Pros And Cons Of Buying Refurbished Products

Anyone on the hunt for cheap gadgets will have come across refurbished electronics at some point. Available at knock-down prices, "refurbs" are often stigmatized as merely faulty rejects. But in fact, many devices are repaired, reconditioned, and retested to be as good as new.

The refurbished electronics fall under four categories

• An overstock item that is no longer being produced by the manufacturer
  
• An item whose packaging has been damaged during transport, even though the item itself has not been affected at all and remains in perfect working condition
  
• A product that has only featured in a store for display purposes only
  
• Items that have cosmetic defects (i.e. incorrect color scheme) only, with no issues with quality
  

Pros

Refurbished electronics get a quality check from a technician, which doesn't happen with most new products, so they might be more reliable. Refurbs are also environmentally friendly—it's far less wasteful to repair and repackage an existing product than to manufacture a new one.(15.1) 

People have this fixation with new products, while in most of the cases refurbished products as practically new.

Cons

As with any purchase, due diligence and research is paramount to locating a respectable retailer who can give you the best deal possible when it comes to refurbished electronics. It is no different than, say, purchasing a used car or a pre-owned home. You would never think buying a used car or home is a bad idea, and you would never do it blindly either. The same principle applies to purchasing refurbished electronics. A good idea, when, combined with research, can prove to be a great benefit to the consumer.

Some electronics bought from other retailers than major brands may have cheap components installed to make it work temporarily. Moreover it could be duplicates; more fancy term to which is first copies, these products look exactly like the originals but might not work the same.

One should be careful before getting these products from a non-authorised dealer or should negotiate the warranty terms before investing good sum of money.