Iâm happy enough with this purchase - for $50 you donât expect a lot and it is quite a nice portable - but I do have a bit of a quibble about Wootâs use of the word ârefurbishedâ. Maybe itâs just me, but I always thought that a refurb was something that had been returned relatively soon after buying it and the refurb process was just to ensure there was no damage and to repack it like new. Thatâs clearly not the case with this portable which is about 7 years old and really shows it - the touchpad is worn shiny with use, the power supply cables are twisted with being tightly coiled and there was even a strip of draughting tape with the previous ownerâs name written on it stuck to the PSU that wasnât removed, suggesting a very cursory refurb process. A more appropriate description would have been âsecond handâ or âusedâ (indeed, âheavily usedâ), not ârefurbishedâ. This portable looks like it has been used continuously for the 7 years of its existence. Woot needs to make a distinction in the descriptions between old heavily used systems that are ârefurbishedâ by giving them a bit of a clean with a cloth to remove fingerprints, versus refurbished returns which are basically new but which someone owned for a few days before returning it for whatever reason. I would still have bought it if I had realised this was a heavily used second-hand system because it is a nice machine and a fair price, but I would have felt a lot less like Woot was pulling a fast one on me if that had been the case.
As per the orange box on the listing:
Hey, you there! These items are expected to have a moderate level of wear & tear including (but not limited to) scratches, dents, and dings. Outside of their physical appearance, they have been tested to be in full working condition.
If youâre not happy with it, you can always return it for a refund.
(Please note: I donât work for Woot, I just volunteer to help out here on the forums.)
Yes, I know it said that, but the same perception applies - the common understanding is that a scratch and dent refurb is because an item was returned because it had been damaged in shipping, i.e. that it was effectively new but had some minor shipping ding. Not that it was a second-hand item that had been used heavily for 7 years. As I said above, Iâm happy with the actual purchase, I just would like to encourage Woot to be a bit more clear in their descriptions. I suppose itâs possible Iâm the only person in the world who interprets ârefurbishedâ in this way but Iâd bet itâs a common perception. Considering that this is the company that advertises a âbag of crapâ I would have expected them to be a bit more forthcoming about the usedness of used kit.
PS Looking at my older purchases I see some where âconditionâ was âUsed - goodâ. So Woot does have âusedâ as an option. The problem with the word ârefurbishedâ is that it doesnât distinguish between a checked and repacked return being resold as almost new, and a heavily used item that has been properly refurbished to bring it up to a new-like quality (eg by replacing an old disk drive for example, or putting a clean glass over the LCD screen). If refurbished is used to merely mean repacked then perhaps the word should be avoided in favour of something more descriptive.
Below is a link to the Woot item condition glossary.
(Please note: I donât work for Woot, I just volunteer to help out here on the forums.)
How can something be both a refurb and a S&D (unless this was multiple items at different price-points listed under an umbrella page)
It was listed as âRefurbished - Scratch and Dentâ.
Click here for our guide to the various conditions and their definitions.
The âusedâ item was likely an Amazon device. They use a different rating system and we have to list it the same on our sales.
Scratch & Dent doesnât only apply to new items. This item was previously owned, traded in, and refurbished. As part of the refurbishing the units are graded based on physical condition. See the link above.
The guide you link to is interesting: all but two of the seven descriptions explicitly say that these are returns; one of the two remaining descriptions (âblemishedâ) highly implies it, saying âwear and tear as a result of shipping damage or brief useâ - only âScratch and dentâ doesnât explicitly say or imply that it is a return. To me there is a clear implication that refurbs are returns. However by having this one category that doesnât say so, you have the ability to sell used items that have been bought on some secondary market that have nothing to do with returns. To me that should have been emphasized. All Iâm saying is that a little more transparency in the description might be appreciated, rather than hiding the provenance by what is not said in the small print on another page. Iâll repeat again, Iâm happy with the purchase and would have bought it anyway if it had been described more accurately, but I think it reflects poorly on Woot not to be upfront about selling old secondhand equipment by calling it a refurb instead, which carries with it an expectation that the item is a return or something that sat in a warehouse for years rather than being something that was bought used and cleaned up for resale. A more customer-friendly response to my post might have been âGood point, Iâll pass this on at the next weekly meeting with my bossâ rather than suggesting that customers should read the small print more carefully.
Hi there. Thanks for the feedback.
For computers, most (all?) refurbished items have had a previous life. By âreturnâ that doesnât mean returned to Woot. We donât do refurbishing. Our vendors buy/obtain inventory from various sources - off-lease, education, etc.
The descriptions of the conditions are meant to be general as more exact information varies from sale to sale and unit to unit.
And I wasnât trying to be unfriendly. I always try to provide more information to customers when possible. the more you knowâŚ