Reboxed is a UK-based refurbished phone and tech specialist, promising savings of up to 40% on iPhone and Samsung phones. But is it legit? Let’s find out
Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of refurbished tech. Refurbished tech is better for the environment, cheaper to buy, and helps keep you away from expensive contract plans, allowing you to buy your phone outright for a much more manageable price.
I was sent a
Packaging & What You Get In The Box
If you’ve bought refurbished tech before, you’ll know that it usually comes in a rather unattractive brown shipping container, with a cheap charger, and not much else. This is how 99.9% of refurb tech retailers ship their products. It’s not very pleasant, but most people don’t mind as it is the product itself you’re most interested in – not the packaging.
But I’m a stickler for the details. Given a choice, I’ll much rather deal with a company that takes pride in its branding as well as the products it sells. And this was one of the first things that impressed me so much about Reboxed – its packaging was brilliant. No generic brown boxes insight.
My iPhone 12 mini came in a beautifully designed, fully-branded box, complete with a phone holder, an insert to hold the phone in place, a charging cable (but sadly no plug), a SIM card remover tool, and a display cleaner. The box itself is branded to the hilt with Reboxed’s corporate goals and ideals.
This instantly impressed me. I love it when a company takes the time to make its customers feel like they’ve spent their money well. There is nothing more depressing than when you spend £400 on a refurbished phone, get all excited about it arriving, and it turns up wrapped in bubble wrap inside a gross brown box with a cheap, third-party charger. It just totally kills the mood.
You’re not getting a “new” phone when you buy a refurbished phone, so you don’t get the official box – these have long since disappeared. But what makes Reboxed different from ALL the other refurb places I have bought from in the past is that it wants to make a good first impression – almost as if it knows that this aspect of the customer journey is important. And that, my friends, is why you do proper market research.
REBOXED has a massive selection of refurbished iPhones, Samsung phones, Apple Watch devices, AirPods, and more. If you’re after quality, reliability, and the best prices on the market, REBOXED is where it is at for users in the UK and Europe.
- 70-Point Test on ALL Products
- 40% Cheaper Than Buying New
- Sells Phones, Tablets, Headphones & More
- Excellent Delivery Times & Packaging
The Phone Itself – My Refurbished iPhone 12 mini
Onto the main event, my
In this context, Reboxed did not disappoint. The phone itself was free from any and all cosmetic damage. There were no blemishes, scratches, scuffs, or dinks on its chassis or display. If it had come in an official Apple box, I’d have assumed it was brand new.
I turned the phone on, logged in via Apple ID, synced all my data, and the phone worked seamlessly. The screen was beautiful; I love how clear and crisp smaller OLED panels are. I used the phone for a solid couple of weeks with zero issues; the phone performed as well as you’d expect from an Apple iPhone which is to say it worked flawlessly.
And given the cost of the device, around £500 if you opt for the “Great” quality model, this is one of the key reasons why I ALWAYS buy refurbished technology. You just get so much more bang for your buck. Plus, you’re not limited to a two-year contract. If you want another phone or plan, you can just go out and get one. Simple as that.
Of course, this phone – which was sent for the purpose of this review – was of the best possible quality. Reboxed has three options when it comes to quality: Premium, Great, Good, Fair, and Value – with the latter being the cheapest option overall.
Fair basically means there will be some slight cosmetic issues, a scuff or a dink here and there, while Premium means the phone will look perfect, as good as new.
With my iPhone 12 mini, if you went from the Premium quality model, you’d pay £570 – that’s for the 256GB model. If you went with Great, it’d be £500, while Fair would cost you £480. My advice? Spend a little extra and get a phone that looks flawless – it’ll be worth it in the long run when the time comes to sell the phone on.
For the sake of clarity, here’s a breakdown of how Reboxed describes the different quality grades of its phones:
- Premium – In perfect or near-mint condition
- Great – Minor signs of use but overall excellent condition
- Good – Some light scratches you can only see up close up
- Fair – Signs of wear with moderate scratches and scuffs
- Value – Some noticeable scratches, scuffs, or dents
As you can see, there’s quite a bit of difference between Value and Premium. If you’re on a tighter budget and you’d rather pay the least amount possible and still get a fully-functional phone, albeit with some noticeable scratches and scuffs, then a Value model is a great idea. It won’t look quite as good but it’ll still work the same. And that’s the main thing.
As for how the phones are checked before they’re solid, here’s what Reboxed has to say about its testing process: We’ve got your back. Every Reboxed phone is thoroughly checked using our proprietary TechCheck Process and comes with a 12-month warranty. A 70+ point check and detailed cosmetic inspection. Every reboxed device functions as good as new.
A 70-point testing protocol, as far as I’m aware, is the best in the business by a considerable margin. For the sake of comparison, Gazelle, the USA’s #1 refurb phone specialist, only does a 30-point test. Add in things like a 12-month warranty, when most places only give you 30 days, and it is easy to see just how seriously Reboxed takes its business, and how confident it is in its products – 12-month warranties of refurb tech is basically unheard of.
REBOXED has a massive selection of refurbished iPhones, Samsung phones, Apple Watch devices, AirPods, and more. If you’re after quality, reliability, and the best prices on the market, REBOXED is where it is at for users in the UK and Europe.
- 70-Point Test on ALL Products
- 40% Cheaper Than Buying New
- Sells Phones, Tablets, Headphones & More
- Excellent Delivery Times & Packaging
Can You Trust Refurbished Phones?
A refurbished phone is NOT the same as a used phone; a used phone is a phone that has been bought and used by a consumer, accumulating all the bumps and scratches that come with everyday use, and is then sold via a third-party marketplace like Facebook Marketplace or eBay.
With a refurbished phone, as the name suggests, the phone’s history is markedly different. It might have been returned to the manufacturer because of a fault, seized by a network after a customer failed to keep up with their repayments, or it could have been part of unsold stock at a store or retailer that went out of business.
The key thing to remember here is that it HAS NOT been used extensively, like a used phone. In some cases, it might have even been unboxed. In others, it might have been used for a couple of weeks. The upshot of this is that refurbished phones – especially if you pay slightly more – tend to look just like brand-new phones.
There are caveats, of course, with the main one being that you will have to limit yourself to a slightly older model – say the iPhone 12 instead of the iPhone 13. But for the potential savings on offer, this is hardly something I’d consider to be an issue. The difference between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, to the untrained eye, is negligible at best.
But the long and short of it is this: a refurbished phone is a great option. You can trust them. They work just like a new phone but because they’ve either been sold and used or returned to the manufacturer, they can no longer be sold as a new phone, hence the name: refurbished phone.
Is Reboxed Legit?
As refurbished retailers go, and I’ve used a bunch of them over the years, Reboxed is by far one of the best in the business. It takes pride in how its phones are packaged and shipped, unlike all of its peers, it has great prices (its phones are 40% cheaper than new ones), and it offers a market-leading 12-month warranty on all of its phones, as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee. You literally couldn’t ask for more.
Reboxed also has a massive selection of phones to choose from too. You have ALL of Apple’s iPhones, including its newest models, Samsung phones, Apple Watch, iPads, and headphones. If you’re thinking about getting any of the above, and you want to save some money, I would 100% recommend you check out Reboxed first. For me, Reboxed is now the refurbished retailer to beat in the UK and Europe.
REBOXED has a massive selection of refurbished iPhones, Samsung phones, Apple Watch devices, AirPods, and more. If you’re after quality, reliability, and the best prices on the market, REBOXED is where it is at for users in the UK and Europe.
- 70-Point Test on ALL Products
- 40% Cheaper Than Buying New
- Sells Phones, Tablets, Headphones & More
- Excellent Delivery Times & Packaging
Richard Goodwin
Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.