Deals and Bargains forum: Refurbished or recertified electronics safe to buy?

I purchased a refurbished Dell Laptop from Ebay in December 2009. I have not had a single problem with this product and am very happy with my purchase. My understanding is that the company I purchased it from rebuilds the products to be like new except for any cosmetic problems, which were minimal and did not affect the how the laptop operated. In addition, I purchaed a warrany through Square Trade Warranties for only $69.00 for a two year warranty. Warranties are available on new and refurbished products. Before purchasing any of these products I would recommend that you research the product to find out what kind of problems people have reported with the product and defintely look into purchasing a warranty, just in case! I have not had to use my warranty but better safe than sorry.

You sound very encouraging as to the way you went about being successful with your purchase. Would you mind telling me what company on ebay that you bought your Dell laptop from? It sounds like they have pride in their work and might know what 'ethics' means. Also, is Dell's outlet addy: Dell's Outlet.com? I've loved my Dell desktop - bought it new 5 yrs ago! Thank you!

It is a 50/50, toss of the coin issue when it comes to buying refurbished anything. Sometimes you make out OK, sometimes you don't. Personally, I stay away from them, I have had my inkjet cartridges refilled, and have bought refurbished ink cartridges before, and most were OK., but I will not buy computers, or printers etc. that have been refurbed or recertified, it's too much of a risk. Yes the lure is there, because of the savings, but I prefer to buy new. If I can't afford new, I just don't buy it.

Apple products are ones that I would never have an issue buying refurbished. Apple brings the products back to as-new specs. They even replace the outer cases on products like the iPods, so you don't even have to worry about getting one with cosmetic damage.

For other manufacturers, you should check their policy of what they do to restore the products and whether cosmetic issues can be found in the refurbs. Also verify the warranty coverage. Then make a judgment based on cost savings.

My first refurbished Apple was a Mac Pro seven years ago. I saved $500 over a new computer. It's still my desktop computer.

I would generally agree with you, but I think it's worth noting that the only Apple product I've bought refurb (white 2010 MacBook) had a bad logic board. Of course, they fixed it up, good as new, in a couple of days. Still, even Apple makes mistakes sometimes.

Basically refurbished items are units that have been returned to the manufacturers original "fit for sale" specifications.

Manufacturer refurbished items are usually items that have failed during the warranty period, have been repaired and are being resold by the manufacturer to recover costs, these are also sometimes referred to as factory seconds.

Recertified means the item has been tested by the manufacturer or manufacturers agent using the same specifications and test equipment that is used in the manufacture of new items.

Recertified "new" means the item did not work when it was new and has been repaired and recertified by the manufacturer or manufacturers agent.

I hope this answers you qusetion.

Refurbed or Recertified come in a plain brown box rather than the colorful box. I have a Toshiba 17" Notebook I bought in 2001 and still working perfectly. On the other hand 2 Brand new ones same Model one for myself and another for my GF broke down shortly after the extended warranty expired, but was easily repaired by a Tech friend.

Have bought plenty of Refurbed Electronics over the years and saved Thousands of Dollars. Only twice did they fail to operate. The Seller replaced them. This includes anything from small appliances to Computers.

By the way if you use s debit or credit card to purchase anything the Bank will double and sometimes tripple the warranty at no cost to you after the original warranty expires. The I only buy new attitude is mostly snobbish and reslly does not help you save money.

I purchased an Onkyo Receiver in 2008 from Ecost.com at a 65% savings over retail. It's worked flawlessly and I use it every day. I also purchased a wireless mouse for a laptop that was a dud right out of the package. But since it only cost 4 bucks it wasn't worth the hassle to return it. So like a lot of things, sometimes its a crap shoot.

Let me speak for what I do, which is sell some refurbished computer equipment: laptops, desktops, LCD screens and occasional printers.

When I refurbish a laptop, I replace all badly worn, broken or defective parts, clean all exposed surfaces thoroughly, make sure that dust and dirt are gone from the interior including ventilating fans and heat sinks. Often, I upgrade the laptop to more modern amounts of memory and hard drive capacity. Then I test, test, and test. The best and final test is to install the operating system, typically Windows. I also make sure that the battery has at least 50% of its original capacity. Then I sell with a 6-month warranty, more than the 30 day warranty you get from a big box mass market store when buying new.

Desktops go through the same procedures and I sell them with a one-year warranty. LCD screens and printers are tested less stringently, but carry a generous warranty.

The goal here is 100% customer satisfaction, because my reputation is on the line.

I cannot speak for what other refurbishers do, but the number of complaints or service under warranty is really small.

The term "recertified" is typically applied to hard drives, and I cannot explain what a manufacturer-recertified drive is, because I do not do what they do. However, I do run manufacturer diagnostics on any drives I sell, and then I run software to see if any sectors have become bad or have been reallocated because sectors have gone bad. If a hard drive has zero defects, I sell it. The only customer returns I have ever had have been NEW drives that died early on, usually within 30 days.

One minor issue with new items is that often they have not been burned in for extended periods. Usually it is in this burnin period that a lot of components fail. So if an item is secondand and been refurbished then it will be a good indication that there are no hidden issues.

My house is filled with secondhand items and it tends to be the new items that are the ones that fail first.

Hope this helps

Ben, I would also like to know how to get in touch with you. I may be interested in some of your products.

I, too, am interested in getting a hold of Ben. cbeck323@gmail.com.

I am also interested in your site or how to contact you, please. mewkitty269@hotmail.com

Usually, but research, research, research! My husband and I each bought refurbished Acer laptops from Tigerdirect last November and have had no problems at all and we use our computers heavily. If you're worried about a warranty on your purchase, Squaretrade offers good aftermarker consumer electronics warranties at a good price. I bought and later had to use one of their warranties a few years ago on a refurbished XBox 360 I got on Ebay, and we had no problems, their service worked just as advertised.