Second-hand, refurbished or open box

Three very different things under one discount badge. The difference is not the condition of the item but who is selling it.

Cheaper than new comes in three varieties, often shown in the same list. It pays to know which one you are looking at, because your rights vary far more than the prices do.

Returns and open boxes. An item somebody sent back within their cooling-off period is resold by the shop with a description of its condition: damaged packaging, light signs of use, as new. Usually there is nothing wrong with it - somebody changed their mind. Amazon Warehouse works this way and most large retailers run some version of it. You are buying from the shop itself, so your right of withdrawal and your legal guarantee are intact.

Refurbished. Here the device has been checked, cleaned, repaired where necessary and repackaged by a company that specialises in it. For phones and laptops this has become a mature market. Two things to look at: who did the refurbishment, and what is said about the battery - on a phone that is the part that runs out first, and a good vendor quotes a minimum capacity. Again you are buying from a trader, with all that follows.

Second-hand from a private seller. This is the category where it changes. Buying from someone who is not a trader, you have no cooling-off period and no legal guarantee. What you see is what you get, and your only fallback is that the seller may not deceive you. That is a reasonable option for a bicycle or a bookcase, and a risky one for anything with electronics in it.

The words on the badge belong to the shop, not to a standard. "As new", "very good", "acceptable": every vendor runs its own scale and nobody audits it. Read the description rather than the label, and open the detail of the specific unit.

What holds when you buy from a trader: the legal guarantee covers used goods too. How long it runs depends on the country and, for used items, on what you could reasonably expect of that particular unit at that price. See Your rights when you buy online.

One practical judgement to close on. On an expensive device the refurbished discount is worth having; on a cheap accessory the gap to new is often too small to justify the risk. And always compare against today's new price rather than the recommended one - in electronics the new price falls faster than the used one.

Questions

Do I get a guarantee on a second-hand product?

From a trader, yes - though for used goods the period and what you can expect depend on the country and the item. From a private seller you get neither a legal guarantee nor a cooling-off period.

Is "as new" an official grading?

No. Every shop runs its own scale and no standard fixes the words. Read the description of the specific unit.

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