Buying refurbished tech is a positive step for all sorts of reasons. To begin with, it is a much cheaper option, which is an appealing prospect for many people. At the same time, you are helping to keep the items out of landfill. Plus, you are having a much reduced environmental impact as you don’t have to worry about it needing to be produced. However, you also need to make sure that you are buying the right refurbished tech as you don’t want to end up getting ripped off. So, here are a few top tips that you can follow to ensure that you are getting it right each and every time.
Buy from an established seller
To begin with, it is certainly worth buying from an established seller - which is the case whether you're looking for a reconditioned Apple Watch 8 or a second hand television. This helps to give you peace of mind that they have sold these types of items time and time again in the past. Not only this, but it is much more likely that they will have a set of policies in place that you can remain confident in. Either way, this leads onto the next point.
Check the return and warranty policy
When you're buying refurbished tech, there is a greater sense of jeopardy and less of the sense that there will be a clear warranty policy in place. So, you should check for this in the first instance. At the same time, you also need to know about what sort of returns policy is in place in case you need to bring the items back at some point in the future. You don’t want to get into a situation in which you bring the refurbished tech back home again, only to find that it simply does not live up to any of the expectations that you initially had.
Find out the condition it's in
When you are buying refurbished tech, it can come in all sorts of different conditions - and there is likely to be a price that reflects all of these different options. With this in mind, it is certainly worth confirming with the seller what sort of condition that you can expect to find the product in. If you don’t do this, you can easily end up in a situation where you are disappointed. Also, if the product is listed as ‘like new’, you'll need to find out exactly what this means so you can be confident in what you are buying each and every time.
Make sure the software's up to date
It's easy to get caught up in how something looks when you're buying refurbished tech, but you've really got to think about the software too. A device might seem like a bargain on the outside, but if it can't run the latest updates, it might not be much use to you. This is especially true with Apple products. Once they stop supporting a certain model, you won't be able to get the latest version of iOS or macOS, and that can cause all sorts of issues. Apps start glitching or stop working altogether, security gets a bit shaky, and over time you’ll notice more and more things just don’t work properly. So before you buy, check whether the software's been reset and updated, and find out if it's still eligible for future updates. If it’s already been classed as obsolete, it’s probably not worth the money unless you’re using it for something super specific.
It's easy to get caught up in how something looks when you're buying refurbished tech, but you've really got to think about the software too. A device might seem like a bargain on the outside, but if it can't run the latest updates, it might not be much use to you. This is especially true with Apple products. Once they stop supporting a certain model, you won't be able to get the latest version of iOS or macOS, and that can cause all sorts of issues. Apps start glitching or stop working altogether, security gets a bit shaky, and over time you’ll notice more and more things just don’t work properly. So before you buy, check whether the software's been reset and updated, and find out if it's still eligible for future updates. If it’s already been classed as obsolete, it’s probably not worth the money unless you’re using it for something super specific.
