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When you hear the word refurbished,
do you think of a great opportunity to save money, or a collection of secondhand junk that's been dropped, spilled upon, or generally mistreated?
Also, we always tackle the tough questions around here. Is it even possible to just furbish something?
Oh, I guess it is.
Anyway, these refurbished goods are a common sight in pretty much every major gadget store.
But what exactly does that term mean?
Well, a good number of these items are returns from regular customers that could be for any number of reasons.
Maybe it was a smart speaker that creepily cackled at them while they were trying to sleep, or a toaster oven that someone simply had
second thoughts about because they decided to go on a keto diet. Other refurbs may have been damaged,
not necessarily by
consumers, but maybe in shipping when they were originally sent to a retailer or warehouse.
And finally, what about demo or floor models? Even once they aren't the latest and greatest anymore,
they are usually fully functional, and many stores decide to flip them for a few bucks.
The bottom line is that when you buy refurbished,
you don't know where that product has been. Kind of like a stray dog or a random Tinder date.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that
your chances of getting a lemon have to be higher.
You see, oftentimes, new electronics come right off an assembly line, get packaged up, and are shipped out.
And in most cases, this is fine.
But sometimes, that brand new shiny that you just bought might not have had a careful inspection before it was sent to you.
By contrast, when a unit marked for refurbishment is being prepared for sale by a reputable dealer,
somebody has to say,
they have to specifically examine it for functional or aesthetic defects,
determine if it can be repaired, and
test it so that they know that it won't generate a costly and time-consuming return.
And keep in mind that fixing up a product doesn't usually mean that it was actually mangled by the previous owner.
It is so expensive and complicated to repair modern electronics that anything beyond a
scratch on the screen that won't
affect performance, or an easy replacement of a defective component or accessory, is beyond the capabilities of a typical retailer to deal with anyway.
Of course, that doesn't mean that refurbished products are always going to be pristine. In the case of expensive items,
it is possible for more advanced reworking of parts or products to be done.
So you usually see this either if you buy directly from large-scale manufacturers,
or from a very small shop that
specializes in repairing items that others have written off.
Just make sure in either case that you are checking the warranty terms carefully.
Some manufacturers or stores will warrant refurbished items that they sell for up to a year,
giving you similar peace of mind to a new item.
Others though might offer only a month, or even as little as a week, and it is common for there to be no
recourse beyond that time if something goes wrong.
So that's where,
factory-certified refurbished items come in. This term, or something similar,
usually means that regardless of the warranty being offered, that at least the
refurbishing process was handled by the company itself, or an authorized third party,
to meet a certain standard of quality. Dell and Apple, for example, are notable for trying to restore these
certified products to as close to a like-new state as possible.
Now of course for certain kinds of
electronics, like-new isn't really possible once an item has been used.
So we would recommend avoiding certain things, like hard drives or SSDs, or
certain types of TVs and monitors that only have a limited lifespan. Those are not worth saving a few bucks over,
even if you burn the last of your dough on like a
refurbished car.
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