Do you regularly change your smartphone? Do you want a top-of-the-range model without breaking the bank? The solution is to buy a used or refurbished device.
The second-hand smartphone market has exploded. According to a survey conducted by Recommerce, more thana quarter of French people have already bought a used or refurbished smartphone. But this type of purchase involves some risks. Follow our advice to avoid pitfalls and other unpleasant surprises.
To begin with, you have to differentiate between a used smartphone and a refurbished smartphone. The first is a device already used and sold by its owner, in its box or not. The second involves going through an approved center where the device will be checked by a technician to verify its operation and where it will be emptied of its data. If necessary, it will be repaired and finally repackaged to be offered for sale. A refurbished smartphone will therefore often be a little more expensive.
Choose your purchasing channel
You know which smartphone you want to buy, you must now choose the channel through which you are going to make this acquisition. You can turn to classified ads and auction sites like Le Bon Coin, eBay and others, or go to reseller platforms or to repackaging sites.
If the first allow you to get in direct contact with the seller, no guarantee on the condition of the smartphone sold is offered. And the risk of falling on a malicious seller who tries to sell a counterfeit, a stolen or unusable device exists. It will therefore be necessary to be particularly careful. An exceptionally low price should therefore put you in tune. This is not necessarily a real deal.
Once the seller has been chosen, consult the reviews of other customers and check if the advertisement is associated with an address or a telephone number… How and how quickly the seller will answer your questions can also help you. inspire confidence (or not). That he can provide you with the purchase invoice is also a good point.
You can also go through reseller platforms or the marketplaces of sites known as Priceminister or Fnac for example. Here again, some checks are in order. Read the opinions of previous buyers, find out about the country in which the seller is located, if he sends a purchase invoice, if he is a professional or an individual …
Another solution: turn to a reconditioning specialist or a certification platform. There are several that work quite similarly. To put it simply, they are meant to guarantee the quality of the used smartphone that you are going to buy.
The Certideal platform acts as a trusted third party between the seller (an individual) and the buyer. Once you have chosen a device, this site will recover it, make it pass a battery of tests in order to verify its authenticity, its quality and reset it to zero. If the device does not comply with the announcement, Certideal will encourage the seller to review their offer. Depending on the condition of the mobile, the platform offers a warranty of six to eighteen months. The references offered are mostly Apple and Samsung devices.
The YesYes platform also acts as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer and works like Certideal. The smartphone sought by the buyer is subjected to a series of checks in the workshop then is certified before being sent to the buyer. The warranty is then six months, less than Certideal therefore, but you should know that the cable, the charger are systematically changed and that the battery is replaced if the charge capacity is less than 80%. For now, only Apple smartphones are in the catalog but it should soon open to Samsung.
Among the players in reconditioning, there are also Love2recycle, Recommerce, Remade and BackMarket.
Check the status of the smartphone
Whether you are buying a second-hand smartphone through a repackaging platform or a classifieds site, you need to check the condition of the smartphone. Here are some things to check to avoid unpleasant surprises.
- Check the general condition of the smartphone and that it corresponds to the advertisement. Check whether there are any scratches or shocks that would have been forgotten.
- Test all buttons. They should not get stuck or get too deep.
- Check if the touch screen responds well.
- Check that the photo sensors are working. Ditto for the flash.
- Take a few seconds of the video as you speak and replay it to verify that the mic and speakers are working. Also connect a wired headset to the smartphone to test the jack (or lightning or USB type-C, in the absence of a jack).
- Check if the smartphone is unlocked (if the advertisement indicates it) by inserting your SIM card.
- Make sure that the IMEI code of the smartphone is the same as on the invoice and the box.
The transaction
If you are dealing with a repackaging site or a professional online salesperson, make sure they have after-sales service easily reachable. Check the T & Cs, delivery times, but also reviews on said site, for example on consumer site forums. If you only read negative comments, go your way, it will avoid any unpleasant surprises.
If you are dealing with an individual, choose to have the device delivered by hand. This will allow you to check its condition. If the seller is too far away or you don’t have time for a meeting, you can request a COD shipment. In other words, you only pay when you have received the device. Another solution, pay your purchase with Paypal which offers some interesting conditions (refund if an order is never delivered, help to settle a dispute with the seller …).
And if ever after buying your smartphone you discover a defect that greatly reduces its use or a hidden defect, do not panic. Know that the law (article 1641 of the Civil Code) protects you whether the seller is a professional or an individual. You must act within two years after the discovery of the defect and five years after the purchase. If you prove the existence of the said defect, you will be able to obtain full or partial reimbursement, as well as compensation in the event of damage.