What Does Canon Refurbished Mean?

I have had nothing but great experiences buying Canon Refurbs. Of my current gear, my 7D, 6D, G1-X, 24-105, 2x TC III and 70-200 are all refurbs from Canon. I often take advantage of the extra discounts when they occur as in many cases the refurb price plus shipping comes close to B&H retail.

Greg
 
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DONT FORGET, Canon Refurb Store charges TAX - so pls factor that in to the final price.

I was too excited to check out and didnt put the tax into account - my lens actually turned out more than the current price and rebate offer right now :( - also, Canon dont send you anything else other than the lens, front and rear caps - that's it. No Canon BOX. not even WHITE BOX, mine was a box for a vixia camcorder.

Another thing - my refurb lens is close to $300 more compared to the current refurb price - .... is there a rating structure on refurb lenses (canon dont say anything) or are prices based on supply and demand?

is my lens better than the $300 less refurb lens? :) - most refurb lens prices are stable though but the 24-70L2 has been having ups and lows lately - probably feeling the heat from the sony 85G.
 
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slclick said:
It's a US sale so tax is supposed to be collected. And if not you are legally bound to declare it end of year. Oh yeah that's right no one does that. Except me ;)

GOOD for you :) tell that to thousands of BHphoto buyers, Adorama buyers who uses it for leisure :) and all other online sellers, even my local store here do NO-SALES-TAX promotions to attract buyers during mothers day, fathers day, 4th of july sales :) cheers.

Yes, Canon is a US seller, so does BH, Adorama :) - and when one sells it for 100 refurb plus tax, $110 total and the other sells it for 120 New - with BOX, manuals and all, even 4% rebate points - you got the idea :)

... and one ships it with free expedited Shipping!!!! :)

this is NOT about you or me, this is not about taxes either.
this is about COST and VALUE and the idea of buying refurb.

total cost to own from buying NEW vs Refurb and the VALUE between the two.

THEY (the readers) can also BUY USED :) whether through craigslist, ebay, BH used dept. KEH... etc or even buying from their friends.... and Im sure they will get the retail BOX too :) even a free filter :) and YES, no tax :)
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Bennie_CanonShooter said:
slclick said:
It's a US sale so tax is supposed to be collected. And if not you are legally bound to declare it end of year. Oh yeah that's right no one does that. Except me ;)

GOOD for you :) tell that to thousands of BHphoto buyers, Adorama buyers who uses it for leisure :) and all other online sellers, even my local store here do NO-SALES-TAX promotions to attract buyers during mothers day, fathers day, 4th of july sales :) cheers.

Yes, Canon is a US seller, so does BH, Adorama :) - and when one sells it for 100 refurb plus tax, $110 total and the other sells it for 120 New - with BOX, manuals and all, even 4% rebate points - you got the idea :)

... and one ships it with free expedited Shipping!!!! :)

this is NOT about you or me, this is not about taxes either.
this is about COST and VALUE and the idea of buying refurb.

total cost to own from buying NEW vs Refurb and the VALUE between the two.

THEY (the readers) can also BUY USED :) whether through craigslist, ebay, BH used dept. KEH... etc or even buying from their friends.... and Im sure they will get the retail BOX too :) even a free filter :) and YES, no tax :)

When local stores do that they don't not pay the sales tax, they suck it up and take it out of their margins.

New cameras are said to have about 10% margin for the dealer, if they are paying the 6-8% sales tax their margin is reduced to 2-4%, or around $60 total margin for a 5D MkIII! How much commission and other expenses does that produce? They earn more from selling an 'off brand' $200 'starter lighting kit'.
 
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unfocused

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Bennie_CanonShooter said:
GOOD for you :) ...uses it for leisure :) and all other online sellers... :) cheers.

Yes... :) - and when one sells it for 100 refurb plus tax...you got the idea :)

... and one ships it with free expedited Shipping!!!! :)

THEY (the readers) can also BUY USED :) ...and Im sure they will get the retail BOX too :) even a free filter :) and YES, no tax :)

You seem like a very smiley guy. Did you just discover emoticons?
 
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rfdesigner said:
I've never seen this offer in the UK.. do Canon UK just not sell refurb?

Canon's "online store" here in the UK appears to be SO pointless, with its higher-than-retail prices and failure to stock or even acknowledge their own new products, that it leads me to believe they DO have a purpose: to half-heatedly direct people towards their comparatively-well-priced business associates such as Jessops...

I'm pretty sure there won't be any refurbs listed on the official Canon UK website but they DO have one or two eBay accounts where you'll occasionally see Powershots, printers and an elusive 70D or 1200D mildly discounted! :)
 
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gruhl28

Canon 70D
Jul 26, 2013
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I've purchased a few Canon refurb products now - an SL1 with 18-55 kit and a 55-250 STM for my girlfriend, and a 100-400 II a few weeks ago. In each case, there was no sign that the items weren't brand new; just didn't come with the standard boxes. The 100-400 went on sale less than a week after I bought it, I contacted Canon and they said they will refund me the difference. Ended up $600 less than list price. Performs well, much sharper than my other telephoto lenses.
 
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unfocused said:
Bennie_CanonShooter said:
GOOD for you :) ...uses it for leisure :) and all other online sellers... :) cheers.

Yes... :) - and when one sells it for 100 refurb plus tax...you got the idea :)

... and one ships it with free expedited Shipping!!!! :)

THEY (the readers) can also BUY USED :) ...and Im sure they will get the retail BOX too :) even a free filter :) and YES, no tax :)

You seem like a very smiley guy. Did you just discover emoticons?

YES - : ) :) :) :) :) I enjoy it a lot :) :) :) Im a happy person.. hope you are to :) :) :) and they're not refurb :)

nothing serious man, just sharing some emoticons here -some forum threads on here are getting too serious for all its worth ... its the internet.
 
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ashmadux

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Jul 28, 2011
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It also means unchecked items that need to either be sent back immediately, potentially broken right out of the box.


My personal canon refurb misdventures, take from it what you will:

2x 50mm 1.4 - broken focus

6D- focus always been suspect even after CPS repair. Sits on the shelf, cant trust it for shoots.

70d with COMPLETELY BROKEN focus out of the box, in every mode. So upset, I nearly went nuclear on a canon sales rep. Nearly.

35mm IS F2 (2 months ago) - busted circuit board + scratch on the front element- sent back for repair, but they never fixed the front element. Operations is STELLAR now, literally completely different beast then what was originally shipped. Will still go back in to get that front element repaired.

Well that's my story.

No more refurbs for me, unless its a flash.
 
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danfaz

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I've purchased NUMEROUS refurbished lenses, a few T3i bodies, a 6D body and a 5D Mark III body. All were in like-new condition. The T3i bodies had less than 50 shutter actuations, and the 5D was somewhere in the 2000 range (software verified, not reading memory card figures). The fact that the products come with same 1 year warranty as new, it's a real bargain!
 
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Khufu said:
rfdesigner said:
I've never seen this offer in the UK.. do Canon UK just not sell refurb?

Canon's "online store" here in the UK appears to be SO pointless, with its higher-than-retail prices and failure to stock or even acknowledge their own new products, that it leads me to believe they DO have a purpose: to half-heatedly direct people towards their comparatively-well-priced business associates such as Jessops...

I'm pretty sure there won't be any refurbs listed on the official Canon UK website but they DO have one or two eBay accounts where you'll occasionally see Powershots, printers and an elusive 70D or 1200D mildly discounted! :)
This thread surprised me because I had always assumed that a refurbished product was one that had at one time been faulty and then repaired. I didn't realise that they could be returns or items where just the box was damaged.
In the UK - try Wex. They have an OB category which means the customer took a look at it, decided they didn't want it and returned it. They are essentially brand new products that have never been used.
They also have a number of classifications for used products, but in my experience they are always in better condition than the web site claims. For example I bought a Canon 135mm F2 that was described as condition 9- (Lens shows light signs of use, lens shows very few cosmetic marks and scratches including wear to the hood mount, wear and shining to the grips and marks to the lens mount. The optics of the lens show dust and fibres throughout and light marks to the front optic although this will not affect images in any way).
Well I could not find any marks or scratches on the lens, or any wear to the hood or lens mount or grips, or any dust or fibres on the inside or outside of the lens. It looked to me almost like a brand new lens, still in its original box with all the packaging.
 
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I bought my Canon 6D from Canon US refurb site over 3 years ago on sale for around $1100. It came in a plain brown box marked "Vixia" but the box was kitted up inside and looked just like a new camera box with all of the packaging and interior fitments that made it a perfect fit for the 6D and accessories that came with it.

And since I ordered it from my home in Oregon, no sales tax!

The camera and everything inside the box, and the box itself, were completely new looking. That camera has served me reliably since the day I got it, with the sxception that the circular disk that labels the top of the mode dial came off about 8 months ago. Probably because I almost always have my camera with me or in my trunk, and that trunk can get pretty hot.

I found the disk in my camera bag and placed in safely an old 35mm film container in my camera drawer. I'm afraid to reattach it and have it fall off and be lost forever. In it's absense, I have become adept at switching between T, A, M, and B modes without it (I just look at the LCD to see which mode I'm in and I know which direction I need to turn the mode dial in to get to the mode I want, although normally I do everything in A or M mode).
 
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Purchased a good-as-new 24-70mm f/2.8 series 2 (non IS) at a 15% off discount.

It works very well on this Canon f.f. semi-defector's Sony a7Rii with IBIS and $100 adapter, although missing Eye AF and somewhat limited AF coverage ... about half of native lens.

Do be patient and watch for regularly occurring 10% to 15% sales, sometimes better.
 
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