U.S. PIRG offers guide to buying refurbished cell phones, electronics
Houston - If you’re thinking of buying a new laptop or a cell phone for someone this holiday season, an environmental group wants to help you find a refurbished one instead. The switch can help you save money and help save the environment.
Electronics are the number one thing people shop for on Black Friday.
Shopping retailers' Black Friday sales can save you an average of 31%, according to Adobe.
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But consumer advocates at U.S. Public Interest Research Group want you to think about buying refurbished tech instead. The group has just published its annual Fixed for the Holidays guide.
"Generally, we expect you can save 20% off a new product and then an additional 10% for each year," explains Lucas Gutterman of U.S. PIRG.
He showed us a refurbished Galaxy S23 as an example.
"We found this for $356 versus $799 new. So it's a 55% reduction," he said.
He also showed us a refurbished iPad Air 2022.
"We found this on BackMarket for $359 versus $599 new. So it's a 40% savings buying this refurbished, and it has all the features that you expect," said Gutterman.
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Buying refurbished electronics also helps keep them from filling up landfills and can help prevent some of the pollution from manufacturing new ones.
"We found that it reduces it by about 77% to 91%. It prevents the extraction of 180 pounds of resources and the emissions of 50 pounds of climate-change pollutants," said Gutterman.
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U.S. PIRG recommends buying from a reputable seller that offers at least a 30-day return policy and at least a 90-day warranty, and avoiding products that really aren't designed to last.
"We recommend staying away from flat screen TVs or computer monitors. Those screens are just very fragile and can be more easily damaged," said Gutterman.
You should also make the purchase with a credit card that offers purchase protection in case it doesn't work.