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How to buy good used or refurbished tech without getting burned

Here are four smart ways to avoid lemons and find a secondhand device that’s actually worth the price

Blake Wisz / Unsplash

Buying tech secondhand can feel like a gamble. You might score a phone, laptop, game console or camera for far less than you’d pay new. Or you might end up with a device that barely works, has a dying battery, or is already on its way to becoming obsolete.

The good news is that buying used or refurbished doesn’t have to mean settling for junk. In fact, refurbished tech can be a particularly smart way to save money because the device has typically been inspected, tested, repaired when necessary and graded before it reaches you. Used tech is a different story: It’s generally sold as-is, which means more of the risk falls on you.

There are a few simple questions that can tell you whether a secondhand deal is worth pursuing. Who refurbished it? What does the seller’s warranty actually cover? How old is the device? What condition is it really in? And perhaps most important, what happens if the thing arrives and doesn’t work?

A suspiciously cheap price can be tempting, especially when you’ve been eyeing an expensive gadget for months. But a bargain isn’t much of a bargain if you have to replace the battery, repair the screen or replace the entire device shortly afterward.

Reader’s Digest reported on what shoppers should know before buying used or refurbished technology. 

Here are four tips that can help you spend less without turning your next tech purchase into an expensive headache.

Know whether you’re buying used or refurbished

Marvin Meyer / Unsplash

The words “used” and “refurbished” aren’t........

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