Life is becoming more expensive, many people’s environmental awareness is increasing, second-hand purchases are becoming socially acceptable – even with smartphones. A test shows what online shops are good for refurbished phones.
Money and resources can not only be saved in theory with refurbished devices. If you don’t need the very latest technology, you can use a refurbished smartphone with a clear conscience.
Fully functional, only with optical defects
On average, around a third of savings compared to the new price of the respective smartphone model are possible, as a comparison by Stiftung Warentest shows. She examined nine online shops for refurbished smartphones: four dealers and five sales platforms on which different dealers are represented (“test” issue 3/23).
In order to find out how big the savings effect can be with refurbished smartphones, the testers ordered phones in the lowest quality level, in which, according to the description, they should still be fully functional. At this level, however, you have to accept scratches and other signs of wear.
In the comparison, the sales platforms Back Market (overall rating 1.8) and Ebay Refurbished (2.1) as well as the retailer Rebuy (2.2) are ahead. The quality of the smartphones was also the highest among these.
Overall, the Refurbishedstore platform and the dealers Asgoodasnew (each 2.3) and Clevertronic (2.5) also achieved a “good”. The latter offered the highest price savings of 50 percent on average in the test.
Refurbished smartphones are checked and cleaned
Two Apple and three Samsung phones were ordered per shop and in almost all cases arrived within three working days at the latest. Refurbished providers promise that all smartphones for sale have been checked, cleaned and, if necessary, repaired by professionals. They then divide the devices into quality classes, which mainly relate to the external condition of the models on offer.
Tip: The color variants of smartphones can cost different amounts. If you are flexible with the color, you can often save even more.
Partly much better than offered
The product testers found that 7 of the 45 smartphones ordered in the test were in “remarkably good condition, i.e. even significantly better than stated by the supplier”.
Negatively, 9 phones attracted attention, with defects ranging from distorting speakers to an Apple ID lock that cannot be deleted and a defective camera autofocus. Such deficiencies should definitely be found in devices that are advertised as functional complain.
The battery test showed mixed results: According to this, refurbished smartphones work about 2 to 3 hours earlier
limp than the hardly used reference devices of the experts. It is therefore worth checking the battery capacity in advance, especially with iPhones. Unfortunately, not all stores indicate this when selling. After all, the batteries in a quarter of the devices lasted as long as in the reference phones.