How a Traded-In Apple iPhone Gets Refurbished | WSJ

How do I get into this business

I buy directly from eBay. It's even cheaper than refurbished and is back by eBay. I got a iPhone 13 Pro for $450 mint condition. Refurbished goes for 700-750

Id be the guy that gets the dropped phone...

Never buy refurbished

“It’s because of you, you can’t blame a phone for that.” 💀💀Bruhh

cheapguttercle is how they make money

Thanks Joanna! Always interesting to see "behind the scene" stuff.

I have had two iphone 7 plus for years now. Didnt upgrade. So i went from Iphone 6 to iphone 7 plus black bc i was dumb and broke my iphone 6 by throwing it on the floor in 2017. Then my iphone 7 plus was messing up so i got my moms iphone 7 plus but in pink. Had it for like a year and a half. I broke the screen and then it was glitching a lot and the battery was horrible. Went on a two hour drive friday and my iphone 7 plus was dying on the road. So yeah i knew it was time. Everyone knew so i got the new iphone 15. I wonder how long ill have it for. But i dont really care about phones so we will see.

I just trade mines in

So it's just about checking that the phone works and cleaning it from outside? Honestly, I was expecting more! Something like battery replacement or cleaning the phone from inside.

I only buy used phones now, my Google Pixel 5 was £110 and it's just as good as any modern £1000 phone. I just see no value in paying so much for a phone just to have status :/

Erasing data sounds sus. There's no way they will just erase "modern gold"

watching this on my iPhone 15 I got today by trading Iphone 11 128 GB lol, coincidence

lol that dude, he is one of a kind

So how is the phone "refurbished"?

Realmente aprecio el hecho de que clagmac, un especialista autorizado de Apple, pudo reparar mi iPhones deshabilitado en lnsta en unas pocas horas.

Good to know that they don't replace batteries etc so you really are just getting an old used phone that's been cleaned

Please add a De-esser to Joanna's voice, the sibilance makes this video hard to listen to. Thank you!

This is so fake.

I’ve bought multiple iPhones refurbished. I’ve gotten phones that were burned, touch screen not working , buttons missing and even ones with data still on them with a password.

So it's basically a USED PHONE. Nothing was "refurbished".... it was just cleaned and checked, which is the bare minimum, before being packaged with $1.95 worth of knock of chargers. For only 20-30% off NEW RETAIL PRICE?!?! Unbelievably criminal. THIS is the real story, but I'm sure your friends at the refurbisher place appreciated the fluff piece.

Only buy refurbished from Apple. At least you’re getting a new battery and possibly some other new parts.

TIL about BackMarket. Thanks WSJ!

He made her drop the phone and then proceeded to send it on to the customer

i dont see anythinh wrong with refurbish

This video doesnt take into account that Verizon has accepted damages phones for a couple of years now, for full trade in, and often the trade in value for an 11 would be $400-800, and yes the carriers make that money back in premium plans, but how does that flood of damaged trade ins effect this whole cycle?

Most Goes to Blackmarket in Asia and India. Then sold at a Premium price there.

So apple and others sell their phones twice.

So they dont eveny open them and see if the components are ok? 🤨

I got a refurb G8 off Amazon a few years ago and it was spotless

my phone restart

what about icloud lock?

wow great

Upside : Consumers get a better deal for products, burgeoning business model with relative ease of entry, reduced environmental e-waste, and gives incentive to other phone/electronic manufacturers to price their products reasonably, another upside for consumers.

Downside : Apple loses money.

I've never seen a more win-win scenario in my life.

Nice ad

All refurbished products go through an extensive cleaning process

uses hand sanitizer

Dear back-market please 🙏🏻 hook it up!!

So basically, other than cleaning the phone, they do nothing. What a scam. I can't believe they don't even change the battery out.

Put a ton of labor into cleaning that device? lol. that labor was literally worth like 45 cents

The person that saw their phone getting dropped: 👁️👄👁️

Most bugs i have in my hardware you won't see at first glance or with a simple test.
Feeling sorry for the next person who gets my broken phone.

God bless capitalism. Everybody wins

Plus when these refurbished products get sold, Apple gets a customer deeper into their sales funnel when they potentially buy an app, or airpods, apple watch and so on.
So refurbished iPhone are a win for Apple as well.

All refurbished phones should have a new battery. I’m just saying.

I like how they want to “recycle” your device when it’s JUST cracked. Like there’s still $200 worth of technology in the phone 💀

Like for the lion king’s song😂

Why does best buy get away with selling used iPhone that are dirty and usually have bad batteries and don't work good

I bought a certified refurbished iPhone from Apple. It came broken out of the box. Phone kept freezing and turning off.

They never tested if the phone speaker is blown. A big reason I stopped buying used phones.