Tuesday, October 20, 2009

To Refurb or not Refurb

And that is the question indeed!

In certain cases you can get discounts of up to 60% in refurbished items, so the question is what's wrong with it, and when to get it.

Refurbished products really depend on the product itself, there are certain things that really makes no difference getting it refurbished (for example, small-time appliances), but as more breakable parts start coming into place, a refurbished product might be a riskier bet.

In general, in the United States, the refurbished parts will at least carry the original manufacturer's warranty (1 year). So at the very least, if the product is broken, you can take it to its manufacturer, and possibly pay some Return shipping cost.

So, in one hand we have the advantages of refurbished:

a) very, very, very cheap

and the disadvantages

a) the product might be broken and will need to take it back to the store
b) some stores don't even offer the 1 year warranty on the product

You have to decide on your Refurbished Tolerant Factor, and that's done on a per-product bases. To get your Refurbished Tolerant Factor you'll need to consider the following

How much money is the product worth? can I afford to lose it if it was broken?
So you find something incredibly ridicuously cheap, say a refurbished monitor for 50$. Everybody will feel differently about how much is "Cheap", but if, for example we were talking about a 25 inch monitor, I think that's probably a very good gamble. If I win, I win a 25 inch monitor, if I lose, I lost a week of McDonalds food. The opposite is true, if the money is very high (say buying a "refurbished" car) then you might want to err on the safe side.

If the product has warranty, would it be a lot of trouble to repair it?
The next question is figuring out how much would you be willing to work with a "refurb". If you by a piece of electronic equipment and then they tell you is refurb, then you might need to take it to the store for an exchange, or you might not have it for a time (as is being shipped, or fixed). This is ok for things that you don't mind departing for a little while (maybe an MP3 player), but not for things that you will really be using daily (think your cell phone or that laptop).

What kind of product is it? is it prone to failure?
Interestingly enough, there are many, many products that are build to last. And sometimes we replace them before we even give them a chance to get broken. For example, refrigerators and stoves have a shelf-life of ten years (yeah, that extended warranty is really unnecessary in most of the cases). People change cell phones with every new plan, so in that sense a phone have to last at most two years.

On the other hand there are things that people will not recommend buying refurbished. (a notable case is computer hard disks) because they cannot be "refurbished" properly. While the cases are very far in between, one would need to do some research on them just to be sure.

The internet is your friend, you can just search for "product x life span" and you will get an idea of what people are reporting. Or if you have a product already in mind, just search and read the opinion of the product. Lastly a quick rule of thumb (if the internet is not available)

"The more moving parts it has, the more prone it is to get broken"

That's it! Asking these three questions will ensure that you know if you would like a refurbished item or not. And this assessment should be done item by item. Not all refurbished products are bad; some (if not most) come from returns that need repackaging, or other are very easily fixable by the manufacturer. In any case, when it brings a deep discount, it should be considered.

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