Save a lot of Money! Buy a Used or Refurbished Cell Phone

The average person replaces their cell phone every 18 months. Unfortunately, most people are not eligible for that brand new cell phone deal their cell phone provider is advertising for at least another 6 months. The regular price of a brand new phone is generally 4 - 5 times more than the price they advertise on TV and billboards. It sure got your attention though...

Why not buy a refurbished cell phone and save 50% or more from the retail price? You can get the same exact phone model and you probably will not be able to tell the difference between the brand new and refurbished one. Buy a preloved, slightly used cell phone and save even more money. There are millions of people out there who want the latest and greatest toys and trade in their perfectly good working stuff all the time.

Have you ever traded in your phone with your cell phone companies insurance plan? Well then chances are you have already used a refurbished cell phone.

Most people do not realize that when their cell phone company replaces their phone under their insurance plan that the phone they receive is a refurbished one. Just about every major cell phone carrier does this. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint just to name a few.

Some of the top selling phones on the AT&T wireless webstore are refurbished ones. In fact if you purchased a phone as new online in the past, their is even a good chance that the phone was actually refurbished and the seller just sold the phone to you as new. Most people can not tell the difference.

Almost all the the major cell phone carriers offer a 30 day no questions asked return policy and by law they are not able to sell the phone back to a customer as brand new. Even if the phone was used for only a day, they must sell the phone as refurbished or used.

When you buy a used or refurbished cell phone you do not have to renew your contract. When you purchase a used or refurbished cell phone you can easily switch your phone over without the need of any additional costs, contracts or other long term commitments. If your cell phone provider uses CDMA technology (Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, Cellular South) you just need to call up your company and give them some numbers from the back of your phone and you will be up and going with your new phone in minutes. If your service provider uses GSM technology (AT&T, T-Mobile, Rogers, Fido) you just need to take out your sim card from your old phone and place it in the new one. Really simple.

Did you know that over 100,000,000 (yes - 100 million!) cell phones are dumped into landfills every year. What is going to happen once everyone in China or India uses a cell phone? Each of their countries has over a billion people!

If more and more people were to buy refurbished or used cell phones we could drastically reduce that number or at least help prevent it from going even higher. Cell phones contain hazardous materials that get back into our water supplies and contaminate our food supplies. Even precious metals (in sparse amounts) such as gold and silver can be found in cell phones.

1.) Has the phone been fully tested? All the features of the phone should be guaranteed to be fully functional.

2.) Has the phones ESN been cleared with the carrier for activation? If the phone is a GSM model you do not have to worry about this, but if the phone is for a CDMA carrier you will want to make sure that the phone will be able to activate when you receive it. The seller should mention if they have checked the ESN on the description.

3.) What is the guarantee / warranty if god forbid something went wrong with the phone? Most companies will offer a 30 day guarantee that the phone will be free of defects and that if there is any issue at all, they will replace the phone free of charge. If the vendor does not offer a warranty, I would steer clear.

Also - SquareTrade offers warrantys for used and refurbished electronics that can extend the warranty for up to 3 years.

4.) Check to see what other people are saying about the vendor. Does the vendor have a significant amount of reviews online? If they have a significant amount of positive reviews, there really should be nothing to worry about. People earn their livings selling refurbished and used phones and if they have a good reputation you know that they want you as a return customer who brings other customers to their store.

5.) Make sure the phone is compatible with your network / service provider. If the phone is advertised for Verizon then the phone will only work with Verizon, if the phone is advertised for AT&T then most likely the phone will only work with AT&T. Some phones can be unlocked, but that is something we will discuss in another article.