Festive season a boost for second-hand electronics sellers, but buyers undecided

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Online sellers of refurbished electronics like Apple’s iPhones and Samsung laptops expect an uptick in business during this year’s festive season even as consumers face a quandary with new devices becoming more affordable and accessible.

New Delhi-based ReFit Global, which featured in the third season of Shark Tank India, expects to sell more than 350,000 units in the last three months of the year, which would be more than half of its projected FY25 sales, founder and chief executive officer Saket Saurav told Mint. Prosus-backed Cashify, which buys old devices and sells refurbished ones, may more than double its smartphone procurement numbers to 250,000 to 300,000 a month compared with business-as-usual days, its chief executive officer Mandeep Manocha said.

“The weeks leading up to the festival season is when consumers trade their old phones in preparation for new phones, offering us a big opportunity," Manocha told Mint. Refurbished devices have grown in popularity over the past few years, offering users a cost-effective way of securing trendy smartphones and laptops at a fraction of the original price.

The festive season, which usually starts in August during Raksha Bandhan or Independence Day and goes on until New Year’s Eve, typically brings a 30-40% increase in demand for refurbished items, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, where price sensitivity is higher, according to an e-commerce executive who did not want to be identified. Cashify’s Manocha noted that users are increasingly looking at premium brands like Apple’s iPhone and Samsung devices, aiming to make aspirational purchases and stay in line with trends.