{"id":127759,"date":"2025-08-08T01:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/127759\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T01:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:06:12","slug":"where-to-buy-used-or-refurbished-apple-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/127759\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to Buy Used or Refurbished Apple Products"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple products are great, but the price of entry isn\u2019t exactly cheap, especially when you get to its higher-end devices. Thankfully, because of Apple\u2019s typically excellent build quality and long-lasting software support, if you\u2019re not a bleeding-edge-of-tech early adopter sicko like me, it\u2019s actually a pretty good idea to buy used or refurbished iPhones<\/a>, iPads<\/a>, Macs<\/a>, and even AirPods<\/a>. Heck, even if you are, sometimes you need a secondary to run the macOS or iOS betas, right?<\/p>\n

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\u2019d have to be particular about granular, nerdy details or a serious power user to notice a difference between using an iPhone 12<\/a> and an iPhone 16<\/a>, or an M1 MacBook Air<\/a> and an M4 MacBook Air<\/a>. Yes, there are physical differences, but if you\u2019re just browsing the web and sending emails, scrolling TikTok, or playing the latest games \u2013 at least, the few even available for macOS \u2013 you\u2019ll get plenty of bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s device insurance program. It also opens you up for issues if what you\u2019re buying was returned for a defect, isn\u2019t packed well for shipping, or the refurbisher you bought it from didn\u2019t do a good job cleaning it up or replacing broken components. <\/p>\n

Luckily, I\u2019ve bought used Apple gear from a number of sources, so I\u2019m here to share the ways that have worked best for me.<\/p>\n

\"null\"<\/a>Apple Certified Refurbished<\/p>\n

The best way to buy a used Apple product is straight from the source: Apple\u2019s online Certified Refurbished store<\/a>. Here, you can buy everything from recent-generation iPhones<\/a> to AirPods and Macs. You won\u2019t get the lowest price from Apple, of course; but what you do get is a pristine product, backed by Apple itself as though it\u2019s brand spankin\u2019 new. <\/p>\n

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\u2019d 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. <\/p>\n

The drawbacks are few, but they\u2019re there. Apple\u2019s refurbished price point isn\u2019t as low as what you\u2019d get elsewhere \u2013 for instance, an iPhone 15 Pro with 1TB of storage<\/a> 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 <\/a>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\u2019t offer the same 12-month 0% financing for Certified Refurbished products as it does for new ones bought with its in-house credit card.<\/p>\n

Mac Of All Trades<\/p>\n

Another great option, if you want a refurbished device in solid condition but at a lower price, is Mac Of All Trades<\/a>. This company has specialized in refurbished Apple products since 1995, and of the times I\u2019ve used it, both as a seller and a buyer, I\u2019ve been satisfied.<\/p>\n

Mac Of All Trades\u2019 pricing is often better than other outlets \u2013 a 256GB iPhone 16 Pro<\/a> goes for less, at $777, than the same phone at Amazon<\/a>. And if you\u2019re a collector, it\u2019s a great low-hassle resource for picking up older Apple products like the 2013 Mac Pro<\/a> (aka the \u201ctrashcan Mac\u201d) or the 2015 MacBook Pro<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

The biggest weakness of Mac of All Trades is its inventory \u2013 it has what it has, so you\u2019ll 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\u2019t care which as long as it\u2019s less than three years old? Mac of All Trades might be for you.<\/p>\n

\"null\"<\/a>Best Buy<\/p>\n

The online retail world is often chock full of deals on used or refurbished iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple accessories. Best Buy\u2019s open box selection is a good example I\u2019ve used, as it often still means it\u2019s a brand-new device sold at a discount because it was returned barely used or not at all, or arrived at Best Buy\u2019s loading dock in damaged packaging. The savings aren\u2019t massive, but you still stand a good chance of being able to add AppleCare and will likely still get Apple\u2019s full one-year warranty.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD or a 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro<\/a> that\u2019s $399 cheaper than it was when it was brand new. Best Buy\u2019s refurbished Apple products generally come with a 90-day warranty.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve only ever had to take one open-box purchase back \u2013 a Mac Studio that had wiggled loose of the plastic strip Best Buy used to secure it in the shipping box \u2013 and it was a fast, painless process. But be mindful of time: Best Buy\u2019s standard return policy is only 15 days (60 days if you\u2019re part of Best Buy Plus or have a My Best Buy Membership) for most products, or 14 days if it\u2019s a device like an iPhone that you have to activate with a carrier.<\/p>\n

Amazon\/Woot<\/p>\n

Very similar to Best Buy, Amazon offers refurbished products at cut rates. You can get to \u201cAmazon Renewed\u201d Apple products<\/a> either by going to the company\u2019s 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<\/a> that, as I write this, is priced at just $899, a temporary deal that could come up again after it expires. That\u2019s a wild price, especially considering Apple charges $1,679 for the exact same machine<\/a> in refurbished condition. <\/p>\n

Amazon categorizes that particular Mac Studio as \u201cRenewed Premium,\u201d meaning it has<\/a> \u201cno signs of cosmetic damage,\u201d like scratches or dents, that are visible from 12 inches away, and is guaranteed for a year. Whether you trust the company\u2019s refurbishment process is almost irrelevant with that guarantee, but for what it\u2019s worth, Amazon says its Renewed products undergo \u201ca full diagnostic test, replacement of any faulty parts, and a thorough cleaning process.\u201d <\/p>\n

Amazon-owned Woot is another option if you\u2019re in a nonspecific mood for deals. Woot doesn\u2019t have a built-in search function. Instead, you go there and sift through categories like Phones & Accessories<\/a> or Laptops<\/a> and hope that one of the temporary Apple products it\u2019s offering is something you\u2019re after. The actual prices there aren\u2019t always the best, but the warranties can be outstanding, like the straightforward 2-year limited warranty on an iPhone 12 Mini<\/a> I spotted while writing this guide. Act fast, though \u2013 Woot\u2019s deals are always temporary.<\/p>\n

Swappa<\/p>\n

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 \u201cNo Junk, No Jerks\u201d and has strict listing standards<\/a> 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\u2019ve had my own listings rejected because my pictures weren\u2019t clear enough or because I hadn\u2019t confirmed that all of the original hardware \u2013 like chargers and the like \u2013 would be included.<\/p>\n

Swappa\u2019s policy<\/a> states that buyers are entitled to refunds when they don\u2019t 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\u2019re also banned from buying on the site.<\/p>\n

Its policies don\u2019t mean it\u2019s free from scammers, though; after all, you\u2019re 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\u2019 reviews, read their product descriptions for any red flags, and scrutinize the pictures for signs that they\u2019ve been doctored or the device has been creatively photographed. It\u2019s probably best to avoid brand new accounts, too, though I\u2019ve taken chances before if the seller took great care in their pictures and description of a device, and I haven\u2019t been burned yet. <\/p>\n

eBay<\/p>\n

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\u2019re 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\u2019t showing signs of slipping quality or service. <\/p>\n

There are a couple of good reasons to go to eBay for your second-hand iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and more. For one, it\u2019s 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<\/a> that comes with vetted sellers, a one-to-two-year warranty, and free shipping and 30-day free returns policy. <\/p>\n

The challenge with eBay, aside from the need to trust faceless strangers and keep watch for signs that they\u2019ll 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\u2019ve gotten around that is by clicking on one of those, then scrolling down to look at the \u201cMore like this\u201d carousel at the bottom. You\u2019ll usually find one or two listings that are obviously from individual sellers using real pictures of the specific device you\u2019re buying this way, and often at a lower price. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple products are great, but the price of entry isn\u2019t exactly cheap, especially when you get to its…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":127760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[611,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-127759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114990467123509751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}