For the past couple of weeks, I have been checking out refurbished apple computers. Daily, I will go on the apple store and a company called Smalldog Electronics. Lately, smalldog hasn't had much stock on refurbished macs, however, when I just looked they seem to be getting a bunch of different models on the entire lineup on June 13th. I'm assuming that Smalldog gets their refurbished models directly from apple. Does anyone know if it's common for an apple reseller to get a bunch of stock at once, or is this some kind of liquidation of refurbished machines?
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Smalldog Electronics...Refurbished Products
- Thread starter djtet
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one month ago, I wanted to buy a refurbished Airport Extreme basestation from them (they had by far the best deal), right before I would have finished college and would go back to Germany, but those idiots did not accept my German credit card... WTF, that's what Mastercard is for, you morons!!! being financially mobile!!!
neither did the Apple online store when I wanted to buy my tiBook... but that actually was good...
I only had a problem with 3 resellers in the US, Apple (I suppose it should be fine in the stores), Smalldog and ADIDAS!!! (WTF, they are a GERMAN company...)
back to smalldog, o.k., they did't want my money and I ordered the AE station from Amazon.com, BUT I still get a mail once a week in which they tell me that they don't accept my card. simply annoying!!!
If you have a US credit card, those bargains on refurbished products seem pretty nice to me...
vSpacken
vollspacken
Sorry to hear about not being able to use your ccard. I've heard that if you are in the US and actually go into a store the card will be fine...but if you try to order from a website, then some companies won't accept international ccards...However, I'm not sure if this is 100% correct.
With the smalldog situation, I was just wondering if it's normal practice for a reseller to get a bunch of stock every once in a while, or if this is some freak clearance sale to try and get rid of some inventory...if this is not normal practice then it adds more speculation to recent rumors.
Sorry to hear about not being able to use your ccard. I've heard that if you are in the US and actually go into a store the card will be fine...but if you try to order from a website, then some companies won't accept international ccards...However, I'm not sure if this is 100% correct.
With the smalldog situation, I was just wondering if it's normal practice for a reseller to get a bunch of stock every once in a while, or if this is some freak clearance sale to try and get rid of some inventory...if this is not normal practice then it adds more speculation to recent rumors.
Suggest that you want to be *really* careful with a refurbished unit regardless.
It's possible that you'll get a unit who's box was opened, there's nothing wrong with, and was simply repacked.
It's also possible you'll get a lemon that was sent in for service numerous times, was eventually replaced by Apple, and was then re-furbished by Apple and re-sold.
Buyer-beware.
It's possible that you'll get a unit who's box was opened, there's nothing wrong with, and was simply repacked.
It's also possible you'll get a lemon that was sent in for service numerous times, was eventually replaced by Apple, and was then re-furbished by Apple and re-sold.
Buyer-beware.
djtet
you are right, some do, some don't... ClubMac asks for ID verification before they ship and I think that that's fair... but just refusing to do business with someone like smalldog does ist just plain stupid, because people like me simply order their stuff from other resellers...
- but back to your point: I also wondered why smalldog have 180+ refurbished airport extreme basestations in stock at the time I checked for one. maybe apple sells refurbished items en gross to resellers or smalldog just calls them "refurbished" in order to be able to sell them under a certain pricerange that is set/fixed/recommended by Apple
however, the price is a good thing for customers..
[edit] I have no idea about the quality of refurbished products... [edit]
you are right, some do, some don't... ClubMac asks for ID verification before they ship and I think that that's fair... but just refusing to do business with someone like smalldog does ist just plain stupid, because people like me simply order their stuff from other resellers...
- but back to your point: I also wondered why smalldog have 180+ refurbished airport extreme basestations in stock at the time I checked for one. maybe apple sells refurbished items en gross to resellers or smalldog just calls them "refurbished" in order to be able to sell them under a certain pricerange that is set/fixed/recommended by Apple
however, the price is a good thing for customers..
[edit] I have no idea about the quality of refurbished products... [edit]
I think that in both of these cases buying a referb is great. If it is simply a repack you get a new machine for less. If it was a lemon, it goes through the hands of apple techs that will put it through tests and fix problems that cannot be found on assembly line. I think getting a lemon referb is better than getting a repack, just my opinion.
i've always found refurbs to be a great option. i bought a refurb Cube back in the day and it was the most reliable and solid Mac i've owned. if it's a legit refurb serviced by Apple then there's good chance that it could be BETTER than new. they get meticulously inspected and serviced before going out for resale. i've seen many new lemons, but never a refurbed lemon.