Should you buy refurbished electronics?
On electronics of all sizes, 'refurbished' can mean ‘rebuilt.’ But it can also just mean ‘returned unused.’
By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor/ November 12, 2009 edition
In these tight-budget times, is a “refurbished” laptop, TV, or Blu-ray player a smart choice for cost-conscious consumers? The answer, unfortunately, is like the picture on your old cathode-ray tube TV set: less than crystal clear.
If you don’t insist on having the latest gadget with the newest bells and whistles – and you consider yourself a careful, savvy shopper – you could save real money, perhaps hundreds of dollars.
What are “refurbished” electronics? The name can mean many things: Sometimes the original buyer opens the box, feels “buyer’s remorse,” and simply decides to return it. They may not have even used it yet. A reputable seller will take the item, then send it to the manufacturer to be checked for defects. Once it’s determined to be operating normally, it will be sold as refurbished.
In other cases, the original buyer may have had a legitimate problem with the gadget. Manufacturers then repair the product and put it back on shelves as refurbished. Sometimes manufacturers also take back older models of a product from store shelves to replace them with newer versions. The older version may be sold at a discount as refurbished.
“You really have no idea” why the product has been designated as refurbished, says Paul Eng, Web editor for electronics for ConsumerReports.org.
Refurbished products can be a great deal in certain situations. Sometimes a new model of a camera, phone, or TV isn’t rated higher by reviewers than the model it replaces. Or the new features (say a camera now offers “smile detection” or “blink detection”) may not be important to you.
On the other hand, sometimes the new model represents a real advancement. For example, buying an older-model PC this fall may not be a good idea, says Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies in Wayland, Mass., a consumer electronics consultancy. That’s because Microsoft just introduced Windows 7, an operating system that’s been winning rave reviews in comparison with the troubled Vista system found on most recent PCs.
Other factors to consider when buying refurbished electronics include:
• Make sure the item has a valid warranty and that you have the right to return it for a refund if you aren’t satisfied. Beware of buying refurbished items “as is.”
• Deal with established online sellers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Buy.com, or NewEgg, or buy
directly from the manufacturers’ own websites.
• Read online reviews of the product. Make sure it rates highly, has the features you want, and that the price represents a true bargain compared with the cost of buying new. Check to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples – the model number should be exactly the same as the product you’re reading about. If the item is discontinued, it may be for a good reason.
Refurbished bargains are out there, Mr. Eng says. But make sure the potential savings outweigh the potential hassles. “It’s tempting to say I can save $500 on this TV,” but it won’t be worth it if you have a bad experience later, he says.
A Consumer Reports’ website offers advice on buying refurbished electronics, including links to some manufacturers who sell online (tinyurl.com/CSMrefurbished). The page is from 2008, but the information is still up to date, Eng says.
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Comments
2. Peter | 11.12.09
Instead of buting a refurbished PC laptop with XP, I bought a new PC laptop with Vista. I then had to pay $200 to have Vista removed and XP installed. Vista wasn’t even compatible with my server at that time - AT&T. I should have bought the refurbished PC with XP.
3. Mysterius | 11.13.09
Manufacturer-refurbished computers are very solid deals. When you buy directly from Dell, HP, Apple, etc. the products you receive have essentially received a complete check-over to make sure they’re worthy to sell. In fact, such certified-refurbished items are *more* reliable than new items, since they’ve essentially been checked over twice, once when made and once when recertified.
You don’t have to settle for an older model, either, since there’s usually a number of returned items that are essentially new. The laptop I’m typing this on is a recertified Dell Studio 14z, and there’s no way I could have gotten it for <1k if it hadn’t been recertified.
4. tom | 11.13.09
Writing this on a refurbished laptop (cost $399) I purchased 4 years ago that did everything I wanted, and have had no problems. The same computer new would have been $799 at the time.
5. Michael | 11.13.09
I purchased a refurbished coffee maker, that also ground beans, for $9.99. It lasted 1 year before failing to boil the water but I got a lot of use out of it during that time so well worth the price of 5 Starbucks coffees.
6. Bob M. | 11.13.09
One more note that needs to be mentioned here is that when an OEM receives parts to be included in a computer after assembling, say hard drives, those parts usually come “new” in a box with other units of the same type. For many companies that operate on a “supply on demand” philosophy, a single hard drive may be taken out of that box. Should that box remain opened, whether it has more items in it or not, for a period of time (I’m thinking something like ten or fifteen minutes) without someone keeping an eye said box of parts, then by law they cannot sell those items as “new”, and therefore may also be referred as “refurbished”. For all practical matters, the next item removed from that box and put into a computer is “new”.
7. Linda | 11.13.09
Bought an off-lease IBM Think center with Windows XP Professional. I am retired so the savings were welcome and the latest bells & whistles of less concern to me. Bought from Tiger Direct and got extended warranty. I’m cheap but also a pessimist
One problem surfaced after 3 or 4 months, nothing plugged into usb port registered. Sent in at their expense, in box they sent to me, repaired and returned in good order.
So my experience with a refurbished computer was good over all.
8. BargainBin | 11.13.09
I have purchased 4 desktop and 2 laptop PCs from TigerDirect and HP over the last 5 years. Of these, all except one required no fiddling and were indistinguishable from new at around 40% off new price.
The exception required several months of hassling with (free) return and repair, but worked like new in the end. Most of the hassle was in determining who (Tiger or Gateway or BestBuy’s Gateway Warranty Repair) was responsible. Once that was clarified, it was repaired within 2 weeks.
All in all, some inconvenience, but saved at least a couple of thousand.
9. Jim F. | 11.13.09
I buy everything I can as refurbished, especially computer equipment and laptops.
I just saved over $800 outright by buying my son’s new laptop from Lenovo as refurbished. In opening the box you would never know that computer was anything other than brand new. It didn’t have as much RAM or the hard drive I would have wanted, but spending another $250 in parts for more RAM and a new solid state hard drive (never buy hardware upgrades from the manufacturer) brought the specs of that machine far beyond Lenovo laptops selling for over $2,500.
As a final bonus, that laptop qualified for a Windows 7 (64bit) Enterprise upgrade for the princely sum of $17, and that saved me another $200!
That’s just one example, but buying refurbs has allowed me to buy computer hardware I could never have afforded otherwise.
If you are smart, patient, read the reviews, and know the product you are buying, you can do very well with refurbished, just do your homework and only deal with reputable manufacturers that are willing to step up to the plate and make thing right in the event there is a problem.
10. mark | 11.13.09
i build all my pcs from parts it will save lots of $ nothing stops you from installing windows 7 xp or vista or linux do research and try to figure out what you are doing then you can save tons of cash buying refurbished parts i allways buy refurbished or used if it has a warantee never buy used without warntee
11. Harry | 11.14.09
I bought a little Panasonic Lumix digital camera last year for Christmas. I didn’t mind that the USB socket was mangled, but what really cheesed me off was the dirty lens. I mean, those tiny lenses are almost impossible to clean. I think for purely electronic devices there’s a good case for buying refurbished. But when you have something that needs to be clean to work well, it’s best to buy it new.
13. Wolfman | 11.15.09
I bought a refurbed Blackberry 8310. And I’ve NEVER had a problem with it. AT&T also let me put it on my regular service billing acount as an upgrade. And I got a big discount on top of it. Enough to buy stereo bluetooth headset (instead of that borg-style earpiece) so as to listen to music like an MP3 player. I came out like $80+ ahead, rather than buying new. When it comes to my next upgrade? It’ll be referb all the way! LOL!
14. Pastuszek | 11.16.09
If I buy a defective product from warehouse deals knowing the flaws, but when I get this product, it has more defaults than it is featured. For their politic they have to change the product. My question is what is the chance they have a defective product similar to betray me?
15. Christine12753 | 11.20.09
I got my latest computer, a MacBook refurbished right off the Apple web site. It’s been great except that the track pad was intermittently unresponsive. Apple replaced it, no questions asked. It’s been a great computer.
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1. mike helbing | 11.12.09
I bought a “refurbished” Gateway PC with Vista and boy was it a cow. Tried to get it to work for many months and was finally told by Gateway to send it to their repair center. We did and when I got it back and started to try to work with it I couldn’t even get it to turn on. Called their tec service and we trouble shot over the phone for over an hour. I had to take the case off and found out the the power supply was disconnected and when tat was fixed the original problem was there all over again. I then just trashed it after trying to get it fixed for over 6 months. Vista? Never again. Gateway? I now know why they ship their products n a cow box. I bought my wife a Mac Mini.
Mike Helbing