How to Buy Refurbished Electronics

Guide Note: A carefully selected refurbished item will be indistinguishable from a "new" one except for the price. Buy a questionable refurb from an unscrupulous dealer, though, and you may get far less than you bargained for. This is a tidy but thorough overview of how to buy refurbished electronics without ending up with a non-returnable grey-market import.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: How to Buy Refurbished Electronics

  • Unless you live near a brick-and-mortar electronics superstore (such as Fry's or J&R) you probably never thought much about refurbished electronics (sometimes called "open box" or "recertified") until they recently became big business for online retailers. Once the domain of obsessive bargain hunters, refurbs ranging from motherboards to digital cameras are now available to anyone with internet access. As always, buyer beware. The deeper the discount on a refurbished item, the deeper the risk, but if you know where to look and what to look for, you could get a product that's truly "like new," right down to the manufacturer's warranty.

Step 1: Why Buy a Refurb?

  • Twins: Except for the price, a refurb is often identical to it's brand-new counterpart. (Creative Commons photo by John Tregoning)
    Twins: Except for the price, a refurb is often identical to it's brand-new counterpart. (Creative Commons photo by John Tregoning)
  • If you're in the market for a gadget and can't decide between new, used and refurbished, consider the advantages of a refurb. At best, a refurb is essentially "new" and nearly as cheap as a used item.

Step 2: What is a Refurb?

  • As with an orphaned pet you take into your home, you'll probably never know the history of your refurb, but they're rarely what the word implies. That "refurbished" laser printer has probably not been lovingly restored from the ground up; more likely, it was returned to CompUSA when a customer discovered it couldn't print color. "Refurbished" can refer to:
  • Open box items, such as customer returns
  • Recertified items that have been factory tested and repackaged
  • Damaged items that have been repaired and tested
  • Floor models determined to be in working order
  • Previous generation models that are only barely outdated
  • Factory seconds with cosmetic defects too minor for most consumers to notice or care
    • These categories overlap and are sometimes used interchangeably.

Step 3: Go Window Shopping

  • Don't fall in love with the first flirtatious digital SLR to catch your eye. You'll want to get a good look at the whole field.
  1. Browse the manufacturers and retailers listed in How to Find Refurbished Electronics. Click the links of retailers who sell the items you're after and go on a virtual window-shopping spree.
  2. Explore Mahalo's electronics page. Use it to research makes and models that interest you.
  3. Make a list the specific product models that interest you, as well as their varying prices from different retailers.
  4. Be sure to pay attention to shipping costs, usually specified near the price of the item. Note that many online retailers will not combine shipping for multiple item orders, but instead just charge as if each were ordered separately.

Step 4: Do Your Homework

  • Narrow down your list by searching review sites for your preferred models, eliminating any product with persuasive negative reviews. The following sites offer independent electronics reviews that are usually more accurate than the gushing manufacturer-provided blurbs found on retail sites.
  • CNET
  • PC Magazine
  • PC World
  • Consumer Guide
  • Digital Trends

Step 5: Stay Covered

A manufacturer's warranty can take the risk out of a refurb. (Creative Commons photo by Salim Fadhley)
A manufacturer's warranty can take the risk out of a refurb. (Creative Commons photo by Salim Fadhley)
  • If you end up having second thoughts about your item, you don't want to be past the point of no return. Refurbs are sometimes accompanied by stingy (or nonexistent) warranties and return policies, so be sure to read the fine print.
  1. If the refurb is available directly from the manufacturer's webstore, check if the warranty is different for refurbished products than new ones.
    • Warranty info is often listed along with the item's specifications, or under "terms of use" or "terms of service."
  2. If the product is sold by a dealer, verify that it is covered by a manufacturer's warranty.
    • Most sites will specify this in the product listing.
    • If the page contains no mention of a warranty, the product may be an in-house refurb (refurbished by the retailer), or grey market import.
  3. If no manufacturer's warranty is listed with the product, check the availability of optional extended warranties.
    • Tiger Direct and many other dealers offer these kinds of service agreements for a set charge.
    • The availability of such a warranty can reflect the extent to which the dealer is willing to get behind the product, and can be a good indicator of the product's quality.
  4. If no warranty of any kind is available, be leery of the product, but at least inspect the return policy.
    • This info is usually linked at the bottom of a retailer's mainpage as "returns," or "terms and conditions."
    • Keep in mind that many retailers charge a 15% restocking fee, which could cost you more cash than you'd hoped to save.
  5. If you've found an especially deep discount through an eBay store or CraigsList ad, it's possible you've come across a grey market dealer.
    • In this case, you may well end up with an excellent deal, but don't take return policies for granted, nor expect manufacturer's warranties of any kind.

Step 6: Consider the Source

  • Research the seller. Remember, price and service agreements aren't everything. A limited return policy from New Egg may be better for your health than a year-long money-back guarantee from Macbandit17 on eBay.
  1. Browse Reseller Ratings for reviews of the retailer in question.
    • Some seedier operations are known to strip down products or sell foreign models not intended for sale in the US.
  2. Run a search for the name of the dealer and words like "fraud," and "rip-off."
    • Note that there's always someone out there dissatisfied enough with their purchase to set up an attack blog, but if there are hundreds of horror stories about a relatively small retailer, you might take them seriously.

Conclusion

  • If you're confident in the quality of your product, comfortable with the retailer's return policy, certain there's a manufacturer's warranty and reasonably convinced of the retailer's reputation, a refurb could be one of the smarter purchases you've ever made. Find a great deal and it could make the difference between three megapixels and ten, CRT and LCD, or a iPod Nano and a knockoff.

Resources for How to Buy Refurbished Electronics

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Have any great tips on How to Buy Refurbished Electronics? Post your thoughts to the discussion board or email them to Andrew M: AndrewM at mahalo dot com.