Hot discounts, like-new products ... The refurbished market holds promise.
It is also a mine of opportunities for consumers looking for a good quality electronic device at an attractive price.
As long as you are careful about the subject.
What is the refurbished?
Do not confuse reconditioned and used.
In both cases, the products offered are second-hand goods, sold at a lower price than new.
A used device is sold as is.
A reconditioned product has been checked, checked, cleaned and, if necessary, repaired.
In the case of smartphones, the most frequent interventions are updating the factory settings, replacing the screen and the battery.
The products can also benefit from a guarantee, depending on the case.
Marketplace or reconditioner?
The most famous brand in France in reconditioned is without a doubt BackMarket.
It is a marketplace, that is to say, a site that offers the products of different sellers.
The advantage of Back Market is that it offers a wide choice of products and sellers.
Read also The French Back Market raises 276 million euros and becomes a unicorn
Reconditioners are companies that buy back smartphones, usually corporate phone fleets.
Among the big French names in the sector are companies like Recommerce (and its Alloccaz trademark), Certideal, Smaaart, Largo, YesYes, or even Rinophone (the list is not exhaustive).
Large brands, such as Darty and Fnac, and telecom operators have also adopted the era of refurbishment.
They generally resell devices from French channels.
Read alsoSmaaart, the rebirth of a company
How to choose your reconditioner?
As with any online purchase, it is best to turn to a known name to avoid disappointment. The purchase of a refurbished smartphone is mainly motivated by the price, it is easy to compare the prices charged by each other. Ecological concerns are also widely mentioned by customers. On this last point, the cheapest sites are not always the most environmentally friendly. Indeed, the supply of telephones to be repaired is not sufficient to meet national demand.
French market players are trying to play the card of the short supply chain, that is to say to take over fleets of devices from the French market.
However, some foreign reconditioners do not hesitate to import phones.
In other words, a device may have been made in China, sold for the first time in the United States, reconditioned in China and resold in France.
To avoid some of these back and forth trips, it is therefore better to bet on French market players.
Read alsoRecommerce raises 50 million euros to give smartphones a second life
What guarantees?
Let us focus on the national offer.
Most refurbishers offer a warranty of at least 6 months on their products.
Guarantee which can go up to two years.
The majority of them replace the phone's battery when it is less than 80% of its initial capacity.
Before setting your sights on a product, it is nevertheless better to take a little time to read the description.
For example, on Back Market a product labeled "perfect condition" is, in principle, like new, while a device in "good condition" may show signs of wear, the screen may be scratched ... These products are usually the cheapest, but it's a bit Russian roulette for the exterior look.
Read alsoLargo: refurbished smartphones are popular
Which model?
The refurbished smartphone market is focused on two brands: Apple and Samsung.
The iPhones constitute the bulk of the volumes.
It's tied to Apple's transparent pricing policy.
New, these devices are relatively expensive.
Then, a new product keeps the same price for a year, then it is (slightly) discounted when the new models are launched.
In other words, the products are expensive and the residual value is high.
The perfect equation for the second hand market.
What to do with his old phone?
Don't panic, the old appliances that clutter your drawers can also be reconditioned or recycled, if they are really too old.
Back Market has set up a system of taking back old devices, with the possibility of reselling your smartphone.
YesYes offers a similar system, with an estimate in a few clicks of the price of the device.
And if old devices are no longer worth anything, it is still possible to do something for the planet.
Telecom operators regularly carry out electronic equipment harvesting operations.
They are recycled and raw materials, especially metals, are reused,
What about the accessories?
Most refurbished players ship devices with a charging cord and without headphones.
Not all cables are of equal quality.
A special mention from the editorial staff for YesYes which slips Green_e cables and chargers into its boxes.
Not only are these accessories eco-designed, they also offer excellent charging performance.
This avoids having a charger that heats up, a phone that does not charge ... with low-end accessories.
