How to Buy Refurbished Products

When shopping for electronics and appliances, you can save 30 percent to 80 percent by purchasing refurbished products.

Robert Silva, a California-based electronics expert, recommends these tips for buying refurbished DVD players, televisions, computers and home entertainment systems, but they also apply to kitchen appliances.


• Know your terms. Refurbished goods include returned items, new merchandise in damaged boxes, floor models, repackaged overstock or clearance items. The category also includes items that have been slightly damaged during shipping and assembly line rejects that have been repaired. The condition of ''refurbished'' appliances greatly varies, depending on the store.


• Speak to the manager. The sales staff may not know details, but the manager or the store buyer may provide insight about a product's history, Silva said in a phone interview. He is the author of an electronics guide (hometheater.about.com) and the home theater expert for About.com, an affiliate service from the New York Times.



• Look for authorized sellers. They may offer attractive warranties or return policies for refurbished products. In contrast, dealers who are not authorized sellers may sell refurbished appliances on a no-warranty, no-return basis.


• Check the warranties. U.S. online buyers could inadvertently purchase refurbished merchandise with warranties that are worthless in this country. Silva recommends that online shoppers inquire about U.S. warranties (ask for 15 to 90 days).


• Ask about extended warranties. It doesn't matter if you plan to actually buy an extended warranty. Your goal is to find out if the store or manufacturer has enough confidence to offer an extended warranty for a rehabilitated product.


• Know your prices. Take note of the brand name and model number of the refurbished item. Go online and check out the price of a comparable model in mint condition.

This is from my latest column in the home & design section of the Miami Herald.


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How to Recycle Cell Phones, Printers & Computers

At my children's school, old cell phones have been collected as a fundraiser and as a recycling project. Those were worthwhile drives. Overall around 130 million cell phones are thrown away annually, (about 65,000 tons of waste), according to the April 2007 issue of Real Simple magazine.

With recycling in mind and help from my son Tali ( a great intern), I've put together a list of recycling resources

To Recycle Cell Phones:

• There are many ways you can recycle cellphones: http://www.call2recycle.org/
• or http://www.collectivegood.com/.

To Recycle Computers:

Recycling old computers is tricky, especially if you are paranoid about data on the hard drive. There are, however, a few options for recycling computers, monitors and printers. You can even make a few bucks in the process. Here is a great list that I found in the April issue of Town & Country magazine.

• Donate computers to schools: Computers for Schools is a Chicago-based organization that refurbishes and donates computers to schools. http://www.pcsforschools.org/
• Gadgets for underprivileged: Recycles.org connects old computers and gadgets with those who need those items.
• High-Tech donations: National Cristina Foundation (cristina.org) provides high-tech equipment to underprivileged consumers.
• Dell Computers and Apple: When you buy new equipment, you can get your old hard drive and monitor recycled free through Dell.com or Apple.
• Hewlett-Packard: Sell your used equipment (any brand) to HP "for $13 to $34," according to Town & Country magazine. www.hp.com/recycle

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The Poetry & Drama Queen
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My Second-Hand Blond Streak Moment & Other Hidden High Costs of Living

When is a deal not a deal? All bargains are off when the so-called bargain is packed with hidden costs. And be skeptical of hair dressers that offer free blond streaks and other one-time free services.

Consider the refrigerator. So you pay $400 to $1,000 for a new frig. Or maybe you cheap out and keep the old one or buy a used unit that is in excellent shape but not the newest model on the block. But think hard about the hidden costs of some older refrigerators:

Older units, (pre-1993) refrigerators, typically burn $140 a year in electric juice. New models (1993 to 2001) cost only about $60 a year to operate. That's a big savings. I wrote more about electric charges in this post.

That's one example. The book 500 Terrific Ideas for Organizing Everything by Sheree Bykofsky offers a number of deals-that-are-not deals.
Tip 299: Consider dry-cleaning costs when buying so-called sale items suits, slacks, skirts, etc. Calculate maintenance and related costs when considering the purchase of big-ticket items, such as cars.

And beware of hair stylists that offer free blond streaks. Those free blond moments can cost a fortune in the long run. Just ask Nora Ephron, author of "I Feel Bad About My Neck."

Scenario: Upscale hair colorist offers Ephron one-time free highlights.

Results: Ephron (The Heartburn, Harry Loves Sally screenwriter) loves the free highlights and is hooked on spending her own money for the blond strands. She pays a large some every six weeks to make her hair sparkle.

Her quote: "As a result, my hair dying habit now takes at least three hours every six weeks or so...and costs more per year than my first automobile.
--Nora Ephron from "I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts On Being a Woman."

Thanks Nora for that second-hand blond moment.


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$300 Camera Now Sells for $30 (New)

Less than five years ago, we purchased a digital camera. It sold for $300 and we purchased it for $170, because we snapped up a floor model at an Office Depot store that was going out of business in Downtown Miami.

With our 43 percent discount, the digital deal seemed like a pretty savvy, very frugal move on our part. But fast forward to the 2006 holiday shopping season in which we spotted our camera (or a model pretty close to ours, with the same memory and features) selling new for $30.

That steep fall -- from $300 to $30 -- shows how sharply the prices of must-have objects drop given the steady pace of innovation and consumer demand. I've seen the same trends in video games for kids. Hot, hot, hot games that sell for $50 to $70 are sold used for less than $15 --just weeks or months later.

My teenage son just told me that games for GameBoy Advance are now selling for 2 bucks each.

Those sharp price drops make me think about the real value of so-called must-have gadgets, games and gizmos. Sometimes it pays to wait for a newer, cheaper model. Maybe.

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