Where to Find Refurbished Goods
It would be best if you found something that feels almost new. In fact, you’d prefer it to be completely new, but you don’t have the budget for something that’s never been opened or owned. In that case, you should look into refurbished items. They often last almost as long as something that’s fresh off the shelves. And refurbished goods are especially useful if you want a laptop, TV, or another electronic device that recently entered the market, but isn’t so hot that getting it requires waiting in a long line. Here are a few things you need to know about refurbished items and where to find them.
What does refurbished mean?
The word “refurbished” makes a lot of people pause. It’s a mouthful to say, and it also sounds vaguely like a buzzword sellers say when they don’t want to say “used.” We’ve all heard the commercials for cars that are “pre-owned” instead of just “used.” But the word refurbished means something more specific.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that the product you’re buying is defective, either. There are a lot of reasons why something can be labeled as refurbished. If you find out that an item is an “opened box,” that doesn’t mean that someone before you took out the product, used it for a couple of weeks, and then got sick of it.
It could mean that they opened the box and decided it wasn’t right for them after all. Maybe the color was off, or the screen wasn’t as big as it looked online. Once the box is opened, though, it can no longer be sold as a new product.
The box the item came in may also have been damaged during transit. If you’re thinking, “Why would I want damaged goods?”, Then slow down. There’s a good chance that the computer or mobile device itself wasn’t hurt at all.
However, even a small tear or dent in the box can force the retailer to return the product. If a large truck full of items was damaged, the manufacturer might turn them into liquidation pallets and offer them to wholesale buyers. The wholesale buyers then resell them to merchants who offer the product to individual buyers.
Where and how to buy refurbished
In fact, companies who buy products by the box or pallet often get refurbished items long before everyday consumers can. That may sound not very encouraging, but you still have plenty of ways to search for refurbished electronics. You don’t have to leave your house to do it, as websites like eBay and Amazon are full of wholesalers who would love to sell you an iPad they got from a warehouse pallet.
You also want to look for retailers who use the words “liquidated” or “liquidation,” as those kinds of sales often go hand-in-hand with refurbished items. Are you looking for a refurbished cell phone, but you’re nervous that you’ll get ripped off?
Ask your mobile phone carrier about refurbished cell phones with limited warranties. Buying through a mobile phone company like AT&T or Verizon will be more expensive than buying through a random seller on the internet, but it has its advantages.
For example, you know your phone company isn’t going to sell you a phone that’s stolen from another user. Avoiding stolen merchandise can be hard if you don’t know anything about the person or company you’re buying the product from.
f you buy a MacBook Air from Apple or an iPhone from AT&T, then rest assured that the police won’t call you in a few months and tell you that someone in another state reported your refurbished item as stolen six months ago. You likely won’t get in much trouble, but it won’t be pretty.
