no secret that I don’t love eBay anymore. There was a time I did, but since then I’ve been burned by unsavory folks, shoddy product descriptions and a protection that really never seemed to protect me. The problem is I am still that cheap guy not wanting to pay retail for anything; only now I can disguise it as being green: I don’t want to add another product into the waste stream.
So what to do? Well, my new pal Chris Whittome of trade2save aims to change that. His vision is a used - or pre-owned if you like - marketplace where you can decide if you want one “like new” or “very good” or can settle for just “good”. The Trade2save team will buy up your unwanted items, classify it, and put a price tag on it that will be attractive.
I wasn’t able to get a good read on Chris’s age, British accents throw my carnival guesstimator off, and thought it rude to ask; but he holds his dream of reducing waste tightly, much like I recall my desire to be a fighter pilot out of high school, settling for tech blogger later down the line.. His blog cites, as did he in my interview, many statistics of how we are polluting the planet with our electronic toxins all while lusting after whatever drops out of Cupertino. And it is in the shareholders interest to keep us wanting the latest and greatest. So who is looking out of us? For the planet?
In short, trade2save.com website/boutique of pre-owned electronics.
Gadgetell: Tell me about yourself
CW: My background is in advertising, having worked as a copywriter in the UK. During my career there, I was part of the move to encourage consumers to keep buying. Over last decade amount of products increased and manufactures are getting rich off it. They’ve (the manufacturers) created a throw away society that we live in today. The result of this increased production levels is we are creating a e-waste crisis. Electronics can be greener by 10-30% but isn’t. And the market is not providing the incentive to become more green, as we keep gobbling up the latest iPhone. We even queue up to do so..
Gadgetell: What is trade2save?
CW: To fully appreciate Trade2save consider pre-owned cars. Years ago, you could only buy new cars. Today, when you consider purchasing a car, you carefully weight the option of buying used. There are whole segments of the population that have never owned a new car, they are content purchasing a slightly used one and consider it to have a higher value.
Auction sites have done well but, people get stung. No warranty, not confident in condition of product. Rather than being a portal, you are buying from trade2save. We’ll have products in 3 different conditions; at 3 different prices; all with a one year warranty…
Gadgetell: So trade2save tests the equipment and offers a warranty?
CW: Yes, that is what makes our service unique. Not only do we test the products so they arrive working, but we stand behind them. We figure this will extend the product cycle four to five times. Longer product cycles means less waste in the landfill. While this may not help Mr. Bush’s economic stimulus package, we believe the economy will benefit in the long run from being green. People will find other places to spend their money.
Gadgetell: I get the sense, if your program is copied, cutting you out; you’ll still consider your efforts a success. Am I right?
CW: Absolutely. The driving idea behind trade2save is this: People need to become custodians of products not consumers. This is a major change in our thinking and one that needs to happen.
Gadgetell: Tell us about the guts of the system.
CW: It works like this, you fill out the questionnaire for the product you wish to sell to us. You’ll receive credits for the sale to use in the store. You’ll find a product you want and apply your credits. Customers get more for trading in (store credit) than if you sell for cash. The incentive is to trade goods for a new product. We are hear to insure what is being traded is legit.
Gadgetell: How sensitive will your pricing be? If Apple drops a new iphone this summer, how quickly can I pick the “old model” up on the cheap?
CW: Our price system is designed to be very sensitive. It has to be. We’ll be paying top dollar and making a very thin margin on hot items like the iPhone. We have to, as we must have the goods in the store for our plan to work. No one will come if we don’t have the very latest, and that means paying very close to retail to get them in the store.
Gadgetell: When will the site be up?
CW: We are targeting the end of June for release.
I am really excited for Chris. I believe he is on to something here, something that still allows us to get our gadget fix but helps remove some of the guilt about doing so. And as I am sure you do, I have a just a few gadgets around here that I could do without. I’d even be willing to trade them for an iPhone, GPS or…whatever is on Gadgetell’s homepage tomorrow.
Company site: [trade2save]
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