Apple products are great, but the price of entry isn’t exactly cheap, especially when you get to its higher-end devices. Thankfully, because of Apple’s typically excellent build quality and long-lasting software support, if you’re not a bleeding-edge-of-tech early adopter sicko like me, it’s actually a pretty good idea to buy used or refurbished iPhones, iPads, Macs, and even AirPods. Heck, even if you are, sometimes you need a secondary to run the macOS or iOS betas, right?

The last four years or so have been an especially good time to buy used Apple gear, as its devices have become so powerful and efficient that you’d have to be particular about granular, nerdy details or a serious power user to notice a difference between using an iPhone 12 and an iPhone 16, or an M1 MacBook Air and an M4 MacBook Air. Yes, there are physical differences, but if you’re just browsing the web and sending emails, scrolling TikTok, or playing the latest games – at least, the few even available for macOS – you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck.

There are reasons not to go this route, of course. A big one is that, depending on what channel you go through, you may be giving up the ability to sign up for AppleCare, Apple’s device insurance program. It also opens you up for issues if what you’re buying was returned for a defect, isn’t packed well for shipping, or the refurbisher you bought it from didn’t do a good job cleaning it up or replacing broken components.

Luckily, I’ve bought used Apple gear from a number of sources, so I’m here to share the ways that have worked best for me.

nullApple Certified Refurbished

The best way to buy a used Apple product is straight from the source: Apple’s online Certified Refurbished store. Here, you can buy everything from recent-generation iPhones to AirPods and Macs. You won’t get the lowest price from Apple, of course; but what you do get is a pristine product, backed by Apple itself as though it’s brand spankin’ new.

When you buy from Apple, the company has erased all traces of wear and tear, and the shipment arrives in the same box and condition it would if it was new. Apple Certified Refurbished products also come with the same one-year warranty as an equivalent fresh device you’d buy from the company. You can add AppleCare in case something goes wrong with it or it gets stolen, giving you a cheap or free way to fix or replace it. The company also offers free next-day delivery when you buy from its Certified Refurbished selection.

The drawbacks are few, but they’re there. Apple’s refurbished price point isn’t as low as what you’d get elsewhere – for instance, an iPhone 15 Pro with 1TB of storage costs $1,189 as of this writing, a $210 savings, if you buy from Apple itself. Meanwhile, the first same-specced Amazon Renewed iPhone 15 Pro I clicked on goes for a mere $781. Also, be ready to pay Apple for it in full, up-front, even if you own an Apple Card, because Apple doesn’t offer the same 12-month 0% financing for Certified Refurbished products as it does for new ones bought with its in-house credit card.

Mac Of All Trades

Another great option, if you want a refurbished device in solid condition but at a lower price, is Mac Of All Trades. This company has specialized in refurbished Apple products since 1995, and of the times I’ve used it, both as a seller and a buyer, I’ve been satisfied.

Mac Of All Trades’ pricing is often better than other outlets – a 256GB iPhone 16 Pro goes for less, at $777, than the same phone at Amazon. And if you’re a collector, it’s a great low-hassle resource for picking up older Apple products like the 2013 Mac Pro (aka the “trashcan Mac”) or the 2015 MacBook Pro, a favorite of the Intel era of Apple laptops thanks to a keyboard that pre-dates the failure-prone one with butterfly switches that Apple shipped for a few years. The company also offers free shipping and a 90-day warranty, as well as 0% financing through Affirm.

The biggest weakness of Mac of All Trades is its inventory – it has what it has, so you’ll want to think of it as more of a place to browse for cool stuff than as a resource for specific devices. Need a relatively recent iPhone and don’t care which as long as it’s less than three years old? Mac of All Trades might be for you.

nullBest Buy

The online retail world is often chock full of deals on used or refurbished iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple accessories. Best Buy’s open box selection is a good example I’ve used, as it often still means it’s a brand-new device sold at a discount because it was returned barely used or not at all, or arrived at Best Buy’s loading dock in damaged packaging. The savings aren’t massive, but you still stand a good chance of being able to add AppleCare and will likely still get Apple’s full one-year warranty.

The retail giant also has its own in-house refurbishing program, which can mean heavily-slashed prices for fairly recent and still powerful machines. As of this writing, you can get $1,499 off for a 16-inch M2 MacBook Pro with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD or a 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro that’s $399 cheaper than it was when it was brand new. Best Buy’s refurbished Apple products generally come with a 90-day warranty.

One especially nice benefit is that since this is Best Buy, you probably live near a store and can return it, for free, in person, rather than shipping it back. I’ve only ever had to take one open-box purchase back – a Mac Studio that had wiggled loose of the plastic strip Best Buy used to secure it in the shipping box – and it was a fast, painless process. But be mindful of time: Best Buy’s standard return policy is only 15 days (60 days if you’re part of Best Buy Plus or have a My Best Buy Membership) for most products, or 14 days if it’s a device like an iPhone that you have to activate with a carrier.

Amazon/Woot

Very similar to Best Buy, Amazon offers refurbished products at cut rates. You can get to “Amazon Renewed” Apple products either by going to the company’s landing page or looking out for a refurbished option on the listing for a specific product. Amazon can offer stellar discounts through this store, such as a 2023 M2 Max Mac Studio with a 38-core GPU that, as I write this, is priced at just $899, a temporary deal that could come up again after it expires. That’s a wild price, especially considering Apple charges $1,679 for the exact same machine in refurbished condition.

Amazon categorizes that particular Mac Studio as “Renewed Premium,” meaning it has “no signs of cosmetic damage,” like scratches or dents, that are visible from 12 inches away, and is guaranteed for a year. Whether you trust the company’s refurbishment process is almost irrelevant with that guarantee, but for what it’s worth, Amazon says its Renewed products undergo “a full diagnostic test, replacement of any faulty parts, and a thorough cleaning process.”

Amazon-owned Woot is another option if you’re in a nonspecific mood for deals. Woot doesn’t have a built-in search function. Instead, you go there and sift through categories like Phones & Accessories or Laptops and hope that one of the temporary Apple products it’s offering is something you’re after. The actual prices there aren’t always the best, but the warranties can be outstanding, like the straightforward 2-year limited warranty on an iPhone 12 Mini I spotted while writing this guide. Act fast, though – Woot’s deals are always temporary.

Swappa

One of my favorite services to buy and sell used Apple products through is Swappa. Think of it as the Craigslist electronics section, but with standards. The company promises “No Junk, No Jerks” and has strict listing standards that forbid selling devices with problems like cracked glass or water damage. Products sold there must have all the same functions they did when they were new, too. I’ve had my own listings rejected because my pictures weren’t clear enough or because I hadn’t confirmed that all of the original hardware – like chargers and the like – would be included.

Swappa’s policy states that buyers are entitled to refunds when they don’t get what they were promised, but the company encourages them to try working things out with the seller first before escalating to Swappa itself. The site also incentivizes sellers to behave by doing things like forbidding the sale of items that have been returned more than once. And if Swappa decides to ban a seller, they’re also banned from buying on the site.

Its policies don’t mean it’s free from scammers, though; after all, you’re still trusting people on the internet. That means you need to treat things you buy here just like you would an eBay auction: check the sellers’ reviews, read their product descriptions for any red flags, and scrutinize the pictures for signs that they’ve been doctored or the device has been creatively photographed. It’s probably best to avoid brand new accounts, too, though I’ve taken chances before if the seller took great care in their pictures and description of a device, and I haven’t been burned yet.

eBay

The biggest auction site on the internet, eBay is still sort of the Wild West when it comes to buying used anything, Apple products included. You can get fantastic deals on the site, but you should always keep your wits about you. Beyond good pictures and thorough descriptions, make sure the seller you’re interacting with has a long history on the site and, even if they appear to have a flawless feedback history, that their recent feedback isn’t showing signs of slipping quality or service.

There are a couple of good reasons to go to eBay for your second-hand iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and more. For one, it’s been around long enough that some of its sellers have decades-long reputations to protect. Another is that the company has a certified refurbished program that comes with vetted sellers, a one-to-two-year warranty, and free shipping and 30-day free returns policy.

The challenge with eBay, aside from the need to trust faceless strangers and keep watch for signs that they’ll screw you over, lies in its search results, which are often flooded with high-volume sellers who use generic pictures for their inventory. One way I’ve gotten around that is by clicking on one of those, then scrolling down to look at the “More like this” carousel at the bottom. You’ll usually find one or two listings that are obviously from individual sellers using real pictures of the specific device you’re buying this way, and often at a lower price.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom’s Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn’t be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.