The Truth About the Electronics Refurbishing Industry

The Truth About the Electronics Refurbishing Industry - In this video I'm taking a look at used electronics and how difficult it is to make money by refurbishing and then selling them. We'll talk time, money, and customer expectations. And what does "refurbished" mean anyway?

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[kumisz]

Thing is, at least in the EU, a place selling refurbished hardware has to sell it with 2 years warranty - if they skimp on the repairs, they get to handle customer service with repairs or replacements later, or even pay back the full price if they can't do either. Buying refurbished hardware with that kind of warranty makes it extremely worth it for the customers

[tronicsrevival]

I refurbish and sell consoles on eBay, and I think that refurbishing means to try to make a console as close to new as possible. Very thorough cleaning, repairing, and new thermal paste for consoles that need it should be required, and polishing any glossy plastic should be done if you really want to make it good. That’s what I’ve always done and it’s really not too hard to do, I’d say it’s fun too!

[jimbeam]

I think that if companies just listed items as TESTED instead of REFURBISHED, that would solve the issues. But then they probably couldn’t charge as much for them 🤷‍♂️

[MisterGiGs]

I've always taken "Refurbished" to mean "used but brought back to as new a condition as possible", including cleaning it, repairing it and making sure it functions as close to new as possible. What I have come to see "Refurbished" to mean these days though, is that it looks as close to new with as minimal a level of effort required. Which generally means they've given it a wipe down at minimum and a basic function test at most (though, the amount of "refurbished" items I've bought over the years that haven't actually worked properly or at all is higher than I would like).

[itwasaverygoodyear]

I'm a Biomedical Repairman. My hospital purchased a "refurbished " portable x-ray device years ago. Inside was very dusty. I found wires taped when spliced. The only refurbishment they did was badly repaint the unit. We never purchased from them again nor used them as a repair source. Enjoyed seeing the detail you went into. Although my field is different then yours, I've applied many of your techniques when dealing with circuit boards and electrical components.

[rickconlan]

As someone that worked for an unnamed blue and yellow electronics retailer for almost 30 years and worked on TONS of car stereos with the same load rollers I also suggest taking the rubber off the roller shaft and cleaning the inside of the roller. In extreme super dusty units I used to add some silicone to the inside of the roller to help it stick to the shaft. Great videos. Love em. Keep em coming.

[wybuchowyukomendant]

That`s why I buy only broken stuff for pennies, so i can fix and clean them at the same time, making some money that way.

[sewdclass]

I work for a computer refurbish place, and i can promise that majority of the laptops/desktops we sell are not that clean inside, just outside. The main reason for it here is actually time. They only hire one person to complete sometimes 15-20 orders a day (which includes fixing and updating the computers) and they need to meet the deadlines. There is zero time at my company to actually deep clean the computers but that doesn't bother management and from what i can tell with reviews online 90% of customers don't care or will never notice.

[Fastcrane]

Refurbishing consoles as a hobbyist vs seeing what I see people get in the mail is so irritating when there are people out there that take the careful time to work on, clean, and test everything with a console like you do here. It really makes establishing detailed descriptions and including photos on the top of the list for me whenever I do sell them and being able to establish good reputation really helped me. I feel like those who dont actually do it SHOULD be unsuccessful but with the rise of places like DK Oldies getting away with it for highway robbery prices it makes it feel pointless but I know at the end of the day, the real collectors/gamers out there appreciate a good, well cleaned, well tested, and accurately described item. Whether its a phone or a ps4, the good techs out there gotta keep it up!

[alpinelife]

as a part time Canadian repairman, thank you so much for your standards.... every single business should follow these!!

[wilsvgaddiction]

As someone who has done a fair share of buying and reselling over the years, I always open up consoles and controllers to give a good thorough cleaning and also replace worn or damaged parts. I'm more of a hobbyist but my turnaround time is often a couple of weeks, rarely less than a day. I always submerge plastic parts in soapy water and scrub, and of course the drying adds a lot to the turnaround as does a thorough testing.
If you're going to do it with that level of detail, honestly it isn't worth trying to make a profit on most things because there is so much time put into it. The parts can also reduce a significant chunk of the profit too. I happen to enjoy it and love to be the one to keep these things out of landfills. Since it's not a "business" for me, I can take my sweet time and paying my bills is not affected by that.

[wettuga]

For me, reburbished means to make it look and work as close to new as possible, which requires deep cleaning on the outside and inside, recapping if needed, and definitely new thermal paste, plus a few repairs where needed/possible. IMO, retro-brighting is NOT a refurbishing step, just an enthusiast option. I don't mind yellowed plastics, as long as the hardware is in top shape.

[matthewhardwick]

This is why I always try to look after my systems when I buy them brand new.

[maxhiggins]

Realistically, I expect dust to be removed and thermal paste replaced. A wipe down of the outside is necessary as well. Probably wouldn’t pay more than $200 for a refurbished console, which I know doesn’t leave much room for profit. Ultimately I’m buying cheaper and cleaning up myself. Ultimately the trick is to find cheaper systems and refurbish those, which is what DKOldies and GameStop does. GameStop trade value on an original PS4 is $55, which leaves a LOT more room for profit. Perhaps the key to the average person doing refurbishment is to find people selling those consoles for cheap (which potentially leads to more issues and parts needed to eat away at the profit margin anyway).

[mgrsdgfsdafsdgrsdgfsdg]

When I hear refurbished two things come to mind:
1. There was a previous issue with it, it was sent back to the manufacturer and the issue (e.g. replaced part) was corrected then resold.
2. It was professionally cleaned and brought back up to spec (parts may or may not have been installed, reapply thermal paste etc.).

[brianegendorf]

When I did tech support in the 90's, the company I worked for described, "Refurbished" as "Repaired to look brand new"..

[Ryan_DeWitt]

Thank you sincerely Steve for making this video. So many misconceptions about refurbishing with sky high expectations. You are the literally the very first person I have seen make a realistic video about this subject that isn't just a hype "hate on DK oldies or whoever you choose" type video. I 100% agree that many refurbisher's could for sure and should do a better job, but it would get frustrating when I would try to tell them while it may suck and maybe a bit shady, it really isn't illegal and I would get a lot of backlash.

[robinjac]

Man, you're presentation style has improved drastically since I last saw a video from you. Well done!
Also thank you so much for sharing information about the refurbishing business. Very valuable!

[finntjomstol]

Me and my friend go to electronics recycling centers and find a ton of cool stuff there. A lot of it works too but they’re also fun to try and fix for cheap. We’ve found old iPods, iPhones, MacBook pros, gaming graphics cards, high end cpus, and even some older consoles.

[rdoc]

A couple of years ago I bought a refurb PS4 from Wally World and was very surprised to find the machine was for all intents and purposes was a brand new machine. I could not see any sign of use at all. On top of that I only paid a bit over $200. I like how you are exposing the truth about a lot of these "so called" furbisher's. I'd buy a refurb from you TF.