How and Why to Buy Refurbished Products

A $399 Dyson cordless stick vacuum for $190
A $499 Vitamix blender for $399
A $1,000 Samsung QLED TV for $700
A $139 Baratza coffee grinder for $99

There are two things I hope you’ll notice about this list. One, those are all premium brands known for making quality products. And two, those are some pretty sweet discounts.

There’s an Old English word furbish, which means “to polish”. So refurbish most literally means “to polish again”. A refurbished product is not simply a used or secondhand good. It’s a product that has been professionally repaired and “freshened up”, then re-sold at very attractive prices.

There are two types of refurbished products: manufacturer-refurbished and seller-refurbished. In this post, I’m going to walk you through products that have been refurbished by the original manufacturer and tell you what you need to know, how to find them, and why you should seriously consider buying them next time you have the opportunity.

What is a manufacturer-refurbished product?

When new, expensive products are sent back to the manufacturer because they aren’t working properly, they will look at what went wrong to see if it’s worth repairing.

For example, imagine somebody buys a computer worth $2,000. After the first week, it stops turning on, so the customer returns it. It goes back to the manufacturer, where a technician determines the problem is a faulty power supply. It’s perhaps a $50 part. They see that the computer is otherwise in great condition, so they replace the faulty component and test that the computer is back up to factory standards. They sell the computer again – for, perhaps, $1,400 – and you have a refurbished product.

Manufacturer-refurbished products may also be called reconditioned, factory certified, or some combination of these words. They may show some light cosmetic signs of use, which should be disclosed. They will typically come with a warranty and support from the manufacturer, any replacement parts should be genuine, and it’s generally safe to assume a high standard of repair and reliability.

How do you find manufacturer-refurbished products?

Manufacturer-refurbished products are sold either by the manufacturer directly or through third-party retailers. Sometimes you’ll find a section right on the manufacturer’s website where you can buy a refurbished product. Vitamix, Apple, and Dyson do this, for example. Other times, the manufacturer will send you to a retailer, as in this example with toolmaker Dewalt. And that refurbished Samsung TV (an actual purchase of mine) was sold by Walmart.com, which I had to figure out on my own.

Most manufacturers make refurbished products just a little bit hard to find. They want to sell them, but they also don’t want to eat their own lunch if they can get you to pay full price. The “one weird trick” to cut through the noise is to simply search for what you want: Just Google “refurbished <product name or brand name>” and see what comes up.

If the refurbished product you want is available from multiple retailers, prices may vary, so you’ll want to look around for the best deal. The best deal might not be through the manufacturer directly.

Refurbished products are not always available. Some manufacturers don’t offer refurbished products, and some products aren’t worth refurbishing. There are also likely to be limited quantities, so it’s good to be ready to buy when you see the deal you want.

Refurbished offerings may sometimes include current models, but more often they’ll be a generation or two old. You typically won’t find a refurbished version of the latest iPhone, for example, until the next model is out. Do your research to see whether you need the newest model. In many cases, buying the prior generation of a product is a great way to save money, even though marketing departments around the world make it their mission to convince you that anything but the latest is obsolete.

Should you trust refurbished products?

There are a few parts to this answer: reliability, reputation, and warranty.

First, there’s the most basic question: is “as good as new”…well…as good as new? In my personal experience buying refurbished products, I’ve never had a bad outcome. A refurbished product gets a lot of individual attention, and I tend to believe that after it’s been inspected, fixed, and tested, chances are good the product is working perfectly. There aren’t a lot of across-the-board reports on customer satisfaction with refurbished products, but to take one example, according to this Consumer Reports survey on mobile phones, customer satisfaction was about the same between refurbished and new phones.

Reputation is important anytime you’re making a purchase: do you trust the manufacturer and the retailer to make it right if there’s a problem?

Finally, the warranty. Refurbished products usually come with manufacturer support, a return policy, and a warranty. As with any purchase, you’ll want to confirm those details before you buy.

In some cases, the warranty on a refurbished product is as good as new. Apple, for example, offers the same one-year warranty whether you buy a new or refurbished iPhone. Vitamix cuts a few years off their warranty, but it’s still very generous. In other cases, a warranty may be shortened to 3 or 6 months. In this case, your credit card may offer Extended Warranty Protection for added peace of mind. Check your card’s benefits to find out if it covers refurbished products: some do, and some don’t. Fair warning: reading your card’s benefits legalese won’t be the most riveting five minutes of your life.

And with all of this said, let’s circle back to why buying refurbished is lucrative in the first place: In those real-world examples above, discounts ranged from about 20% to 50% off. So even with a shorter warranty, I’m happy to have the big savings upfront.

A quick preview on seller-refurbished products

There is another type of refurbished product called seller-refurbished. As the name suggests, these are products that have been refurbished by the seller, not the manufacturer. The warranty will also be provided by the seller, not the manufacturer. One example of this is Amazon’s Renewed program, which sells products that have been refurbished by Amazon. Another example is IT resellers, who take off-lease computers and phones and re-sell them through platforms like eBay.

Seller-refurbished products can yield some spectacular deals, but you need to do a little more homework before buying one. Be sure to learn more about seller-refurbished products in part two of my guide.

How buying refurbished fits into my strategy

When I’m thinking about a purchase, I first consider whether I need to buy something at all, and then I consider whether I can find a good deal on a used item. If I can’t or don’t want to buy the product used, refurbished is the next option I consider. I’ve mentioned half a dozen companies as examples in this post, but many more have refurbished products for sale.

If you’ve decided that only a certain brand will do or you really want a higher-end model, going refurbished is a great way to stretch your money. Of course, there might be a refurbished version of a cheaper brand or product too, so don’t forget to consider that. By making it a habit to check for refurbished products, you’ll find your savings can add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year!

Have you ever bought anything refurbished? Please share your experience or deals you’ve found in the comments.