Refurbished Electronics, Home Theater Systems, Audio Components- Ways to Save

One of the ways to stretch your dollars when buying electronics is to shop for refurbished items. Becoming more popular and available to the consumer is merchandise offered from the manufacturers direct or through retail distributors or online resellers of items that are repackaged and are still covered by warranties, which may be 90 days or one year. Refurbished products are common among consumer electronics, home theater systems, HDTV, computers, laptops, cameras, camcorders, musical instruments, guitars, audio or video components and small appliances. In the past refurbished meant merchandise that was defective and returned to the manufacturer to be repaired and then repackaged and sold as reconditioned or refurbished.

Companies would try to reclaim a small portion of the money it cost to warranty their products rather than just disposing of the goods. The word refurbished can have several meanings in terms of classifying the condition of a product for resale from a factory or service center. This usually refers to a product that has been repackaged, rebuilt, or repaired and sold to the retail dealers at a discounted price to pass on to the consumer. These items are usually covered with a manufacturer's warranty of 90 days or one year. Below are some explanations of what manufacturers consider refurbished and the ways which they offer these electronics and small appliances at discounted prices. This will help you understand what you are purchasing and if these real bargains are worth it for you.

What Brands are Offered? Some manufacturers make their refurbished products readily available to retail dealers and other only sell thru company outlets. Many high end audio products companies don't even offer reconditioned items as they only want first class quality of their products in the market to maintain its higher value. Other companies only sell their refurbished products to employees highly discounted.

Damaged- If a product was damaged during shipping and handling and needs minor repair, companies will re test the product and sell "as is" or make the repairs and sell as refurbished.

Customer Returns- Items that were not defective and were returned to the store for other reasons within the thirty day sale period. These items are usually cleared out at the retailers store level and fairly discounted and sold as final sale. If you purchase this type of product be aware of the condition of these items as they may be missing accessories, parts or warranty cards. Usually still warranted by factory, you may have to send item back directly to manufacturer if you have problems rather than bringing back to the dealer. There may also be slight surface scratches or marks from the original purchaser.

Open Box- Can be store stock merchandise that was open for any reason without being sold. The contents should be carefully to make sure all items included are there. These are usually covered by the original warranty period.

B stock or 2nds- This can be items either pulled out of regular production by quality control and may have a slight defect in the exterior finish or case. Usually these are up to factory standards for performance.

Factory Defective- This is a product which has a faulty internal part and failed performance inspections during production. The component is pulled from the line to have defective parts replaced and retested to meet specifications.

Blemished or Blems- Usually refers to an item that has cosmetic damage, dents or superficial defects in the finish either from production or shipping. The company re tests the item for working performance and has the choice to change the exterior case or sell as is.

Discontinued Merchandise-When new models are released, some manufacturers will clear out older models in inventory stock and tag it as refurbished and offer these items to their distributors at discount pricing. These items may be packaged in plain generic labeled boxes so there are easily recognized as refurbished, factory reconditioned or other. If the manufacturer has over stock of these goods they will allow the dealers to special order these products.

Demos- Demos can come from the dealer or manufacturer. Demos from retailer dealers are units that were on display in the store and used for demonstration as a sales aid. Factory demos can be items that were given out to distributers and sales people to use and try for demonstrations or loaners given out for test marketing. Use caution when purchasing demos that were on display in a store or dealer showroom as these were handled by many people and usually played for many hours. Factory demos with full warranty tend to be a safer purchase as the items most likely have been tested and cleaned by a service tech and are usually factory repackaged with manuals, warranty and accessories included.

Surplus or Overstock- Some manufacturers take back older stock from their dealers to promote new models. When the surplus is taken back it is usually redistributed to high volume dealers of wholesalers at discounted pricing.

What's The Best Deal?-The best value products to purchase are ones which are factory refurbished items purchased from an authorized dealer or factory direct. The discounts may be higher on items that do not include manufacturer's warranty and if there are any problems you would have to pay for all repairs yourself including the price for an estimate of repair and all shipping. This can become expensive and may not offset the original discounted price savings.

Expect to save 30%- 50% when buying factory refurbished goods. Some consumers purchase extended warranties on refurbished items for the reason that they are ahead of the game due to the original amount they saved. Many manufacturers give these reconditioned or refurbished products a special serial number or prefix or suffix which is instantly recognized by authorized dealers and service centers and this may affect the value of the item in the future at time of trade in. When shopping search for open box items or refurbished items to compare the savings to new ones.