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Phones are expensive, but they don't have to be that expensive.

Everyone wants a high-end phone, but the problem is bringing yourself to actually pay the high prices required for one. Some people are happy to pay retail, but others are looking for a deal — and one of the ways to find discounts is to look for refurbished phones.

However, as you'd expect, buying a refurbished phone isn't as simple as walking into a store and asking for one — it takes a bit more research and understanding. To help you navigate it, we have all of the information you need right here to make a good choice in buying a refurbished phone.

What does 'refurbished' mean?

Even though we see "refurbished" thrown around a lot, that doesn't mean it's necessarily a standardized term. You may often see it used interchangeably with "recertified," "reconditioned," or just "open box" or "pre-owned." No matter the exact word, it generally refers to a product that was manufactured to sell as new, but for whatever reason was returned to the manufacturer — either by a store, reseller or customer — and is now ready to be sold again. They're sold at a discount, and that's why people are interested in them.

The terminology changes, but the idea is the same.

Refurbished devices could have simply been opened and returned to a store, but could have also been returned to the manufacturer for a malfunction that was then fixed before selling again. Most of the time, depending on the country where you're shopping, a product that was purchased and opened — and possibly not even removed from the packaging or powered on — can no longer be sold as "new" and must be sold as refurbished instead. Stores, resellers, or companies themselves then have to discount the device because it technically isn't new-in-box and therefore can't command the same price as a new phone.

Unfortunately, it's hard to know when shopping for a refurbished phone why exactly the phone has made its way to refurbished status or what was done to the phone to then certify that it was refurbished.

What to look for when shopping refurbished

The issue with refurbished phones is that you don't necessarily know which of the possible pathways it took to become refurbished in the first place.The truth is you may never know, even after you have the phone in your hands. But there are some good tips to follow when shopping for a refurbished phone.

• Buy from the original company or reputable store whenever possible. They do the best refurbishing process, and can actually offer some sort of guarantee that the phone is in good, working condition.
• See what warranty, if any, is offered for the refurbished phones. Some manufacturers will offer a full warranty for refurbished phones, while third parties typically won't.
• Read the fine print on the sale — even though it may be hard to find. Most refurbished or open-box phones are sold "as is" with little or no option for returns or refunds.
• Keep in mind the age of the device you're looking to buy. Sometimes companies won't be selling refurbished versions of the latest phones, but instead a model or two older. It may be nicely discounted, but much of that discount is likely due to it just being old.
• If the price is too good to be true ... then it probably is! If you see a retailer selling a late-model "refurbished" phone for something like half the retail price or less, there's likely some sort of catch you've yet to find. Refurbished phones will be cheap, but they won't be a steal.

Where to buy refurbished

If you're doing your researched and are ready to buy refurbished, here are some great places to look that often have refurbished, recertified, pre-owned, or open-box phones.

• Best Buy sells refurbished, pre-owned, and open-box phones from a variety of companies at discounts ranging from 10-30% off. Open-box deals in particular are great because they're typically devices that have just been purchased, opened, and returned, not even used. Because of this, you can often find the latest models of phones for sale, rather than just old models.
• Samsung sells certified pre-owned devices, typically at least one model year old, at solid but not substantial discounts. The big upside of buying from Samsung directly is getting a full one-year warranty as if you bought it new.
• Amazon has a "renewed" refurbished electronics section where you can find many last-generation devices at solid discounts. There's more variety of conditions, though, and it isn't always clear exactly what you're going to get when buying because the products come from a variety of companies that don't follow the same refurbishing process.
• Amazon Warehouse is often a better choice for discounted phones. Warehouse doesn't technically have "refurbished" phones, but instead sells opened-and-returned brand new (or gently used) products, which can be found at similar discounts to refurbs — but Warehouse has more latest-generation devices to choose from.
• Gazelle refurbishes and sells phones it buys from consumers, and typically offers up popular devices from Samsung and Google that it can turn the biggest profits on. This means there's a small selection, and it may not always offer the latest devices, but has some great prices.
• Verizon has certified pre-owned devices, but the selection is small and isn't always the best deal. For the most part, it only sells pre-owned Samsung phones. Buying certified from the carrier gives you a bit of security, though, as Verizon will guarantee you're getting a working device and offers a 90-day warranty.
• T-Mobile sometimes sells certified pre-owned devices at deep discounts, but stock fluctuates regularly and is generally limited to Samsung and/or LG phones when available. The carrier will also offer similar support to that of a brand new device, so you do have a safety net there.
• AT&T technically has certified pre-owned phones, but they're only available online and at any given time you may find just one or two low-end models. You're likely better off buying an unlocked refurbished phone elsewhere.
• Sprint lands in the same situation as the other carriers, offering certified pre-owned phones but often just one or two models — usually from Samsung —available depending on when you look.

Do your research, pick the right store and compare prices before buying, and you're likely to come away with a good phone at a better price than you would ever find on a new-in-box phone.

Update January 2019: All of the latest and greatest places to buy a refurbished phone can still be found right here.