If you buy a refurbished smartphone, you can save a lot of money, according to Stiftung Warentest. Six out of nine refurbished shops tested are good. A used iPhone 11, for example, is up to 230 euros cheaper than a new device.
If you want to protect your wallet and the environment, use your smartphone for as long as possible. But if you do need a new one, it's best to buy it as a refurbished used device if you don't want to spend a small fortune. Stiftung Warentest tested nine refurbished shops and approved six. Five of them are sales platforms where different dealers offer smartphones.
For the test, the testers ordered mobile phones of the lowest quality level. This means that the devices have scratches and other signs of use, but should be fully functional. On average, used cell phones were a third cheaper than new ones, and at one retailer they were even 50 percent cheaper. Basically, if you don't commit to one color variant, you can save even more.
In addition to the condition of the devices, which accounted for 65 percent of the overall rating, Warentest checked how well the shops inform customers when shopping and how they process the order. The price saving was determined but not taken into account for the quality assessment.
The test winner is the Back Market sales platform with an overall rating of 1.8. Shopping is going well there (2.3), the quality of the smartphones delivered is almost very good (1.6). Ebay Refurbished, a sales platform, also took second place. The shop received a quality rating of 2.1 and good marks for purchasing and quality.
The best online retailer that only offers its own goods is Rebuy with an overall rating of 2.2. Although shopping there is only satisfactory (2.7), the quality of the refurbished smartphones is second best (1.8). Asgoodasnew follows closely behind with a quality rating of 2.2. Although Warentest also rated the purchase as good (2.4), the quality of the delivered devices was not quite as good as with Rebuy (2.3).
If you want to save the most money, you should get a refurbished smartphone from the third-placed online retailer Clevertronic, which the examiners were the only test candidate to attest to high price savings. With the others it was mostly only average.
At Clevertronic, an iPhone 11 was a whopping 230 euros cheaper than a new device from Apple. When buying a Samsung Galaxy S20, Warentest even saved 300 euros. Purchasing there was satisfactory (2.6), and the quality of the smartphones delivered was good (2.4).
