What are your experiences with bestbuys open box program? A good deal, a risk not worth it, or something in between?

[DripplessNewt]

Considering buying some stuff through bestbuys open box program and curious what you guys thought about it and if its worth the savings. 

[OhioYJ]

Personally I've never considered it worth the risk. You never know why it got returned in the first place. You don't know if it's missing anything, or the actual condition. Sure it's "cheaper" but is it that much cheaper than just waiting to find an item on sale?

[wanderingfool2]

3 hours ago, DripplessNewt said:

if its worth the savings

Depends what the savings is.

 

At least the bestbuy's I've seen it is not worth it...actually not just bestbuy, many places in general.

 

The thing to always ask yourself, "If I bought this item on sale what would the price be?"  I found many open box items to be just slightly better than a good sale...but then you have the added risk of it being an open box item.

 

Now some of the open box stuff I don't mind as much, like ones where it tells the origin.  Like for example, a printer that was a display model...so while open box it wasn't going to be much of an issue.

 

Hard-drives, and SSD's though is a hard pass though.  Avoid it like the plague.

 

If it's something you really need, and can't wait for a good enough sale then it might be worth it...but again it's going to greatly depend on the item in question.

[Needfuldoer]

If you can inspect the item in person and get the same warranty and return policy as if you bought it factory-sealed, why not save a little?

 

If you're buying a phone or tablet, make sure it's not irrevocably tied to someone else's cloud account (think Apple devices and iCloud).

 

Personally, I buy used stuff all the time.

[Sunoo]

It’s been a few years since I’ve bought anything that way, but you used to be able to go in an negotiate on their open box stuff, which made it a lot easier to walk out with a good deal on them.

[Lurking]

Depends on actual savings compared to the best deal you can find for new item.

 

And also depends on if it comes with the same return policy and warranty as a new item. If the sale is final or has no tangible warranty, it would be too high a risk.

 

Also depends on if your time is worth it. A higher risk to trouble shoot and return. Like you buy an open box MB and then spend hours building the PC and troubleshooting and return the MB. Even if you don't lose money, you lose hours of work and have days without a PC. YMMV. If this is just a secondary PC, it may be fine to risk. If this is the PC you need to work, it isn't fine and not worth the tiny savings IMHO 

 

Open Box also can mean parts are missing. So check if nothing useful is missing.

 

I often buy "refurbished" items and never had a bad experience. Savings up to 50% and often it is original packaging and indistinguishable from new. Those always are complete items where it is clear if it works or not right away. I wouldn't buy components where I buy each separate part and then have to trouble shoot which exact component is broken. Too much risk and the savings on components are only small (like $5 off RAM if that could take down my entire $1K PC).

[Mud23609]

Depends on the item. Cameras, probably not unless I can check the shutter count, laptops are probably also a no just because I don't want to risk getting one that has been on display for a few months plugged into power the entire time. 

It can be a good deal for some things though. One of my monitors was an open-box deal. It had a few strands of hair on it but was in otherwise perfect condition I was able to inspect it in person before buying and it allowed me to walk out the door with a 28-inch 4k Samsung monitor for around 200 bucks. 

 

Back in the day when Best Buy used to do a lot of car audio stuff I also bought a few open-box decks from them. One in particular I know was used as a display unit. The price was right though and I stuck in my tractor cab to replace the broken stock radio. I had that tractor for three more years and used it just about every day feeding cows and that radio never gave me an issue so it was a good purchase in my book.

 

I'm not above buying used stuff either if the price is right. Most of my cameras and related gear were used either from Facebook Marketplace or pawn shops when I found the right deals. If it's only a little cheaper to buy new with a full warranty then I buy new but if the price is right and it's not something that I am worried about previous wear and tear then used and/or open box items start to look pretty good to me.

[NobleGamer]

19 hours ago, Lurking said:

Also depends on if your time is worth it. A higher risk to trouble shoot and return. Like you buy an open box MB and then spend hours building the PC and troubleshooting and return the MB. Even if you don't lose money, you lose hours of work and have days without a PC. YMMV. If this is just a secondary PC, it may be fine to risk. If this is the PC you need to work, it isn't fine and not worth the tiny savings IMHO 

 

On 1/27/2024 at 2:47 AM, DripplessNewt said:

Considering buying some stuff through bestbuys open box program and curious what you guys thought about it and if its worth the savings. 

I learned the first quotes time/risk thing the hard way when I bought a laptop from Best Buy that was some kind of Geek Squad certified like new or something, meaning it had presumably been returned and they made sure it was okay.

 

So I got all the stuff installed on it, thought I checked nearly everything I could, and then a few days later I tried turning on the built in webcam and the damn thing wouldn't work! So after a clean wipe and a long time with HP support that couldnt fix it, I pulled the NVME SSD, saved a clone image of it, and returned the laptop for a newer one that happened to be on sale. That way when I got the newer laptop, I pulled its NVME SSD, put the clone image of the last laptop on that, and bam - At least there was need to redo all my app installs & doc copies on top of configuration again!

 

So that's a situation where you can now understand the amount of time I wasted taking a risk that even something supposedly "certified" as a return wasn't worth my time.

[cooky560]

I don't think I'd buy an open box item unless the price was very discounted, similar to the used price. You are gambling on something that could be faulty, so your basically making the same gamble you would with ebay or craig's list, so the prices should be comparable.