Should You Buy Refurbished Electronics?
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2019-05-06
·
917 words · ~4 min read
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When you hear the word refurbished,
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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?
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Also, we always tackle the tough questions around here. Is it even possible to just furbish something?
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Oh, I guess it is.
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Anyway, these refurbished goods are a common sight in pretty much every major gadget store.
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But what exactly does that term mean?
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Well, a good number of these items are returns from regular customers that could be for any number of reasons.
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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
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second thoughts about because they decided to go on a keto diet. Other refurbs may have been damaged,
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not necessarily by
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consumers, but maybe in shipping when they were originally sent to a retailer or warehouse.
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And finally, what about demo or floor models? Even once they aren't the latest and greatest anymore,
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they are usually fully functional, and many stores decide to flip them for a few bucks.
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The bottom line is that when you buy refurbished,
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you don't know where that product has been. Kind of like a stray dog or a random Tinder date.
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But that doesn't necessarily mean that
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your chances of getting a lemon have to be higher.
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You see, oftentimes, new electronics come right off an assembly line, get packaged up, and are shipped out.
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And in most cases, this is fine.
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But sometimes, that brand new shiny that you just bought might not have had a careful inspection before it was sent to you.
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By contrast, when a unit marked for refurbishment is being prepared for sale by a reputable dealer,
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somebody has to say,
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they have to specifically examine it for functional or aesthetic defects,
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determine if it can be repaired, and
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test it so that they know that it won't generate a costly and time-consuming return.
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And keep in mind that fixing up a product doesn't usually mean that it was actually mangled by the previous owner.
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It is so expensive and complicated to repair modern electronics that anything beyond a
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scratch on the screen that won't
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affect performance, or an easy replacement of a defective component or accessory, is beyond the capabilities of a typical retailer to deal with anyway.
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Of course, that doesn't mean that refurbished products are always going to be pristine. In the case of expensive items,
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it is possible for more advanced reworking of parts or products to be done.
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So you usually see this either if you buy directly from large-scale manufacturers,
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or from a very small shop that
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specializes in repairing items that others have written off.
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Just make sure in either case that you are checking the warranty terms carefully.
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Some manufacturers or stores will warrant refurbished items that they sell for up to a year,
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giving you similar peace of mind to a new item.
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Others though might offer only a month, or even as little as a week, and it is common for there to be no
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recourse beyond that time if something goes wrong.
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So that's where,
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factory-certified refurbished items come in. This term, or something similar,
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usually means that regardless of the warranty being offered, that at least the
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refurbishing process was handled by the company itself, or an authorized third party,
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to meet a certain standard of quality. Dell and Apple, for example, are notable for trying to restore these
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certified products to as close to a like-new state as possible.
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Now of course for certain kinds of
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electronics, like-new isn't really possible once an item has been used.
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So we would recommend avoiding certain things, like hard drives or SSDs, or
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certain types of TVs and monitors that only have a limited lifespan. Those are not worth saving a few bucks over,
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even if you burn the last of your dough on like a
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