What's the deal with refurbished phones?

[Dr Pepperz]

What's the deal with refurbished phones? And is there any way to tell if they were refurbished with original quality parts?
So I bought a Galaxy S9+ on eBay listed as refurbished and the seller mentions that these phones were customer/carrier returns that have signs of blemish/scratches. The phone pictured didn't have noticeable scratches and the price seems good so I pulled the trigger. (seller is CPH2020, item S9+ for $264.99). Now I have the phone and the screen and back glass look great, maybe just a micro-scratch here and there. But looking at the bezel it's obvious it's been dropped several times and a couple spots have been went over with some kind of de-burring tool. So based on the bezel impacts I would say the screen has been replaced and probably the back glass too. Is this typical for a customer/carrier return? Maybe it was an insurance return that they brought back to life.

So I started wondering if I should be worried about how good of a job was done in the refurbishing process and if quality parts were used. Basically what are the chances this thing is still built to last? With a new phone or even used in great shape I think it's a reasonable assumption that the phone should last a long time because it hasn't been impacted.

Looking at the listing again there's a couple other things that make wonder if I should be concerned. The listing picture shows a Samsung box and what look like original accessories (seeing a second hand phone with original box and accessories always makes me feel warm and fuzzy). On further inspection the box is from a Note 8 and the charger is a cheap knock off that only looks original in the listing.

The only other thing I noticed that looked out of the ordinary is the developer options are enabled on the phone. I don't know if that gives any clue to what this thing has been through.

I've got 30 days for a return so any input about any of this would be greatly appreciated

[yurais]

Originally Posted by Dr Pepperz

What's the deal with refurbished phones? And is there any way to tell if they were refurbished with original quality parts?
So I bought a Galaxy S9+ on eBay listed as refurbished and the seller mentions that these phones were customer/carrier returns that have signs of blemish/scratches. The phone pictured didn't have noticeable scratches and the price seems good so I pulled the trigger. (seller is CPH2020, item S9+ for $264.99). Now I have the phone and the screen and back glass look great, maybe just a micro-scratch here and there. But looking at the bezel it's obvious it's been dropped several times and a couple spots have been went over with some kind of de-burring tool. So based on the bezel impacts I would say the screen has been replaced and probably the back glass too. Is this typical for a customer/carrier return? Maybe it was an insurance return that they brought back to life.

So I started wondering if I should be worried about how good of a job was done in the refurbishing process and if quality parts were used. Basically what are the chances this thing is still built to last? With a new phone or even used in great shape I think it's a reasonable assumption that the phone should last a long time because it hasn't been impacted.

Looking at the listing again there's a couple other things that make wonder if I should be concerned. The listing picture shows a Samsung box and what look like original accessories (seeing a second hand phone with original box and accessories always makes me feel warm and fuzzy). On further inspection the box is from a Note 8 and the charger is a cheap knock off that only looks original in the listing.

The only other thing I noticed that looked out of the ordinary is the developer options are enabled on the phone. I don't know if that gives any clue to what this thing has been through.

I've got 30 days for a return so any input about any of this would be greatly appreciated

If you dont think comfortable , just return it .

You could also ask the seller to evacuate some of your doubts .

As far as I know , when you get a phone from the insurance , they don't provide any box or accessories, I am not sure about the opposite way...

If it says refurbished , most probably something has been replaced .

As a service technician , I don't trust a serviced phone, specially on the ip68 compliance ...

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