eBay is launching a new destination on its online marketplace dedicated to offering products classed as "Certified Refurbished" that enjoy an extended warranty and ship directly from brands.
"Demand for refurbished products has surged, and by securing exclusive rights to inventory sold directly from the most popular manufacturers, eBay is changing the way people shop this category," said Jordan Sweetnam, Senior Vice President and General Manager for eBay's North America Market. "eBay shoppers tend to focus on value, which has helped make these products so popular. With this new Certified Refurbished destination, we’re doing a better job of helping customers discover inventory sold direct from the brands they love and feel confident they will be blown away by the quality."
eBay shoppers are used to purchasing used goods on the site, but this new class of refurbished product includes the added benefit of a two-year warranty, hassle-free 30-day returns, and eBay's money back guarantee if there's anything wrong with an item.
In order to qualify, eBay says each item carrying the Certified Refurbished tag must be "in a pristine, like-new condition that has been professionally inspected, cleaned, and refurbished by the manufacturer – or a manufacturer-approved vendor – to meet their specifications." You should also expect to receive the item in new packaging with original or new accessories.
To begin with, five priority categories will offer Certified Refurbished products, which include laptops, portable audio, power tools, small kitchen appliances and vacuums. eBay has secured brand exclusives from De’Longhi, Dirt Devil, Hoover, Makita, Philips, and Razer, along with inventory exclusives from Dewalt, iRobot, and Skullcandy. Other participating brands include Acer, Bissell, Black+Decker, Blendtec, Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Lenovo, Microsoft, Miele, Ninja, Porter-Cable, Prolux, and Sennheiser.
eBay clearly has Amazon in its sights with this new initiative, and in particular the company's Warehouse Deals. As we've seen recently, even though Amazon offer a guarantee with each Warehouse Deal, there's no guarantee you'll end up receiving the item you ordered.