Online shopping can be hard for people because the terms used to describe different goods often do not match up with each other. This is especially true when people are looking for deals on used electronics. For example, how do you tell the difference between refurbished, reconditioned, and open-box items? What about terms that have the same meaning as “refurbished,” such as “reconditioned,” “renewed,” and so forth? Not all shops use the same meanings for these terms, which makes things more complicated. For example, you should look into what is eligible for the Amazon Renewed program. These are the “official” used items at Amazon. They also include Amazon Pre-Owned Certified and, most famously, Amazon Resale, which changed its name from Amazon Warehouse in late June 2024.
In contrast to Amazon Renewed and Amazon Pre-Owned Certified, Amazon Resale is not just for gadgets. It is for any return that Amazon thinks can be sold again. Some of the approved categories for resale are furniture, pet supplies, non-food grocery items, baby products, outdoor recreation gear, and yard and garden supplies. Still, it is a good idea to keep an eye on other areas as well. Fundamentally, it is not that different from the things that most stores sell as “open box” returns or “scratch and dent” if they are not as good as new. Still, Amazon makes things even more difficult by labelling all of its items as “used” and marketing Amazon Resale as a separate business from Amazon.com. Let us look at what this means and how it should affect your choices about what to buy.
There are four severity levels for things on Amazon Resale
Amazon Resale divides its items into four different state categories to make it easier for you to figure out exactly what you are buying. The best choice is, of course, “Like New.” This group of products are in perfect working order and comes with all the accessories they need. It could, however, be used again in a standard box or come in packaging with some slight damage. “Very good” could mean that certain tools are missing and that the item has minor flaws like “small scratches or cosmetic blemishes.” In any case, the overview will always list the extras that are missing.
The word “good” could mean that there are more flaws, “cosmetic damage,” or “identifying markings,” in addition to the possibility that some parts, accessories, manuals, or assembly tools that were supposed to be included are missing. Finally, there is “Acceptable,” which Amazon describes as “fairly worn” but still works as it should. Scratches, dents, and worn corners are some of the more serious types of damage. It is also conceivable that these “Acceptable” products are deficient in bundled items in comparison to their “Good” counterparts.
Just like when you buy something that is not brand new, you should think about how important the trade-off between price and quality is for you. There is a 30-day return time for the product, no matter how satisfied you are with it. Even though there is a 30-day guarantee, it is important to remember that these are not as well-supported as things bought at a garage sale or thrift store.
Warranties are not included with Amazon Resale products
At first view, it looks like you are using similar products from Amazon’s competitors to get an idea of the level of customer service you can expect if you buy from Amazon Resale for the first time. This is Amazon’s “open box” department. Best Buy, which is Amazon’s main competitor in the electronics market, guarantees a full manufacturer’s warranty for all open-box returns, no matter what state they are in. A speciality electronics catalogue company called Crutchfield, for example, promises that you will get a full manufacturer’s warranty on things that are either brand new or have been opened and labelled as “scratch and dent.” It makes sense to think that Amazon would offer the same amount of support for products in the same situation. And yet, in reality? They don’t.
The primary Amazon Resale page explicitly states that “Used products typically do not come with a manufacturer’s warranty.”. When looking at it from the manufacturer’s point of view, it’s easier to understand why this is happening. Think about this point of view: Amazon.com might be on a list of approved sellers for a company like Sony, but Amazon Resale? Not so much. If you try to get warranty service and show your ticket, Sony will see that you bought the item from an Amazon seller that isn’t in its network of authorized sellers. Furthermore, the fact that the items are marked as “used” instead of “open box” or “new (open box)” is likely to make things worse. So, if you want the peace of mind that comes with a guarantee, you have to buy one separately.
Is it worth it to buy from Amazon Resale?
The price and other deals for the item, whether it’s new or in the bigger refurbished ecosystem outside of Amazon, are the only things that matter when deciding whether to buy electronics from Amazon Resale. Take the base model of Apple’s M3 MacBook Air, which has a 13.6-inch screen, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The original price was $1099.00; however, Amazon Resale is currently offering it for as low as $919.08. Already, that savings isn’t enough to make buying an expensive computer without a warranty make sense. The fact that Amazon and Best Buy are both selling it brand new for $999.00 at the time of this writing and Apple’s official refurbished store has it for $929.00 with the same protection as new makes this even clearer. Amazon Resale is not worth the work in that case.
We could also look at the Denon AVR-X1800H, which is recommended by The Wirecutter as the most flexible AV player. It costs $749.99, but you can usually find it on Amazon for $500.00 to $600.00. The post has Amazon Resale deals that start at $474.09 at the time of this writing. There is some value in buying a refurbished item from the official Denon store for $549.00, which comes with a one-year guarantee instead of the usual two. Now we get to the important part: what makes the difference is how big the discount is compared to the other choices. Because of this, you should only buy from Amazon Resale when the savings are greater than those of other options.