Refubrished iPhones, Third Party seller or Apple?

Daer2332 wrote:

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a refubrished 16 Pro Max from Amazon Premium Renewed (Sold and Shipped by Amazon) has anyone here had any good expreiences with Amazon refurbs or should I buy from Back Market or Best Buy open box/refurb. or should I opt for Apple's refurbs?

If you want a second opinion. Buy from Apple ONLY. We see people here daily who bought a refurbished iPhone from other sources and they didn't get what they thought they were going to get. While "Premium Renewed" sounds great, you won't know if it has an authentic screen or battery in the phone. It won't have any warranty with Apple, so if something goes wrong, Amazon will have to ship it to someone, not associated with Apple. Just DON'T BUY IT.

When you buy a refurbished phone from the Apple refurbished store, you get a one year warranty from Apple and you are assured the screen, battery and all parts are authentic parts.

Here is a link to the Apple Refurbished Store --> Certified Refurbished Products - Apple

I third the notion to buy only from Apple. eBay, Facebook Marketplace and other such sources are a hotbed of stolen or lost phones (mostly stolen). You end up with a phone that arrives activation locked and the seller disappears with your money.

As explained by lobsterghost1 and sberman, Amazon Renewed only means someone there looked over a used phone to make sure you can set it up as new, and maybe cleaned up dirt and light scratches. It will otherwise look the way they got it.

The only third party site I would even begin to recommend would be gazelle.com. They buy and sell used devices. But, they sort items they have on hand by Fair, Good and Excellent, with the price increasing by rating. There are problems even with excellent. One is, they guarantee you'll get a charger for a phone that originally came with one. Except, that doesn't mean it will be a genuine Apple charger. There's also no telling how old the battery is, or what its condition is. You get what you get.

We once bought an iPhone 5 there marked as excellent. Um, not impressed. Overall, the phone looked nice, except most of the central area of the screen was pink from being swiped thousands of times. That is not excellent condition. And once you get up into Gazelle's Excellent pricing, you may as go to Apple's refurb page, where you will get a far superior device for pretty much the same cost.

Whatever you do, only purchase directly from Apple or an Authorized Apple Retailer. I believe Amazon is authorized, but third parties selling there are not.

Find Locations

Note also Amazon sells "renewed" (refurbished) Apple products, but these do not carry the same guarantees as buying official Apple Certified Refurbished gear.

This is what you get with Certified Refurbished iPhones ordered directly from Apple.

"Refurbished" phones sold by others typically do not include new batteries, new outer shells, a one-year Apple warranty, or the option to purchase extended AppleCare coverage.

The Apple store. Google search "refurbished iPhone 16 pro max" for your country. They don't always have them so you might have to search for a while. They also only sell the most recent two or three models.

Besides listening to the good advice here, I suggest you read this article below. So many things can go wrong when purchasing a used device from someone other than Apple.

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying … - Apple Community

Do NOT buy refurbished Apple products from Amazon or any other reseller than Apple. To do so is inviting a world of @#$&.

I bought a refurbished iPhone 13 Mini from Apple and it's been fine. It looked brand new when I bought it.

Check above again to confirm that Zurarczurx posted....

I bought a refurbished iPhone 13 Mini from Apple and it's been fine. It looked brand new when I bought it.

Refurbished items sold by Apple are eligible for Apple Care as well.

Carol B. wrote:

Besides listening to the good advice here, I suggest you read this article below. So many things can go wrong when purchasing a used device from someone other than Apple.

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying … - Apple Community

Thanks for posting this. You'd think since I wrote it, I'd have thought to post it!