what does "refurbished" mean?

just wondering what exactly is done to something "refurbished?" like a computer part.

the part is supposed to be taken apart then gone though and any known problems fixed.

oh ok thanks.

RobStyle said:

the part is supposed to be taken apart then gone though and any known problems fixed.

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so how exactly do they refurb a video card? You can't just exactly take them apart

I think the KEY here is "SUPPOSED". I have bought more than my fair share of NEWEGG referbs recently. @ sticks of Ram, 7 motherboards, and 6 video cards.

I have had to return 3 of the video cards--they had artifacts just 10minutes after running, 3 motherboards for not being stable "even without overclocking, and the ram was supposed to do 200mhz at CAS 2, well it has a hard time doing 167 cas2 memtest at ANY voltage.

My point is that REFERBS are HIT or MISS, check them out QUICKLY so you can return them if they are defective.

I think the real meaning of refurbished is "buy at your own risk".

Newegg sell many different categories of products under the heading "refurbished". I imagine that some are indeed parts that have been repaired by a manufacturer to be sold at a discount. I imagine others are open box returns.

Others are slightly defective or blemished factory seconds.

Last year at this time, I bought my 8K3A+ for $60.00. It was in a sealed box, brand new, and included everything they say it won't. It has worked perfectly ever since. But the ATA33 IDE cable was defective, one of the connectors was backwards, making it useless.
My bet is that Epox had a whole shipment like that, and sold them to Newegg for a discount, rather than replace all of the ATA33 cables. It was discontinued by then anyway. But it was a good deal for me! Running strong at 204 MHz FSB.

Hughhefner said:

I think the KEY here is "SUPPOSED". I have bought more than my fair share of NEWEGG referbs recently. @ sticks of Ram, 7 motherboards, and 6 video cards.

I have had to return 3 of the video cards--they had artifacts just 10minutes after running, 3 motherboards for not being stable "even without overclocking, and the ram was supposed to do 200mhz at CAS 2, well it has a hard time doing 167 cas2 memtest at ANY voltage.

My point is that REFERBS are HIT or MISS, check them out QUICKLY so you can return them if they are defective.

Click to expand...

Don't they have SPECIAL return policies for refurb products?

As long as YOU pay for the return shipping, I have ALWAYS received a FULL refund if I RMA within 15 days, not that the package has to be there in 15 days, but that you file for an RMA within 15 days.

In a lot of cases, refurbs are RMA'd components which quite often have no actual problem(open box returns, as repo said), but can no longer be sold as brand new. Also, in the case of hard drives, some are sent to the manufacturer and are technically reconditioned, repaired, or "refurbished", then resold.