Thoughts on Refurbs

I am checking ebay before I buy my notebook from HP. I was just curious what's everyones input on refurbished laptops? I'm not a fan but I could get a higher grade laptop for a lower price but it's refurbished and it comes with a 1 year warranty... I doubt im going to buy it, personally I would rather buy it brand new.

 

It depends on the deal. I've seen some really good refurb offers, some really bad ones and bunch in between. Post the specs and the price.

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I have a theory about manufacturer refurbs -- and it's just a theory. First, there are clearly companies that buy equipment and refurbish. What I'm speculating on is how HP does "refurbs." I'm curious what others think.

I'm constantly amazed that there seems to be a supply of refurbished computers on day one a new product is introduced. Where do they come from? I don't understand. Do they make a bunch of defective computers on purpose so they can refurb them? I don’t think so.

The other thing I don't understand is the economics. Most laptops are made in China as we know. Is it reasonable to believe that it makes financial sense to ship suspect units back to China for refurbishing and then back to the States and then sell them at a LOWER price? How does that work? They could be refurbed in the States but now you need a separate group of people working at substantially higher wages. If you could do the expensive testing step here cheaper than in China, why would you have gone to China in the first place considering that most of the other parts of the process are highly automated?

OK -- here's what I believe happens. Companies like HP and eMachines realize that there are corporate buyers who will buy from a corporate web site at a price and expect to receive excellent delivery service. There is John Q. Public that will buy from Circuit City at a different price but expect to have their hand held through the process. And then there are people that haunt message boards who want the most for the least money.

HP and eMachines need a system that keeps these buyers separate. Calling some systems "refurbished" is brilliant since a corporate buyer isn't going to risk their job to buy refurbished and John Q. Public is much too scared. Thus, we-uns buy through web sites no one but us knows about at a slightly lower price with much lower expectations of the service we're going to receive.

To cut to the chase -- my belief is that almost all "refurbs" are new off the line units that are sold through distribution channels that do not generally conflict with their other channels. It works because "refurb" customers either wouldn’t be customers at the current retail price point or would opt for lower priced (and lower profit) units .

Of course -- there is that chance that your refurb is really a refurb and that little Johnny Johnson used it to pound nails into two by fours with it before daddy returned it. And that's what causes us to think "well, maybe paying a couple hundred extra bucks at Circuit City is good insurance."

My own personal experience is with two refurbed desktops -- one from Dell and one from eMachines. They were both pristine and I looked hard for any evidence they were "refurbed". Other than a sticker on the units, they certainly looked brand new.

BTW -- eBay is another kettle of fish. If you had a number of stolen computers, you might want to advertise them as "refurbished" to not call attention to yourself. Or you could be a retailer who sells "new" from his "real" operation but has found that he can move a bunch of computers on eBay at a slightly lower price but doesn't want his "real" customers grumpy so he sells them as refurbished. Or you could really have a source of "refurbished" units from somewhere. Who knows?

 

refurb also, is any open box machine that was returned to HP either directly or through the stores, because they have to check them to make sure they are working and fix them if they aren't.

I'm usually leary of ebay for anything this expensive, esp. since many manufacuters will say your warranty is void if you purchased it from eBay.

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