A few years ago, just before Black Friday, I decided to replace my old, cracked Apple Watch with a non-cracked equivalent. One thing led to another, and I ended up spending less than I thought I would on a nice watch. Catch: It was reformed.
The “r” word used to be a bad word in the gadget world. A decade ago, to many people, refurbished meant used, tattered and maybe a little broken. Secondhand devices haven’t always had the best reputation. However, as Right to repair movement As consumer technology has pushed companies to make their products easier to fix, a new crop of markets for used and refurbished products has attracted the attention of anyone who either loves a deal or cares about the environment, or both. And these cheaper options are better than ever.
You may have heard Back marketA Paris-based revamped marketplace that promises to sell you “better technology for the planet.” Then there are more specialized sites, like gazellewhich primarily sells refurbished phones and laptops, and VIP outletwhich specializes in reconstructing retail returns. Declutter Sells refurbished tablets and gaming consoles as well as old CDs and DVDs Even big retailers, including Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Best Buy, are now getting into the re-marketing game.
Prices and warranties vary based on what and when you buy, but no matter where you shop, you’re buying secondhand. Comes with a certain cachet. That’s the smart thing to do, according to Lucas Guterman, director of the US PIRG Education Fund’s Designed to Last campaign.
“It’s not a bad thing for people to buy a new phone,” Gutterman told me. “It’s just the idea that we should be buying them every year, every year — that seems like too much for the environment.”
We certainly cannot build an infinite number of devices on this planet with a finite number of rare earth metals. And extending the lifespan of phones already in the market comes with huge upside. A Recent research The French government claims that buying a refurbished phone instead of a new one saves 180 pounds of raw materials and 50 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, buying a refurbished device over a new one reduces the overall environmental impact by 91 percent.
The revamped route wasn’t always created as a way to combat climate change. The practice grew out of the constant need to provide machines to employees of corporate IT departments in the early days of personal computers. If an employee leaves the company, instead of buying a new computer, IT wipes their machine, repairs it if necessary, and then assigns it to a new employee. It didn’t take long for a cottage industry to emerge to sell used but refurbished devices to consumers.
That industry is huge now and getting bigger every year. Number of used and refurbished smartphone shipments An increase of about 10 percent From 2022 to 2023, new smartphone shipments fell by more than 3 percent, according to market intelligence firm IDC. This adds up to a secondary market for phones worth around $65 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach around $110 billion by 2027.
Those big numbers reflect an industry that has moved from mom-and-pop shops selling fixed-up laptops to multiple mainstream marketplaces where millions buy everything from phones and computers to watches and video game consoles. Competition between these marketplaces means quality and customer experience are vastly improved. Now, refurbished gadgets often come with the same long warranties, trade-in options and payment plans as new devices.
An amazing thing
Logistics of online shopping Comes with a significant carbon footprint. However, the original manufacturing process is much more significant for devices like phones. Shipping a phone 500 miles in a 1-pound package produces About 1.3 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Making an iPhone 16 Plus, According to AppleProduces emissions of 110 to 167 lbs.
Also, newer devices tend to have fewer new features that make upgrading worthwhile.
“People are less excited about getting another camera lens on their phone or getting a new button on the side of the iPhone,” Guterman said. Spending less on a refurbished phone and feeling better about your environmental impact is a good choice for a growing number of people, he explained.
The reformed market is more transparent than before. It all starts with a gadget that ends up in the inventory of a refurbisher or original equipment manufacturer Often, it’s just a device That someone else did the business or sent back for warranty or insurance claims. Both refurbishers and manufacturers renew such devices by wiping them, fixing any hardware issues, repairing any cosmetic damage, cleaning them, and backing them up. (This can happen several times during a product’s lifetime.)
Then the device goes to market. Most marketplaces give you the option to buy items at different prices, with different conditions, from poor to premium. Some devices sold in the secondhand market are actually new. Cleland explained to me that some of the inventory that ends up in the hands of refurbishers includes products that were sold and returned but never used.
This is thanks, in part, to increased returns online, especially since the pandemic, which has led to a illiquid market Worth hundreds of billions of dollars It finds new homes for all kinds of secondhand goods, from furniture to construction equipment. For phones and tablets, there’s even one Standard method for grading the condition of used devices To streamline their resale and renewal process. It all adds up to better, cheaper secondhand products.
“It’s now estimated that every time a new iPhone comes out, it will have at least three different users in its lifetime, as it will either be traded in or discarded and then resold,” Sean ClelandB-Stock Solutions, vice president of mobile at Marketplace, told me. “Like, back in the day, people would just put their old phone in a drawer.”
If you zoom out, what’s happening with refurbished phones and other electronics is a shining example of what a circular economy can do.
A circular economy aims to keep products in use for as long as possible through refurbishment, repair and recycling. To conserve resources and opens up new economic opportunities. Although the term has been around since the late 1980s, the concept of the circular economy has gained popularity in recent years. The European Union has even adopted one Circular Economy Action Plan in 2020 It lays down several principles and strategies for sustainable development. These government incentives are likely to have helped markets such as back markets thrive in France and across Europe
“Going into the present and finding ways to reuse old inventory to make new things, I think, is essential,” Cleland said. “As consumer demand increases as resources decrease, you have to find a new way.”
American companies are also adopting circular economy models. Amazon now has Amazon Renewed, which launched in 2017 and features the same fast shipping you get with other Amazon products. 90 days free return policyWhich goes up to one year for some premium products. Meanwhile, eBay offers Two year warranty For one year on certified refurbished products, which are delivered as new, as well as low-grade used products. Walmart Restored has a similar one One year minimum warranty On premium refurbished products, and 90 days on everything else. Target sells items refurbished by the original manufacturer with a Six months minimum warranty. There is an aftermarket warranty Good for one year across the board
Warranty should be only one consideration when choosing where to buy refurbished products, says PIRG’s Gutterman. You should avoid buying refurbished items that are not designed to last, such as Apple AirPods, as well as heavy items such as TVs, which can be easily damaged. You need to make sure that manufacturers still support software updates on older devices. here A list of iPhone models One that supports the latest iOS 18 software, for example. (You can find more tips in this latest update Guide to Buying — and Gifting — Refurbished Products (which Guterman co-authored.)
If you’re like me, you might just want to find the best deal. My Apple Watch battery is starting to fail, so I’m actually worried It is being repaired or getting a new one. Since the market for refurbished gadgets has grown a lot in the past few years, I have more options to upgrade than I did a few years ago.
And as much as I’d love to try out new features, trading mine in, it might be better to find its way to a new owner and live a little longer.
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