u/JHausHaus

First a promo code. f0148cd1b620b33d

Hey new buyers thinking about buying electronics from Back Market, a couple things stood out to me that are worth paying attention to before ordering.

1. Buy condition, not just price.
"Fair" sounds fine until you realize you're staring at scratches and wear every day. If this is your work computer or daily machine, moving up to "Excellent" can be worth it.

However if you're looking for a beater you can take the difference between fair and good and buy an extra year of warranty. If something goes wrong you'll either get a replacement machine or your money back.

2. Premium vs. Excellent — is Premium actually worth it?
Back Market now has Fair → Good → Excellent → Premium. The jump to Premium seems to focus more on battery health and genuine replacement parts. If you're planning to keep the machine 3–5 years, Premium may make sense. If you're replacing it again in 12–24 months, maybe not. Curious what others think. To me this just seems like a way to match ebay.

3. Compare specs before chasing a deal.
A "cheap" laptop with 8GB RAM and a smaller SSD isn't always cheaper long term. Sometimes another $75–$150 gets meaningfully better performance and more years before replacement.

Refurbished can be a great value. It just takes a little more homework than buying new.

JRH

Hi Friends,

First of all here is a promo code to use. facf5680a2626b94

I just purchased several computers and wanted to share some recent lessons from BM.

• “Excellent condition” ≠ good internals. That just means it looks nice. Always check the actual specs (CPU gen, RAM, SSD type)—not the cosmetic grade. When it arrives trust but verify...
• If the seller won’t tell you the exact model, walk. “Dell Latitude” or “MacBook Pro” isn’t enough. You want the full model identifier (e.g., 7490, A2338). Otherwise you’re gambling on ports, screen quality, thermals, and upgradeability.
• Battery can be a silent killer. Most refurb laptops ship with used batteries at 60–80% capacity unless explicitly replaced. If “new battery” isn’t in the listing, assume the worst.
• Capitalize on mistakes. Sometimes listings have not listed all the features or specs. If you can verify the full model number you might be surprised by a video card, ram, extra slots, etc. I recently bought a computer with 16 MB ram. I assumed 8 + 8. In reality it was 1 x 16 leaving one slot open.
• Don't buy the last one if you're thinking of exchanging it. There won't be any stock left...

JRH