We Graded Hardware and Screen Swaps Across buying refurbished tech websites
We Graded Hardware and Screen Swaps Across buying refurbished tech websites
Apple’s products are insanely expensive. Like, wouldn’t it be nice if we could buy the same Apple products in good condition, just a cheaper price? Well, you actually can. It’s called shopping refurbished, which is pretty much a nice way of saying a product was broken, it’s been fixed, and now it’s being sold for a cheaper price, which is a win-win for everybody. The companies make a profit, and we get to buy things at a more affordable price. Sounds great, right? Well, it would be if the products that came in the mail were actually any good. I’ve boughten refurbished products before that come damaged, scratched, and even sometimes still iCloud lock.
So, today we’re going to test out all of the different refurbished websites. We’re talking Amazon Renewed, Best Buy Clearance, Plugs to see who’s offering the best deal and if the products are actually legit.
Amazon Renewed
iPhone 16
First up, we have Amazon Renewed. This is probably the one I’m most familiar with because when you buy a product on Amazon, mostly everything on there is Amazon renewed. Like, you might not have noticed, but it’s all renewed. So, you’re not getting like an original Apple packaging. You’re just getting like this cardboard box. Budget cuts. Okay, you’re getting it cheaper. Take what you get.
I bought this iPhone 16 for $686 and brand new from Apple. It’s $830 bucks. So, that’s a nice little markdown. That’s like $200 cheaper than normal. We’re going to be judging these products on two things. One, how much of a discount we’re getting on the product. And two, what condition the products are in when you get them. So, we got $140 off the normal price of this phone. And here she is. Wow, it looks insane. Like, if I didn’t know any better, this thing would look like brand new, right? It looks fantastic. But we haven’t seen the front screen yet. So, cross our fingers for that one.
So, this is 128 GB phone and it comes with this little plastic paper on it. It’s kind of funny. Like, why even bother to cover it at this point? This is not as satisfying as brand new. I’ll tell you that much. Oh, this is a good way to start the article. This is a bang. It’s a bang right now. I don’t even kind of want to touch it. I can’t find like a single flaw in the phone. Talk about good condition. But we do need to make sure that this is not iCloud locked because I have had it happen where I buy a renewed product and I guess the company just forgot to take the password off which is insane. Like what? How are you going to sell it to me? iCloud locked.
I feel like most of the time you kind of are paying for the discount you get because the phone is like damaged. It has like some dinks on it. Like it has a couple like scratches which is not a huge deal but this is like quite literally looks brand new and it’s unlocked to any carrier. So that’s kind of insane.
Okay, so the iPhone 16 is on and functioning. Wow, look at it. I really expected it to like be um a secondhand screen or something, but it actually looks insane. Like, it looks perfectly fine. Cameras are nice and functional and perfect. This is pretty much a brand new iPhone that we got for $150 off. I don’t know. Why would you ever buy a brand new phone at this point, right? Why not just save a little money? Unless an Apple the Apple box is that important to you, right? No. 150 bucks. I’ll take it. Honestly, for the first renewed product that we got, this is a a 10 out of 10. I don’t think that it’s like the biggest deal and deal ever, but 150 bucks. I’m going to have to give this one a big old thumbs up. First Amazon product is a success.
2020 Apple MacBook Air M1
The next Amazon renewed product is a MacBook. This is a 2020 Apple MacBook Air M1 chip. It’s just so funny like the packaging it comes in. It just never is like super appealing. It’s kind of like, you know, it’s not great. So, I bought this MacBook for 375 and I don’t have the brand new price, but I’m seeing it everywhere else kind of like $600. So, like a $300 price difference is pretty good. I don’t even know if you could buy this MacBook new anymore, right? Like untouched with like a brand new box. I don’t think that exists.
Um, some noticeable like usage obviously like there’s some crumbs on it and like hair and like it’s a little dusty, but it’s just kind of funny like it’s a little dirty. Last time I brought a a refurbished MacBook like it just didn’t turn on in general. So fingers crossed everybody. Love that sound. It’s like music to my ears. I will say though, other than like the little crumbs, it’s in really good condition. Okay, so it’s obviously very used. I think this is definitely worse than like the iPhone. Like there’s like little crumbs and like dust and stuff on it, which is not a big deal.
Okay, so we have the MacBook all set up. And I will say we’re kind of already encountering a problem. So, as you can see, the screen looks really dark. So, I’m trying to brighten it up and it’s not like changing. Why is it bugging? Okay. Oh. Oh. Bro, why is it Wait, I feel like it’s not doing anything. Look, this is the brightness all the way up and this is the brightness all the way down. There’s no way that’s max brightness right now. I think on the camera it doesn’t look as bad. It’s just really dark, which is like the first thing I noticed cuz like obviously I like my screen nice and bright, blinding even. Let’s make sure that the speakers work on this. Look how dark the screen is. When your question is actually a bunch of questions, speakers work. Okay, well the speakers work. And I will say I’m not super mad at like the way the display looks. Like I think it looks pretty good other than it’s like super dark. I think it’s kind of nice. Honestly, I think I’m just figuring out that phones don’t need to be brand new or cost you an arm and a leg to actually be good.
And the same could be said about your cellular plan. I just found out about Helium mobile and it’s honestly kind of crazy. They actually have a cell phone plan that’s $0 a month. Like actually free. You just bring your own phone and number. No contracts, no credit cards, nothing sketchy. It’s perfect if you don’t use a ton of data or just want to back up. So you’re pro Hold on. So you’re probably thinking, “What’s the catch? Why is it literally free?” Well, it’s because Helium Mobile created their own community network that allows them to charge much less than other carriers who rely on the expensive cell towers. It’s literally insane to me that there are some people out there paying hundreds of dollars for their phone plan when Helium mobile exists. And do not worry, you’re not sacrificing coverage. You’re still getting the reliable nationwide 5G coverage. So whether you’re at home or traveling, you’re still going to be connected.
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Plus, if you need a little bit of extra data, you can upgrade to the Air or the Infinity Plan, and it’s still so much cheaper than the other carriers out there. They even have this really cool reward thing where you can earn cloud points and cash them out for Amazon or Apple gift cards, which feels like another little extra bonus that you’re getting with Helium Mobile. So, if you’re like me and you’re looking for a steal and deal and like to save money without giving up the reliability just like refurbished cell phone, Helium mobile is definitely the way to go. The link will be in the description so you can get your free cell phone plan. Plus, you get a little extra bonus $10 on the cloud points if you use my code. So, grace and huge thanks to Helium Mobilebile for sponsoring this portion of the article.
Overall, this MacBook from the Amazon Renewed is honestly pretty great. I will say it does have a ton of like little dust and like crumbs on it, which is not like the best. There seems to be a problem with the brightness that didn’t get fully fixed, but honestly, that’s a seller issue. Like every seller on Amazon is either going to be like better at it or worse at it. And I guess this seller didn’t really care to make sure that it was up to par. Maybe this screen display is just so dark because this computer is just old. It’s like 2020 model, which is it’s a 5-year-old computer, so I guess it’s not going to be like as good as it was brand new. Did we save a good amount of money buying it refurbished? Yeah, I don’t think it’s the best deal out there. For this next Amazon renewed product, I’m going to give this a solid 6 out of 10. Better than I thought it would be, but still questionable.
Nintendo DS
The next Amazon Renewed product, it’s crazy. We got an Amazon renewed, drum roll please, Nintendo DS to buy a phone, an expensive product, and then a cool product. So, for the cool product on Amazon Renewed, I found this Nintendo DS. And might I say, this looks pretty freaking good for being as old as it is. This thing might be older than me, to be honest with you. Oh my gosh, look at that.
So, we got this for $100 on Amazon. And I will say that’s the normal price of this thing, so we didn’t really get a deal at all on it. Bro, what is this? I will say it does look really, really good. I would have never believed that this was in like a freaking 15-year-old product. It looks great. Good condition. Insane that you can still buy these in today’s 2025. Honestly, for this renewed product from Amazon, I’m giving it a five out of 10 cuz we didn’t get a deal on it, but it’s kind of cool and it works really well. So, shout out Amazon for still clutching up.
Back Market
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
The next refurbished website I was dying to try out. Backarket is probably the biggest refurbished website out there, at least in my opinion. Like if you look up like any product, you’re probably going to find it on Back Market first for good reason. Back market tends to have some really really good deals on products. So this is a ZFlip 6, $1,70 brand new. And we got it for $539. That’s literally half the price. That’s half off what you buy it for brand new. If this is like in good condition, I would 100% recommend buying this. Oh my goodness, that color.
So here is the ZFlip. I will say things go really wrong with the ZFlip very quickly. it hasn’t been properly taken care of, the crease is going to look real bad. But half off, guys, that’s literally unheard of. The crease is inevitable, but it’s just a matter of how bad it is. And this one, surprise, surprise, is also great. I will say it definitely has that crease, as you can tell. But usage on any phone over a period of time that folds is going to have the crease. That’s kind of a given. But like the overall body of it looks great.
And I’m starting to wonder, I’m like, who is like selling their phone that’s such good condition? Like my phone, my phones are always like scratched up and dented. Like I cannot take care of my phone and save my life. And honestly, this has to be the biggest steal and deal of the article so far because we got this half the price that it would be brand new. If you’re going to buy a Z Flip 6, like it’s kind of a no-brainer that you would buy it refurbished at this point cuz you just get to see yourself. It looks so cool. Honestly, I think this Z Flip is going to have to get a 10 out of 10 because it’s the best discount we’ve gotten. And she looks freaking brand new, baby. She looks brand new. Good job, Back Market. Everything is as advertised.
M4 MacBook Air 13-inch
The next product I got from Back Market, which I think will be really good test for you guys if you guys are a student. I’ve had people reach out like, “Oh, should I buy from Back Market?” We going to find out today. A newer product. This is the M4 MacBook Air 13in. We got it for $8.99. Oh, we baby, baby, baby. Me checking it out. Damn, you look good, girl. Brand new on Apple. This is $1,000. We got it for $8.99. Honestly, not a great deal. We literally got it for $100 off. So, if there’s any problems with this, it’s definitely not worth getting it on black market.
I will say it’s nice that we got the official box. That is nice. What’s going on here? Okay, we get a charger. We have the instructions and the official Apple charger. We love that. But I will say this is the first product we’ve gotten where we actually got the official box and charger. So, points for that. A little bit of like stains on it. Nothing huge, nothing horrible. I love that sound. Now, this is a MacBook right here. Okay, so this is like begs the question. Would you rather put this in the comments? buy a brand new MacBook that 100% is going to be good and work and perfectly fine for $1,000 or save $100 and get it refurbished. She looks great. I mean, we only got $100 off, but if you’re trying to save a 100 bucks, why not save 100 bucks, right? I feel like I always get questions if like back market is like legit or not, and I it seems to be fully legit. This MacBook gets a solid 10 out of 10 for me for the refurbish. It’s pretty much just not brand new. Save your money, girl.
iPhone 16
And the last product we got from Mac Oh, certified pre-owned. As we can see, we got this bad boy for $673. Really nice box for our back market over here. Apple was selling this phone for $730. We got it for $670. So, straight off the bat, the body of this phone is perfect. Like, there is no scratches, no insane dents. Like, it literally looks brand new as well, which I will say is a really good thing from these brands. Like, you’re not really sacrificing like look getting a beat up phone because it’s on like it’s renewed. I don’t know how they managed to like sell such perfect condition phones, but they’re doing it somehow.
So, here is our iPhone 16 from Back Market. Everything checks out perfectly. It looks like super good condition. Everything’s awesome. I will say we did get this at a better price than Amazon, only by like 20 bucks. Overall, I will say if you’re trying to buy a phone from Back Market, it seems like this is a really good option. I give this phone a honestly a 10 out of 10. I think we got it at cheaper than original price and it’s in great condition.
Plug
iPhone (Model Unspecified)
The next store quite literally has to be the sketchiest one to me and it’s Plug. I’ve seen the plug all over the place and I just it just is rubbing me the wrong way. I’m like, this just can’t be real. But you bet. We’re going to test it out for you guys to make sure you don’t get scammed. If anybody’s getting scammed here, it’s me. Okay.
I will say I love that it comes in its own little box. It makes it feel a little bit more official than like low key like Amazon. Amazon just be sending us a random like box. That’s why I kind of like plug and back market because I feel like it’s them, you know? Like Amazon, they just sell from random sellers. Like it you could literally just be some random person on the street and they’re like, “Okay, we’ll sell it.” Like on our platform. This is from one place, you know? Wow. Honestly, branding is really good from them. Branding is really good. Saving the planet one device at a time. That’s a nice way to look at it instead of we’re trying to profit off you. Plug and plug always gives you a case with each purchase, which I think is kind of sweet. Why was I so sketched out by this brand the most and it seems like to be the most like that’s so pretty. That’s so pretty. Look at this color. I think this feels so much better than like Back Market sent in like this little random thing. Amazon sent it in this random box. It just doesn’t feel great versus this. It’s just like, oh, like I trust you, you know.
Oh, I spoke too soon. Look at that. Hold on. That’s a deep scratch, too. Like a thick one. Wow. This is the first phone that we’ve opened that I was like, “Oh, you’ve been you’ve been used.” Okay. The body of the phone itself looks great. Like everything looks good except that big scratch, which was kind of like, you know, not the best. We got this for $4.99 and retail it’s about $630, so about $130 off, which is pretty good. Inside the box, they also give us a charger and a block. And I will say this is some good quality ones. Like this is not just the one that you get from like a random Amazon store. Like this feels like a good fast charger. It almost feels like an Apple charger is a better quality one. And they give you a phone case. Plug is doing something right now.
We have the phone and it looks great. I will say they’re a little concerned. I don’t know if this will even show up on camera, but it seems like this screen was replaced. Maybe it’s been dropped a ton. I’m being a little bit picky here because obviously this this phone works. It works fine. I just don’t want to buy a phone and then find out that the screen is not an authentic Apple screen because what happens is people replace the screen like way cheaper quality and then they sell it to you and that’s a no-go. Other than the screen and this giant scratch on it, a really deep deep scratch like normally a scratch doesn’t bother me but like that’s that’s there, you know. But to save like over $100, I don’t know. I really need to know in the comments down below what y’all think about saving a little bit of money to get a decent phone. I’m going to have to give this one a solid 4 out of 10. It has a lot more damage and like usage than the other products did, but it still works and it was a good price.
2020 Apple MacBook Air M1
The next thing we got from Plug is a MacBook and this is the same one that we bought from Amazon. It’s a MacBook Air M1. So, it’ll be cool to see who gave us a better price. Plug, y’all are doing too much right now. They gave us a Plug branded charger. Wow. And they give you a little sleeve. Wow, that’s nice.
So, we got this MacBook on Amazon for $375, but here they’re selling it for $3.99. Off the bat, I think it’s better condition than the Amazon one. Like, it looks a lot cleaner. There’s not like any dust on it. Like, it looks very wellkept. We love that. I have no complaints about this MacBook. We got it at a good price. It’s fully functional and it looks freaking brand new.
JBL Flip 6 Speaker
And the last product that we got from Plug is actually a JBL speaker because I wanted to see if you could buy like accessories from Plug as well. Ooh. Okay. So, this is a JBL Flip 6. You can definitely tell like there’s a little bit of wear and tear on it. just like a little bit of scratches. It’s obviously been used, but is the audio quality banging? These are being sold for 120 and we got this for 70. So, literally half off. This is a really good deal. If it works well, like I don’t understand why you wouldn’t buy a refurbished speaker because at that point, like you just hate saving money, right?
Says Michael’s JBL Flipsticks. It’s not mine. It’s Michael’s. Bro, I’m keeping this. This is sick. Wow. It sounds so good. And we saved so much money. We saved 60 bucks buying this on Plug, which is half the price of the speaker. So, shoot, a 10 out of 10. I would recommend. So, we didn’t get scammed from Plug, which I was really really skeptical when I ordered from them, and everything turned out pretty good. Below Black Market still, I think I’m just I trusted a little bit more than Amazon to be quite honest with you. The packaging sold for me. That’s it. It felt very official.
Best Buy
iPhone 15 Pro Max
The next refurbished store we have is none other than Best Buy. Now, me and Best Buy, we have beef. Okay. I’ve had the most bad products from Best Buy refurbished. So, I’m a little bit nervous. I’ve had iCloud lockbooks from here. I’ve had like damaged products, products that just don’t work in general. So, Best Buy is not the best at vetting their products. I’ll tell you that much. No, Tino, no shade. The refurbished program is a little sketch.
The first thing I got was an iPhone 15 Pro Max for $586. You see, what kind of packaging is this? At least Plug had the decency to give me a box. Okay, here we go. Right off the bat, I called it. I think this is probably one of the worst condition phones we’ve had so far. There’s a ton of chipping all over the paint, the edges, and around the camera. It’s going to be really hard to see with on camera. There’s just a lot of different little like you see where like the paint’s like chipping, which nothing crazy, but you can definitely tell it’s been dropped its fair share. Dude, we didn’t get a charger. Best Buy says, “Yeah, take it.”
Okay, so we got this on Best Buy for 5.86 and I’m seeing it everywhere else online for about $4.80. Yeah, it’s not a great look right now. And I will say Best Buy is not known to have the best deals on the products either. Why is why are they going around saying Best Buy? What’s so best about it? Nothing. No, I just think Best Buy is like the least giving on like discounts. Like they’re not going to give you the best discounts on open box products. And I think that their screening is just really minimal. But then again, like Best Buy’s main business is not refurbished products. So I makes sense that they’re not putting as much time into it as like freaking back market. That’s all they do. So the fact that we paid nearly $600 for this and it’s not even in great condition. Once again, I feel like Best Buy is just not doing it for me. I’m going to have to give this refurbished phone a 4 out of 10. It’s not in great quality and it was overpriced. We could definitely get it cheaper at any other website.
Microsoft Surface Pro
The ghetto. This is so ghetto. Best Buy. Luck in. We got our Oh my gosh, look at this. It’s like used. At least we got a freaking charger. I’ll say we got the official charger, which is nice. So, this is Microsoft Surface Pro. The product itself looks fine. like this part of the product. It’s just a keyboard that looks a little bit like used and abused, but you know what? Like what did you expect?
So, here is our Microsoft little laptop. And I will say I’ve never used one of these before, so I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to look like or do, but it’s functional. It’s functional, baby. I will say it’s definitely a little musty, crusty. The keyboard is just like definitely used up, a little bit dirty. I feel like if you’re going to resell a product, the least you can do is just kind of like clean it up a little bit. But, you know what? That’s fine cuz it actually works really well. say we paid $789 for this laptop and that’s literally normal price. There is not a markdown on this at all and it’s been refurbished. So, it’s kind of insane that we bought a used one for the same price as like buying it new.
Best Buy didn’t come clutch with the deal. And also, it’s dirtier than any other laptop that we opened today. Like, we opened like three MacBooks already and all of them looked nearly brand new. This is the only one that has like very apparent like usage on the keyboard. But again, this is just me being picky because all of them have been really good so far. No huge problems other than a couple stains, I guess. Overall, this is going to get a 2 out of 10 in the refurbish scale for me because we didn’t get a good price on it and it’s just really really musty.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
And the last thing we got from Best Buy renewed was actually our Samsung S22. Oh, you see how come Best Buy has seemed to have like the most whack products so far. Okay, thank god it comes with a pen. I was like, if it doesn’t come with a pen, just return it at this point. The front screen looks amazing, though. Our Samsung S22 is fully functional.
I will say cosmetically once again, there’s just like a lot of scratches, a lot of dents on the sides, and of course that giant scratch in the back. We bought this one for $339 and everywhere else is selling it for about $250. So, we’re paying like almost $100 more than everywhere else to buy it from Best Buy. On top of that, it didn’t even come with original packaging. Didn’t come with an original charger. It just seems kind of overpriced. If you’re going to buy a refurbished phone, the whole point of buying a refurbished phone is to get a good price on it. and we did not unfortunately on this one. I hate to be the one to say it, but Best Buy is bottom of the rank for refurbished purchases.
Reblau
iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd Generation)
And last but not least, the last store we’re trying for refurbished product is Reeblow. I genuinely have seen this brand everywhere. When you’re looking up products, like if you look up right now, iPhone 16, they’re going to be selling an iPhone 16. And the prices are like honestly probably the best on the entire market. Like when I look at products, it always seems like they have the best competitive edge. We going to test it out today.
The first thing I got was a iPad 11 Pro second gen for 3.85. As you can tell, the packaging is nothing great. Just some bubble wrap. So, thanks for that, I guess. But packaging doesn’t matter all that much, right? I don’t think we got a charger either, which is lame. Here she is. She’s looking good. She’s looking real good, actually. Oh my gosh. I’m barely seeing that. That’s crazy. It’s just like human indention on there. A little sketch. There’s a dent. Wait, where? On the top. Okay. Well, doesn’t really matter. Like, it’s just a dent. Come on, guys. Put a case on it. No one can tell. I’m not going to lie. This thing looks warped. Oh, what the heck? Looks like someone just went, “Yes, it looks like that.” Oh, no. I actually see exactly what you’re talking about now. Hold on. Minor minor damage, guys. Okie do. Pokey damage.
Back market is selling this for $100 more. eBay is selling it for $200 more. This is an insane discount. We’re seeing it for like $300 off normal price right now. You know, it’s fine. Our vent iPad is on. It’s not in great condition whatsoever, but from the looks of it, it’s fully fully functional. I mean, if it didn’t work, I get it. But it kind of works. Okay, let’s try the back camera. Cameras check out. Speakers check out. Everything about the iPad checks out other than just like the cosmetic side of it. I would give this an iPad again a 5 out of 10. The pricing is unbeat. I don’t know if I would take the discount for a bent iPad cuz there might be internal issues that we don’t know about just yet. I guess it makes sense if something’s too good to be true. Most of the time it kind of is. Huh. That’s how it tends to be.
iPhone 16
The next thing we got from Rebel out of back market Amazon, Reblow had it for the cheapest. This is an iPhone for $6.55. An iPhone 16. So, this one came with a charger thankfully. Packaging on Reblow has to be probably the worst. I’m not going to lie. Like, they just put the most minimal effort possible. So, they did like a little test on it and they says pass. I’ll be the judge of that.
The back is not too bad. There’s a couple scratches and then like around the camera you can see there’s like some chipping on the paint. Nothing super severe, but definitely not brand new. And like I’m actually like just getting mind-b blown now. Like this is actually a very good scientific article. We saved 20 bucks on this phone, but do you all remember what the Amazon one looked like and the um back market one? They were literally like brand new. I could not find a single scratch on them.
Despite its appearance, the phone does work, which is great. I will say I want to test out the cameras and everything because no, I don’t really trust Reblau. Okay, so the back cameras look good so far. Check. Also, the front camera. I’m like doing more tests on this one because I don’t trust it anymore. The button is like jammed. This is what it’s supposed to be like. This is the top one. But like this one presses and this one’s just like stuck. Like it works. It’s just like really stuck in there for some reason. Why is there so many problems with this phone? Well, the speakers work thankfully. Not only is it the most scratched up phone of the entire text
