Refurbished phones

[NiceCupOfTea]

Looking to buy a phone (iPhone 12 pro/pro max if it matters) and I'm liking the relative vfm that second hand refurbished offers - £500ish for a phone with 4 or so years of life in it.

Loads of places seem to offer it, but does anybody have any real world experience with musicmagpie, backmarket, etc? I would be going for the best grade I could find.

[somouk]

I've used music magpie before with no issues. Most of these phones come from a few refurb places around the country.

Also check out the official apple refurb site.

[wyson]

Go for official apple refurbished, they come with new externals and new batteries. Bet you won't be able to tell the difference with a new phone.

[Mogul]

I have bought three Amazon Renewed iPhones in recent years.

FYI, I believe that they come from any Seller who has signed-up to the 'Amazon Renewed' program, and not from Amazon themselves...

The first 11 came with a non-OE screen (not disclosed when I bought but the iOS alerted us to this when we fired it up) and we couldn't be bothered to return it as the quality seemed fine.

Some items sold as Renewed will just be lightly used and won't have been opened. Others may have been opened with replacement screens / batteries, but you won't ever know what has been done.

Lo and behold, this 11 failed after a bit of very light swimming pool action. Presumably, whomever fitted the replacement screen probably didn't replace the 'waterproof' seal. However, it was returned via Amazon and a full refund was offered without quibble.

We paid more for a replacement 11 that was described as 'Amazon Premium Renewed' and it was in better condition, c/w OE screen, and >90% battery life.

An official Apple refurb would have been +/- another £100 but if that guarantees you a new battery and no scratches whatsoever, then perhaps worth it.

Our latest Amazon Renewed 12 has been good enough - although there are a few scratches on it that I wasn't totally happy with: they claim you won't see any at arms length, but of course you can.

[Terzo123]

Ive bought a number of phones for my kids through music magpie without too much issue.

I had to return a phone once to them as there were a few slight scratches on the screen. The return process was straightforward and the replacement phone was spot on although we did upgrade to the top condition one (i cant remember the exact gradings they offer).

Im considering using them for my own phone when my trusty s10 gives up.

[Alorotom]

I used https://reboxed.co recently for 2x iPhone 12 handsets for my parents (to replace 6s's) and they were great to deal with and zero issues at all with prices and grading.

[Pitre]

We've used backmarket for the last four phones, including iPhones and Samsung and they've been great value, good as new.

[LankyFreak]

Pitre said:

We've used backmarket for the last four phones, including iPhones and Samsung and they've been great value, good as new.

Another shout for Backmarket. My phones been great (2020 iPhone SE)

[PF62]

NiceCupOfTea said:

and I'm liking the relative vfm that second hand refurbished offers

Unless you are buying from Apple then they aren’t “refurbished” just second-hand.

Apple do actually refurbish the phones they sell, whereas all the others do is to plug it in for a few automatic checks and then a quick eyeball to see how damaged it is.

[mcm87]

I’ve done this and always returned them. Never quite as good condition as described, in my experience.

The only exception is Apple official refurbished (as others have said)- good as new and you can only tell from the box. New warranty as well. I get nearly all my Apple products this way now and definitely recommend it.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks all, some really useful input.

I like the idea of apple refurbished but they are £300 more expensive - £859 for a 12 pro max with 256gb, as opposed to £550 from backmarket/musicmagpie. That's a hell of a lot of money for a phone that's 2 years old...

[manracer]

Saw the below we earlier. 12 pro max, £471, very good condition, 12 month warranty they say.

link

[JeremyH5]

I’ve bought three phones over the last few years from Music Magpie. One arrived dead and they refunded as soon as it arrived back with them with a returns number. Bought a replacement off them and they’ve all been great. I looked at Apple refurbs but thought they were over priced.

[JeremyH5]

I was in charge of our (small company) mobiles for many years and have always bought second hand without issues. Yes, tight git!

[jimmytheone]

I’ve had an iPhone 7, iPhone 11 and an Se from musicmagpie over the last few years, all at decent prices and no complaints.

As others have said the apple refurb option seemed expensive to me
My 11pm 512 was £475 from mm
Apple refurb wanted 750ish

[Dr_Rick]

Bought a few phones for the family from Backmarket. Samsungs, not Apple (just can't do it).

Given we put screen protectors on the front and cases on everywhere else, I'm more than happy with the 'Fair' category for saving a few ££.

Never had any hardware issues, delivery has been super rapid. You can also put alerts on phones you're watching on the website for when / if prices drop.

Not tried Music Magpie so presume it runs a similar model.

[megaphone]

Just got an iPhone 13 on the Apple refurb store, as good as new. Really happy and saved over £100 by the time I got some cash-back via quidco and my card. Worked out to a similar price to the refurb sites mentioned above.

[s p a c e m a n]

I've bought a lot of stuff from the Currys clearance shop on eBay, loads of iPhones on there...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/currysclearance?mkcid=1...

[mikey_b]

s p a c e m a n said:

I've bought a lot of stuff from the Currys clearance shop on eBay, loads of iPhones on there...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/currysclearance?mkcid=1...

Not much of a saving, though - an iPhone 12 128GB from Apple is £699, and from Curry's eBay shop is £649. I understand that both of those are brand new, but an Amazon Renewed one is £380-400 (depending on colour) in 'excellent condition', which in my experience has been accurate. As long as the cosmetics are good and everything works, you can always get an Apple store to drop in a new battery, still for a lot less than the difference in price.