That I wouldn't know. I'm not a member.

You must be a member in good standing in order to be able to purchase or return anything.

They bumped it up to $50 this year.

It's a $100 for the Executive Membership, but with the 3% rebate on all purchases, it pays for the membership each year and leaves me about $50-80 left over.

It's only a 2% rebate unless you also have the Costco AMEX which adds another 1%.

If you have the executive membership, it's free to get the Amex card. I am not sure why someone would not want the extra percent. Plus during the week you get in an hour ahead of the regular membership.

Maybe I need to by my HD-DVD Player at Costco.

Their return policy also moves more merchandise. My sister bought a $1000 LCD from Costco because she knew that she can get her money back at anytime. There's no way she would have bought it at a Best Buy or Circuit City. I can tell you right now that she will keep the TV. Also, I remember reading somewhere about Costco's return policy. The story said that Costco doesn't lose any money on returns. The manufacturers supposedly agreed to take the loss because they want to have their products sold at Costco. Another tidbit that you might not know is that Costco will also give you a full refund on opened DVDs.

Which is what Amex is counting on. That's how they make money.

I didn't see the player at my local Costco... is it supposed to be at all of them, or just a select few?

It isn't at mine either, so I'm guessing it's up to the purchaser for each different region to order it or not.

I went back to the costco where I saw a pallet of the players last Saturday. They are all gone now. So within two weeks they sold all of the players and most of the HD-DVD titles they had in stock.