Are you thinking about investing in a refurbished smartphone this year? If yes, then you must follow few tips to avoid usual pitfalls and grab a great deal. You can own high-end smartphones without breaking your bank and spending too much. The best part of refurbished products is that the brand or company delivers the same features and warranty alike the new ones. Refurbished smartphones are simply the used phones which get returned by the customers to the parent brand due to some internal fault or during exchange offers. The company refunds the customers for smartphones and after that those smartphones goes through several checks and tests and also get repaired if required.
Are you thinking about investing in a refurbished smartphone this year? If yes, then you must follow a few tips to avoid usual pitfalls and grab a great deal. You can own high-end smartphones without breaking your bank and spending too much. The best part of refurbished products is that the brand or company delivers the same features and warranty alike the new ones.
Many of us don’t even know that almost every smartphone brand offers a refurbished smartphone. Let me provide a short detail about refurbished products.
What is a refurbished smartphone?
Refurbished smartphones are simply the used phones which get returned by the customers to the parent brand due to some internal fault or during exchange offers. The company refunds the customers for smartphones and after that those smartphones go through several checks and tests and also get repaired if required.
All these repairings get done under the high supervision of experts and engineers. After all the inspections and repairs the brand starts selling those smartphones at a cheaper rate compared to the market price. The brand also offers identical features, customer services and also warrantee.
Let’s stop babbling and start the list of top 10 tips for buying a refurbished smartphone.
1. Timing is Very Important
If you want to purchase the most possible recent model of a particular brand then you must wait until the launch of its successor. Some of the early customers exchange or sell their smartphones to upgrade to the newest phone model.
You must wait for the correct time to maximize your savings and make more from your investment. Some of the leading smartphone brands announce their new flagships on almost a fix schedule. For example, Samsung and LG launch new smartphones in early springs, on the other hand, Apple announces its new iPhones during the falls.
2. Locked or Unlocked
Gone are the days when people were bound to buy locked phones, nowadays most smartphone brands in India offer unlocked phones. The main difference between locked and unlocked phones is that locked phones are usually enforced or protected with a particular service provider, on the other hand, unlocked phones provide liberty to its users to go with whichever service provider they want.
In my opinion, you should spend money on an unlocked smartphone. Before clicking on the ‘buy now’ button make sure to go through all the features and functions properly. Make an effort to check if the phone is locked or unlocked.
3. Do a Good Research to Get a Great Deal
Hundreds of online stores offer refurbished products and even many parent companies also sell refurbished smartphones through its website. There is also some difference and variability in refurbished smartphone prices in different stores. Make an effort to do great research before finalizing your phone to get a good deal.
4. Who is your Seller
When it comes to buying refurbished smartphones, the brand does not matter a lot, the seller matters more. Always purchase refurbished products from popular and well renowned online stores such as Amazon, eBay, Swappa, Flipkart, etc.
Buying refurbished phones from unknown and private sellers may prove a worse investment later. These sources may not provide worth to money products and good customer service.
5. Warranty Terms
Never spend your resources on refurbished smartphones lacking good warranty terms. Most of the brands and stores offer a warranty on used products and you must not ignore it. In case of any kind of parts replacement, internal fault or even any scratch inflects the warrantee contact will save and assist you.
6.Return Policy
Yes, it is possible to return your refurbished phone also as many sellers provide good return policies too. No matter if you are not dealing with the parent brand or carrier, at least make sure to purchase your smartphone from a reseller who has rock-solid return policies in their pouch.
If your smartphone has any physical damage you can detect the moment you receive it, on the other hand, it will be difficult and time consuming to figure out the malfunctioning software or hardware. Thus always consider the return policies of the seller from where you are going to buy your refurbished smartphone.
7. Check your Smartphone Personally Before Investing
Detecting internal faults and software/hardware malfunction instantly is clearly not easy but you can examine the full body thoroughly. After receiving your used smartphone make it sure to perform a personal inspection and I have listed a few must-have things to examine below.
- Check the phone’s screen if there is any cracks and chips abort the deal because replacing smartphone screen by yourself will cost you a lot
- Look for any abrasions and dents at the body
- If the scratches and cracks aren’t tolerable, return it asap
- If possible examine the battery included is original or not
8. Look for the Added Accessories
The added accessory provides valuable and vital information about both the product and the seller. As for example, your smartphone has the original box it clearly means that the product isn’t stolen.
If you got the phone case and screen protector then that will a bonus. Getting an original charger will also be a great deal because a duplicate charger may damage your smartphone battery slowly but surely. Many smartphones come with fast charging technology these days and an original and compatible charger will work better.
9. Consider Battery Life
How you ever imagined why the performance of your smartphone’s battery decreases with time? No idea? Almost every smartphone these days is packed with Lithium-ion batteries. These batteries have a tendency of losing power capacity with time and after 2 to 3 years they may end up having only 80% of its original battery capacity.
The most important thing to consider is that you should not invest in refurbished smartphones for older than one year. If you are not an intense smartphone user then it will be okay to go with even older smartphones having little less battery capacity.
10. Software Updates
While the hardware of a particular smartphone is almost unchangeable, you must consider if the software is upgradable. Almost every smartphone manufacturer provides advance software updates but you can’t update the software of a particular smartphone having lower RAM and inappropriate hardware.
For example, the latest iOS 11 update is only compatible with 64 bit iPhones and other Apple devices. It clearly means that this software update will not in iPhone 5 or iPhone 5C.
Bottom Line:
Refurbished or no refurbished, the most important thing is that you are going to invest and you must make a great effort to make your investment-worthy. From my personal experience, I would like to say that refurbished products are valued for money if you know how and where to invest.
You can own a high-end expensive smartphone without even paying the original price. This could be done by investing in the quality refurbished phone. Look for the top tips for buying refurbished smartphones to end up with a fair deal and good quality handset.
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