Good day everyone, today, I’d like to clear the air a bit about these two states of electronic products, refurbished and used.

I for one would love to have a second-hand galaxy note 9 to a new galaxy note 8, this is because believe it or not, both would become second hand once they’re out of the box, hence, I’d prefer a neatly used higher grade electronics to a new lower grade electronics. This is all because there’s no much money to throw around especially considering the state of the country, else, the best would’ve been to go for the new product of what you want.



Both used and refurbished phones are a second-hand product but one is definitely better than the other. I’m an experienced Android user and have followed android from the days of Android Froyo (Android 2.2), I must say I’ve experienced different android hardware.

Googling which is better between used phones and refurbished phones, the conclusion you’d get is that refurbished is usually better but from experience, I totally doubt that.

Refurbished phone are phones returned to the producer on the grounds that it was bad due to a certain reason(s). Phones are then fixed either by the producer or sold to an authorized refurbishing company which then “fix” the phone and sell it at a cheaper rate after testing. Used phone, on the other hand, are not returned on the grounds that it is bad, rather, it is returned by the user on the grounds that he/she wants an upgrade.

Looking at issues our phones develop sometimes, fixing it might actually resolve the immediate problem but many a time, it creates even another issue at subsequent use. Also, a replacement part is never like the original part and that is why I drop my phone once it develops a mechanical fault.

How does one differentiate original from refurbished?

Refurbished phones usually come with shiny stickers on the body for phones that have none replacement battery, or the stickers are placed on the fastening nuts of the phone for phones that have a removable cover or battery. This shows the likelihood of the phone to develop faults and these stickers help the refurbishing company to identify their phones and easily accept it from the user.

But this is Nigeria! How many of us have returned a second-hand phone to a seller in computer village and come back smiling?

cc lalasticlala