5 Best Places to Buy Apple Products | Brand New & Refurbished(Apple Returns)

Cheap prices just don’t exist for Apple. Many consumers who want to purchase Apple electronics tend to go for the cheaper option, which is the Certified Reconditioned products(also known as Apple Returns).

I have created an article that explains everything about refurbished products. There are important things to consider before you buy. Please, make sure you read it to avoid some traps!

So, let’s take a look at the 5 best places to buy Apple products cheaper. These stores are highly reliable and include brand-new, used, and refurbished devices that come with warranties at a lower price.

The 5 Best stores to buy Apple products for cheap are:

• Amazon
• Walmart
• BestBuy
• eBay
• Apple Refurbished Store

Important: It would be best to check the serial number of the devices on Apple’s coverage site to make sure they are legitimate and not fake or stolen. Especially if you buy them for a significantly lower price!

Amazon

No introductions are needed when it comes to Amazon. It’s one of the best places to buy Apple products in general.

They offer many different discounts on a wide variety of brand-new and refurbished products, and in addition to that, they also have the Amazon Renewed Store, where you can find certified refurbished products with a 90-Day Warranty.

Moreover, if you are a US citizen, you can get free shipping for orders over $25, which is a big positive considering how expensive Apple devices are. Amazon Prime members also get free shipping.

A big downside of Amazon is that they don’t accept PayPal as a payment method so you can’t have that extra measure of safety that PayPal offers.

However, they have the A-Z Guarantee (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GQ37ZCNECJKTFYQV) which protects you from any shady seller out there. Overall, just pick a reputable seller and you won’t face any issues with your order.

(Side note: They may have a large variety of products but lots of them become unavailable fast so you might have some difficulty finding what you need.)

Walmart

Walmart is known for having lower prices than its direct competitors. They have a decent collection of Apple products (both new and refurbished) that come with a 90-day to 1-year warranty.

Similar to any other e-commerce platform, you have to check the reviews of the product you want since you can never know if the seller is trustworthy. They offer free shipping for W+ members or customers with over $35 orders.

They accept many different payment options like credit cards, PayPal, and more. In addition, they are an authorized reseller of Apple.

When it comes to its negatives, they don’t offer international shipping, and instead, they only ship to US territories. Also, a lot of their renewed products (and I mean A LOT) are getting negative reviews so I am not 100% sure about the quality of their refurbished products.

BestBuy

BestBuy has been around since 1966, and it’s another decent place to purchase Apple products.

They have an extra pricing option that includes paying in monthly installments, which is great for people who don’t have $500 to make a one-time payment for an iPhone or an Apple Watch that won’t even have a charger.

Additionally, they offer free shipping on most orders over $35 and free returns. However, just like Walmart, they don’t ship to any territory outside the US, and their shipping can be fairly high if you don’t cross that $35 dollar mark. For me, these two should be considered only by US citizens.

Furthermore, they have a loyalty program that gives you up to 2.5% of the price in rewards. In my opinion, their biggest disadvantage is their customer service. You can only contact them by phone, and they generally have a pretty poor reputation around the web when it comes to customer service.

eBay

eBay is the home of refurbished products, and honestly, for me, it’s the best place to find a cheap Apple device. They have their own trusted sellers, so you know that your merchant is reputable.

They have a large variety of Apple products and they offer buyer protection with their Money Back Guarantee policy.

The great thing about eBay is that they also have an “auction-style” type of system, so you can end up buying an item for an even lower price.

I tend to buy from them using PayPal, so if I am not satisfied with my package, I can get my money back with the eBay guarantee or PayPal.

Either way, you are completely safe when buying from them. They ship worldwide, even though, their return and shipping policies vary by seller.

The most negative thing is that their shipping often takes too long. Of course, this highly depends on the seller you choose, but with other e-commerce sites, I had my orders delivered within a month, while on eBay, some of them took about 2 months to arrive.

Apple Refurbished Store

The Apple refurbished store is surely the most trustworthy place to get cheap returned products. It’s been created by Apple itself. You can save big time here on all of their devices.

They don’t have an enormous variety of models, but the ones they have are pure quality and 100% authentic. Additionally, they are backed by a one-year warranty.

They accept a bunch of payment options, such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Gift Cards, and more.

However, their final prices are not as low as some other stores and even though they offer free shipping, they only ship to US areas.

If you’re not a US citizen and you want to order from the Apple Refurbished Store, I would suggest you use a US package forwarding service to ship Apple products to your country.

This also applies to other stores that don’t ship outside of the US like Walmart and BestBuy.

Conclusion

I personally think there is real value in buying a refurbished product. If you carefully purchase one with some small signs of usage, you could end up with a device that’s as good as new while saving a couple of hundred bucks.

Regardless, I would highly suggest you avoid getting a pre-owned one as they tend to be products of lower quality than what you pay for.