Comments for Wishabi Blog

Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Ross

Ross — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:09:14 +0000

I often buy refurb’d items, but one thing often overlooked with refurbished items is the warranty terms. Often the refurbished item has a very short warranty, such as 30 days, if at all. So you need to carefully balance the expected failure rate and cost in the consideration. For example, “recertified” hard drives typically carry a 90 day warranty. Recertified hard drives are typically warranty return drives that have been fixed by the manufacturer (or their subcontractor). Whereas brand new hard drives had typically a 3 or 5 year warranty. 1) Hard drives have a high failure rate. You should expect a 50% chance of hard drive failure in 3-5 year period. 2) The cost differential between recertified and new (oem) hard drive is minimal. 3) Recertified hard drives probably have a higher chance of failure (since often a physical defect is still present somewhere on the drive, but has been worked around in the firmware (during the recertification process). Similarly, for a large screen LCD TV (say $1500-$2000 cost), I would be hesitant to get a refurb — because the probability of a defect is high (though warranties on LCD TVs is often only 1 or 2 years). But there are definitely great deals to be had out there — just remember to balance the competing factors.

Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:18:17 +0000

Thanks Hoser, glad your TV is working well. I personally buy refurbs quite often especially if there’s a good deal to be had (such as this Asus laptop I am tying on) . There’s quite a bit of confusion out there regarding refurbished items as so many different terms are used along with varying standards. My personal rule is that the item should be refurbished by the manufacture (not a third party), and that the store offers a reasonable return policy, or at least allow me to throughly test the item first.

Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Hoser McToque

Hoser McToque — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:42 +0000

Great post. I recently bought a Samsung LCD HDTV on Wishabi that was refurbished which saved me over $400 and it has been working perfectly fine for the past 3 months. I have had no bad experiences with any refurbished products so far so lets hope it stays that way! I like to play on the safe side with manufacturer refurbished products and buy only respected name brands and look for ones with a manufacture warranty of one year if possible.

Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by currie

currie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:45:39 +0000

great info ~ looking foraward to more of these great tips!

THANKS x 10000!!!!!!

Comment on Take heart Canucks! by AmexGrl

AmexGrl — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:58:47 +0000

Go TEAM USA!

Comment on 3 No-No’s for this Valentine’s Day by discount amazon

discount amazon — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:59:28 +0000

very useful post. I would love to follow you on twitter.

Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by usha athai

usha athai — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:29:00 +0000

Hi Prashanth,
I see a budding journalist in you!!!
Great article. Now I must go out and buy candy that I really do not need!! And I should persuade Chandra Uncle to buy flowers and perfume for me!! Thanks for the extra -push!!
Take Care,
Usha Athai

Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by Prashanth Gopalan

Prashanth Gopalan — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:48:25 +0000

thanks for commenting =)

Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by Kalpagam raghuraman

Kalpagam raghuraman — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:26:45 +0000

great stuff keep it up-Kalpagam

Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by Raghu

Raghu — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:21:09 +0000

Prashant -I see the blend of Economics and Language command coupled with a sense of humour-Enjoyed the write up.Kalpagam