Things you need to know about Refurbished Smartphones in India

Prices of smartphones are going through the roof and this year Apple has touched the $1000 in US for iPhone X which sells for close to $1400/INR 89,000 here in India. Other brands are also not far behind for example Samsung’s latest flagship Note 8 sells for close to $1000/INR 67,900 here in India. As the smartphones prices increase year on year and technology keeps changing rapidly we now have a comparatively new segment of phones i.e. refurbished phones that are not completely new but not used as well. They sit somewhere in the middle.

Refurbished phones, as some of you may know, are supposedly new phones whose seals are broken as they are returned by customer because of wrong product received or defect in the phone or because of any other reason. Also keep in mind that Open box/Unboxed phones also largely come under this category.  They may or may not have usage marks on them but I would say expect to have some usage marks (scratch or dent) on them.

Refurbished Phones are of two types.

         1.       Manufacturer Refurbished

         2.       Seller Refurbished

Manufacturer Refurbished phones are checked and repaired (if there is any fault found) for proper functioning by service centers that are manufacturer authorized. And normally would come with 6 months of manufacturer’s warranty.

On the other hand seller refurbished phones are checked and repaired (if there is any fault found) by sellers itself and these may or may not come with warranty. If they do come with warranty it is usually 6 months.

Now that we know what refurbished means let’s see where you can find refurbished phones. There are plenty of sites that have refurbished phones on offer. In India some of them are Amazon India, Snapdeal, Ebay India etc. Look for certified refurbished/Open Box/Unboxed/Refurbished tag on these sites and you will find the phones.  One can find many smartphones on sale as refurbished on these sites and under different budget categories too.

So we have covered what refurbished is and where we can find them but are they worth buying? The answer is not a simple yes or a no. Refurbished phones has its pros and cons. So let’s discuss these pros and cons.

Let start with the positives of buying a refurbished smartphone.

Pros:

      1.       New like smartphones for less than the cost of new one: The heading says it all! You will get a phone which is almost new! Ya almost new smartphone and you don’t have to pay 100% of the cost of new one. Sounds like a good deal? I am saying almost new phone because these phone may have gathered scratches or dents as they are checked for quality or while repairing.  

      Refurbished phones are generally quite cheaper than there new counterparts. Anywhere from 10% to 40% even 50%.

Depending on what phone you buy,how old is the model and what is the condition of the phone and whether its manufacturer refurbished or seller as manufacturer refurbished are costly than seller ones.

      2.       Original Smartphone with accessories: You will get a smartphone with original unaltered smartphone or repaired with genuine spare parts from the manufacturer, if the phone had any issue. Also the manufacturer refurbished smartphones come with original box and accessories.

      

      3.       Comes with Brand Warranty: Manufacturer’s Refurbished smartphones usually comes with 6 months of brand warranty so if anything goes wrong with your phone in this time you are covered in warranty.

We have covered the good stuff let’s look at the negatives now.

Cons:

      

      1.       Overpriced used phones: Refurbished phones normally sell for 10-20% discount compared to new ones in India. To save a couple of thousand rupees you will have to sacrifice a lot comparatively. Why not spend more cash and go for unused piece and stay away from all the hassle.

      

      2.       Only 6 months of warranty: Refurb phones comes with only 6 months of warranty and not a year warranty like a new phone.

Generally phones don’t encounter problems in first 6 months of their life, unless there is some major issue with the phone. High chances of problems are in the initial days (because of major issue) or the problems occur when phone is close to a year old.

As these phones are checked again for perfect working there is a rare chance that you will receive a faulty handset which is a relief but having only 6 months warranty makes you vulnerable to problems that occur between 6 months and a year. In which case you will feel that you should have gone for the new phone instead.

     

      3.       May have usage marks: You are paying 80% or 90% of the cost of the new phone and expected a open boxed new looking phone with no scratch on it.

But instead you got a phone with multiple scratches. This can happen as refurbished phones come with disclaimer that the phone might have scratches on it as it was handled for quality checks.

Scratches and dents can completely ruin your excitement about the 'new' phone depending on how much scratched the phone is and how much discount you got on the phone. Generally the older the model or the more scratched phone the more discounts are offered.

     

      4.       You may end up spending money in seller warranty phone: In seller warranty refurbished smartphones the buyer is expected to ship the device to the seller in case there is any issue with the phone under the warranty period. You may have to ship to other state as well if the seller is situated in some other state.

Normally the shipping cost is borne by the buyer i.e. you. So to claim warranty you might have to spend some cash. In some cases seller will inform you about the service centers you can visit in your city to get your phone repaired. In which case there won’t be any shipping cost.

5. No extended warranty/damage protection plan can be availed: As these phones are not new and are refurbished you can not buy extended warranty/damage protection plans that are available for your smartphone as these plans are specific to new smartphones only. You wont even get 1 year regular warranty (only 6 months warranty) forget about the extended warranty. 

Now that we have covered all the pros and cons of refurbished phones you would finally ask should we buy them?

Yes one can buy refurbished phones but only in certain circumstances as mentioned below:

      1.       Buy it from a reliable seller: Always choose a high rated seller even if you have to spend a bit extra. Check seller ratings, customer feedback before buying from him. This will assure you that you will indeed get what you ordered and chances are high that you will get a phone close to new with minimal scratches if any.

      2.       Buy refurbished only if good discount is offered: In the end these phones are not new. If you are getting anywhere near or above 30% discount then you can consider it as a good deal otherwise it would be suggested to go for new only.

      3. Go for Manufacturer refurbished: Manufacturer refurbished smartphones, as discussed above, are checked and repaired by manufacturer authorized service centers and are fitted with genuine spare parts if there was any fault in the smartphone. So one can expect new like performance from these phones which can not be said for seller refurbished phones. So if you are getting a good deal on these then go for them.

I hope that you have learned a lot about refurbished phones from this article and you can now make a right decision whether you should save some of your hard earned money and go for a refurbished smartphone or not.

Do share what you liked or disliked about this article in the comments. Share this article if you like it. Also if you have any questions do share those in comments.

Thank You

Saurabh Khanna