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Box for Refurbs

V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
Newbie question. I am tired of waiting to convert from PC to a 2010 MBP. I am now considering a reburb iMac and perhaps later a refurb MB for travel. Anyway, my question is do refurbs come in a regular box or do they come in a different box that states refurb?

The reason for my question is that when it comes time to sell I believe the value is slightly higher if it is sold in the standard box. I bought a Demo Nikon D300 camera last year and all manuals, cables...where in sealed packages and everything looked brand new. However, the box was different and stated Refurb. That psychological different in the packaging can lower perceived value. :(

Thanks
 
Vantage Point said:
Newbie question. I am tired of waiting to convert from PC to a 2010 MBP. I am now considering a reburb iMac and perhaps later a refurb MB for travel. Anyway, my question is do refurbs come in a regular box or do they come in a different box that states refurb?

The reason for my question is that when it comes time to sell I believe the value is slightly higher if it is sold in the standard box. I bought a Demo Nikon D300 camera last year and all manuals, cables...where in sealed packages and everything looked brand new. However, the box was different and stated Refurb. That psychological different in the packaging can lower perceived value. :(

Thanks
Click to expand...

now I get why apple make us wait so long...

...eventually we buy two computers out of frustration.:eek:
 
Thanks everyone for the fast response. A plain brown box is better than a box that states refurbished.

Do the boxes, new and refurb, have handles to make it easier to carry if I want to take it with me on occasion instead of wrapping my arms around it?
 
Vantage Point said:
Thanks everyone for the fast response. A plain brown box is better than a box that states refurbished.

Do the boxes, new and refurb, have handles to make it easier to carry if I want to take it with me on occasion instead of wrapping my arms around it?
Click to expand...

no.

As for the refurbished statement. I believe over the serial # a new sticker is applied to state it is refurbished, as well as it will be in the records if a buyer wants to look it up.
SO if you are trying to pass on a refurb as if it is NEW then think again.
 
student_trap said:
now I get why apple make us wait so long...

...eventually we buy two computers out of frustration.:eek:
Click to expand...


You are correct, at least in my case. I wanted a fast anti-glare MBP to hook up with a high-end non-glossy monitor for photograpahy work. My desktop XP desktop is pushing 4 years and I have been waiting months to invest in a 15" MBP but refuse to pay a premium for last years technology. If I price the next release of a MBP about the same as a 15" 2.66, antiglare with faster HDD, vs. a refurb 21.5" imac and MB the cost is about the same. For my work at home I need at least a 3.06 C2D and really wanted an i5-540 but a iMac and MB might be a better investment.
 
I have bought a few refurb mac pro's. They all came in a plain white box. It had all the same handles and packaging as the full retail version, just without the pretty pictures.

When it came time to sell all of them, I don't see why you need to say it's a refurb if you've been using it long enough. Its going to be no different to a full retail machine.
Obviously though if someone asks it pays to tell them, and when people asked me that is exactly what I did. It's up to them if they find it an issue then.
 
optophobia said:
I wasn't really implying, merely stating.
Someone tried to pass a refurb off on me once thats all.:cool:
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NO problem and thanks for replying. Last year when I was shooting in the field I slipped on some wet rocks and took a bad fall which also broke about $700 worth of photo equipment including a $450 lens. I sent the lens to Nikon for repair, my fault so it cost me about $275 to fix. Anyway, it was shipped to me whenI was gone and stolen when the UPS guy left it in front of my apartment door - inside a security door. It was insured and Nikon replaced it with a reburb lens in a refurb labeled box. During the wait I had to buy a new lens and then sold the Reburb when I finally got it (over a month after the problem). Since it was refurbed I was able to sell it for slightly more than if it was Used since I advertised it as Refurb. Of course in that case the refurb had not been used my me at all excect to test it and unlike Apple, Nikon does not transfer warranty to new owners
 
Is there any evidence that a box makes something more valuable when it is sold? If there is I'll be the one buying the (otherwise identical) cheaper ones without the box! :cool:
 
voyager03 said:
Is there any evidence that a box makes something more valuable when it is sold?
Click to expand...

Yes. I save all my boxes for cameras, lenses, monitors... and have always advertised that the item includes the original box and often ask when purchasing Used if the original box is included. It has both perceived and practical value. The practical value is packing for shipment. Nothing beats a cushioned, form fitted, box designed around the product. Also, it is nice, percieved value, when you receive something packaged properly. The real trick is storing all those boxes.
 
voyager03 said:
Is there any evidence that a box makes something more valuable when it is sold? If there is I'll be the one buying the (otherwise identical) cheaper ones without the box! :cool:
Click to expand...

For shipping purposes as someone else mentioned its usually nice... since it will be better protected, or at least you can assume.

Otherwise, I'm with you for saving money but after buying a selling a lot of camera gear, I've come to realize a box really is valuable... some people think it makes you take better pictures or something :confused:

haha, but in all seriousness... I would prefer the box, but wouldnt pay more for one. However, it does sort of show that the owner took consideration with the item if they kept all the paperwork and whatnot.
 
My refurb 27" imac came in a plain white box. It had the handle on top to carry it, and on the side had a small sticker indicating part# and all that tech stuff.

Delivered via FedEx...dirty as hell...but everything inside was in great condition :)
 
unamused said:
I would prefer the box, but wouldnt pay more for one.
Click to expand...
I would prefer a box for shipping for sure.

But I still have not seen any evidence that boxed items sell for any more.....
unamused said:
However, it does sort of show that the owner took consideration with the item if they kept all the paperwork and whatnot.
Click to expand...
I think you are making quite a jump in logic there. Surely all it definitely shows is that they did not throw away the box and nothing about how it has been used or cared for....
 
Obviously there are people with more up to date information than me, but I bought my last iMac refurbished in 2005. The box was brown and had a big apple logo on it, and say Apple Refurbished Product inside.

It seems like they have maybe changed that since then.
 
If I were looking to buy a used item and see to identical condition items for sale, (one with original box, one without), I would probably pay up to 5 % more for the one with the original box.
 
dqpassat said:
My refurb 27" imac came in a plain white box. It had the handle on top to carry it, and on the side had a small sticker indicating part# and all that tech stuff.

Delivered via FedEx...dirty as hell...but everything inside was in great condition :)
Click to expand...

I just got my 21.5" iMac last weekend, and everything was the same as yours. White box, handle, no logos, delivered by Fedex.

One note though. In the email I got detailing my shipment tracking, it said that "indirect signature" was needed. My understanding is that mean I personally do not need to sign for it, but someone (in the home?) does need to sign for it. No one from my home signed for mine. My step daughter found it in front of the door when she got home from school. When I checked online, the tracking said it was signed by a name of no one in my neighborhood. I'm thinking that the Fedex guy just signed for it himself and left it. While I was happy to come home to a new (refurb) iMac, I can't help but wonder what would have happen if someone had walked off with it.

For what it's worth, my refurb does not seem to have the sorts of problems that I have been reading about. But then again, I am a noob in the Mac world.
 
KevKaos said:
When I checked online, the tracking said it was signed by a name of no one in my neighborhood. I'm thinking that the Fedex guy just signed for it himself and left it. While I was happy to come home to a new (refurb) iMac, I can't help but wonder what would have happen if someone had walked off with it.
Click to expand...

That is what happened to me with UPS - see post #13. I returned to have a package left in front of my door, signed by the UPS guy (that I know) and then stolen. The trail showed it was signed for. It took some work but I was compensated since Nikon, the shipper, self insures. After a investigation I received a replacement refurb lens about a month later. But, just as easily I could have been totally screwed. This has happened to me 2x in the past 15 years and in both cases it did work out in the end - but next time....
 
Ecoh said:
If I were looking to buy a used item and see to identical condition items for sale, (one with original box, one without), I would probably pay up to 5 % more for the one with the original box.
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Have you? I'm sure having a box is seen to be a bonus but do items with them really sell for more?

Actually I'm a amazed that someone somewhere has not done a study - perhaps using eBay 'completed listings' - to show whether they do (they should also do a unsold v. sold comparison! ;))
 
voyager03 said:
Actually I'm a amazed that someone somewhere has not done a study - perhaps using eBay 'completed listings' - to show whether they do (they should also do a unsold v. sold comparison! ;))
Click to expand...

Studies on ebay would be unreliable for a variety of reasons including the sellers feedback. I would simply think if it as the icing on the cake, or at least the cherry on top. What is inside the box is what we are buying but a pretty, product specific package is just nicer than a generic box. I can tell you that at Nikonians.org, where I am a moderator, we have a Buy/Sell forum and mention of "original box" being included comes up between 50-70% of the time. Never a deal breaker, just perceived value.

Attached is one of the pictures I showed when I sold a $1000 lens. I think buyers feel more comfortable knowing it is packaged like new. It is actually rare to buy a pro lens without the original box but of course a box for a lens is easier to store than a large computer box.
 

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