Recommerce

What does Recommerce mean?

Recommerce is a general term for a practice in which a seller of goods allows for a certain kind of exchange between customers. In recommerce situations, those who have bought products can “sell back” obsolete or otherwise undesirable products, either for a cash payout or in exchange for a different product. These scenarios generally involve pre-approved contracts designating a value for something that the customer would like to sell back to the original vendor.

Techopedia explains Recommerce

Recommerce is now a prominent part of modern retail; many consider recommerce to be loosely related to other innovations like e-commerce in that recommerce is congruent with the emerging value of transience that has come with new technologies like the Internet. In recommerce, the customer and the seller realize the value of "right-sizing" a physical cache of both large and small assets.

Recommerce is also seen as a resource-saving phenomenon. Recommerce programs often involve a responsibility on the part of the seller or the third party firm that is buying used goods to deal with waste, whether that means harvesting rare earth metals from used devices, or dealing with the plastic shells and other components of used electronics.