Have you seen all the refurbished GPS devices for sale, especially at the big online retailers like Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Ebay.com? This makes total sense, automotive GPS navigation units are wildly popular and demand for them is going to be high, especially if they are cheap.

What are the reasons behind this deluge of cheap refurbished GPS out on the market right now? Well, that brings us to the important points of WHY so many GPS devices (along with any electronic devices in general) end up being labeled as “refurbished”. Interestingly enough, some units are marked as refurbished even though they have never even been opened. Take a look at these reasons why any product could labeled as “refurbished”:

1. For one reason or another the product was sent back to the place of purchase, which means that they returned the item to the store that they bought it from within 30 days of the purchase date. There could have been some defect in the GPS, but this can also not the case; sometimes people just don’t want the product that they bought.

2. The product sat on the store shelf too long and became “overstock”. Here a store could simply mark down the product since it was opened and put it back out for customers to purchase, or deliver the unit to it source; once the company that made the product get it, a business decision needs to be made about how to best handle the new inventory, this sometimes has the outcome of the device getting labeled “refurbished”, and then distribute the devices out again at greatly reduced prices. The funny part about this is the simple fact that the product is still literally brand new, and has never even been opened at all.

3. Another reason could be that the product was the one on display in the store. Display models almost always get sent back to the unit maker; the factory then inspects the product, makes any necessary changes, and ships it back out under the refurbished label.

4. The device’s packaging was opened by a customer. When this is the case, there is nothing wrong with the product, other than it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer to be repackaged, in which case, oddly enough, it is then labeled as “refurbished”.

5. Shipping damage. Sometime boxes get crushed or dropped by shipping personnel, if the damage is major or minor, components or just cosmetic, the unit is shipped back and labeled refurbished.

6. And finally, a reason for a product to be labeled refurbished is that there was an actual defect in the unit. This is can be a rare scenario. When a product has a defect or cosmetic damage it is sent back to the manufacturer for repair, and if they are able to repair the item’s cosmetic or mechanical problem they do so; once the repair is done the GPS is as good as new, and some might argue it is now actually less likely to become defective than the non refurbished products sitting on the shelves of the electronics outlets; they argue this because refurbished devices generally undergo a battery of tests.

As you can see, the reasons for a GPS to be refurbished are varied. The chances of getting a bad unit is probably just as likely as getting a “new” one so take the plunge, save some money, and go refurbished.

Tags: GPS

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