What is a refurbished cellphone?

[think2]

A few days ago I bought an HTC Touch Pro 2 on ebay from a trader
called cellphoneforever

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-HTC-Touch-Pro2-Tilt-2-T7373-3MP-GPS-WIFI-SMARTPHONE-/271090370383?pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item3f1e3ec74f

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_pro2-2690.php


The ebay condition category is listed as "new other" which means it's
either brand new, never used, or factory second.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/item-condition.html

The seller describes it as "A brand-new, unlocked, undamaged cell
phone." A few days after buying, I discovered that cellphoneforever are actually mabili international traders
http://mabili123.en.ec21.com/
who sell refurbished cellphones.

What exactly is a refurbished cellphone? Is it possible to refurbish a cellphone? Is there any way to tell if a cellphone is actually brand new/ unused or not.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Refurbished are like new and are replacement phones for those who broke their phones.

For example, if you messed up your galaxy nexus, they would give you a like new replacement AKA refurbished.

They are generally new but reused certain parts that aren't broken

 

[ImDonly1]

Touch pro 2 is like 4 years old, do you really think they have new sealed in box ones still?

It probably is refurbished.

 

[styrafoam]

Usually it means the phone was purchased, returned by the buyer, and either repaired or verified as in working condition by the manufacturer. With eBay is tough to know exactly what the seller is up to sometimes. With the age of the phone in question my guess is that the phone was returned under extended warranty and replaced with something newer. Someone has probably bought a load of broken phones, repaired them and its selling them.

 

[akugami]

You might also see "reconditioned" which usually means the product was bought, used but developed issues and returned. It was then repaired by a factory technician and is now being resold.

 

[dguy6789]

Refurbish basically means a device was returned to the manufacturer for some reason then the manufacturer takes it apart and swaps out any not completely mint condition part internal and external with a brand new part and reassembles the phone.

For all intents and purposes refurbished = brand new.

 

[styrafoam]

For all intents and purposes refurbished = brand new.

When you buy from the manufacturer. On ebay anything goes.

 

[dguy6789]

Of course

 

[Ravynmagi]

Refurbished always means "used" to me.