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Ipad2 - Refurb for $320 or New Microcenter $360
- Thread starter caseynsahn
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I finally got an iPad 2 refurb from apple for 319 and I cannot tell any difference from new other than the generic iPad box it came in. To me it's worth the 50.00 savings.
I'd rather buy a refurb from Apple than used or refurbed from someone else. At least I know Apple puts in a new battery, covers and goes thru it for any additional issues it might have and repairs it before selling them.
I can't say that about anyone else.
I can't say that about anyone else.
If saving saving $40 doesn't mean much to you then go with new. You'll also have it immediately.
My experience with Micro Center is that a lot of what they sell is refurbished stuff marked as new.
Save the money go refurb and use the extra cash for a case of some other accessory.
HiddenPuppy
HiddenPuppy
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That's why I don't buy from Ebayer's who list as "New-See Other Details". It's a shame that retailers do this as well. It's like Gamestop selling opened games and sold as New that employees have taken it home to play.
FWIW, the ones from Microcenter are brand new units. They're just $40 off the $399 list price. $360 new vs $319 refurb, I'd likely go with the refurb and save $43 (6% sales tax), but it'd depend on whether $43 was worth picking it up on the way home vs. ordering and waiting for it to be delivered.
I'd be surprised if a national retailer consistently did as you claim; since this practice is illegal, I'd expect they'd get slapped by the FTC pretty quickly. Have you filed any complaints?
I've bought stuff from them for fifteen years (I'm a couple miles from a store) and have never encountered anything sold as new that wasn't. Refurbs and open-box items have always been clearly marked as such. The openbox MBP I bought a couple years ago had even been wiped/restaged by the tech dept before being made available.
Like I said retailers such as Gamestop are notorious for passing used items as new. Newegg.com has now begun doing this as well, check resellerratings.com.
I prefer not to trust retailers as I would with buying a refurb from Apple where they specifically state in writing what they do to their refurbed iPad's.
Tough call. One must also compare the real cost difference, tax for sale and perhaps gas for trip to MC. The Microcenter in northern NJ is in a bad area so they state lets them charge only 3% sales tax to help local businesses (I purchased a 13" MacBook and 13" MBP from them partly due to the low tax and great price). A refurb from Apple (and I have purchased a refurb iMac from Apple - looked just like new) cost me 7% in sales tax.
Anyway, it is a close call but if you need to spend and extra $10 in gas/tolls then I might incline to he refurb. I am still kicking the idea of a iPad around and the model of interest to me would be the base iPad 2 it would cost me about $12 in gas/tolls so for me that would be $383 (MC New) vs $342 (Apple refurb) so $40 for new. Very close call but I might incline towards the new and purchase when I need to be in that area to save the gas... Not sure if that helps but there it is. I About seven months ago I was thinking about an iPad vs $79 Kindle and picked up the Kindle and I am so glad I did as it is very light and easy to hold for hours. If it wasn't for that I would likely now own an iPad - of course if they made a 4 1/2 or 5" iPhone that would be me preference.
Anyway, it is a close call but if you need to spend and extra $10 in gas/tolls then I might incline to he refurb. I am still kicking the idea of a iPad around and the model of interest to me would be the base iPad 2 it would cost me about $12 in gas/tolls so for me that would be $383 (MC New) vs $342 (Apple refurb) so $40 for new. Very close call but I might incline towards the new and purchase when I need to be in that area to save the gas... Not sure if that helps but there it is. I About seven months ago I was thinking about an iPad vs $79 Kindle and picked up the Kindle and I am so glad I did as it is very light and easy to hold for hours. If it wasn't for that I would likely now own an iPad - of course if they made a 4 1/2 or 5" iPhone that would be me preference.
Why not save when you can?
I looked at my card statement the other day. All those $20-$40 charges add up to a lot of money every month especially when the list goes on for pages!
When I bought my iPad from them a few weeks ago, the manufacture date was two weeks earlier than my purchase date. Can't get much newer than that.
BTW: the Micro Center near Philly has plenty of stock of all models and colors of the new iPad.
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I know nearly nothing about Gamestop; I rarely have time or interest in games, so thus never paid them any attention.
I believe the discussion was about Microcenter, which seems to be a whole different animal. They do sometimes sell openbox items at a discount, but the $360 price is for brand new never opened. If they got one back and sold it openbox it'd be another 10% lower ($324).
I wouldn't touch an Apple refurb other than directly from Apple.
In any event, it's trivially easy for someone buying an ipad to confirm for sure what they got from Microcenter is new: Just plug in the serial # on Apple.com and see when the warranty started.
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Rest assured that if Microcenter sells it as new, it's new. I don't even know how this tangent came about, if there was a history of MicroCenter defrauding customers we'd have heard about it. I've been a customer for well over a decade and I've never seen anything like what the poster suggested.