Blog | mechdrew

Have you ever wondered what happens to that broken piece of tech that you send back to the manufacturer for a replacement? What about fully functional, returned units? Certainly they don’t just toss it away in a landfill! No, of course not.

For items that are returned to a manufacturer, those items are inspected, any problems fixed, and put back out on the market. But don’t expect to find these returned units back on store shelves, at least not in the same place and in the same spot. See, it’s against the law for a retailer to sell an item that has been returned as new, since it isn’t, well, new anymore.

No one wants to buy a previously handled device for the same price as a perfectly new one, so most stores discount these items. You may have seen a bin at Walmart or another retailer full of small gadgets that have been opened before. But for larger and more expensive items, like computers and media players, they usually get sent back to the original manufacturer, who then resell them directly. And that, my friends, is the focus of this Tech-on-the-cheap article.

An item that has been repaired to work like new is labeled as refurbished. Refurbished goods are awesome because they are usually just like they were new, but at a big discount. For example, I’ve purchased a few computers from Dell Outlet. These computers are fully inspected and functional when purchased, but all were previously purchased by another person who returned it for various reasons. My latest deal, which was a Dell Mini 10v netbook, (at that time and it’s exact specifications) normally retailed for $330, but the refurbished unit was marked down to $199. Add a 15% coupon to that and I had it down to $165. That’s half price! And it looked just like new, with all of the normal accessories and software. In fact, it is the computer I am typing on right now. I also bought a gorgeous 17 inch display that was refurbished, and they have many more hardware items available. They also sell computers that were returned without even being used, and ones that were used lightly with a few minor blemishes, but all work great.

This isn’t a secluded practice. Apple, one of the most notorious tech companies in the industry, sells refurbished hardware as well as new. They don’t advertise it as well as they used to, but on the store’s homepage you can find it near the bottom. This is also a great opportunity to find models that are no longer available, so they are doubly discounted. Better still, they offer refurbished iPods, AppleTVs, and displays.

Many manufactures follow this practice, even if they don’t sell them directly. It can be hard to find out where to purchase refurbished items (they usually aren’t advertised next to the latest and greatest new items) but no company wants to lose money on what is usually a cheap fix. You can benefit from this practice on almost any tech you want. You may not always save 50%, but every little bit counts.