Many of you have used our Upgrade Scheme to move up the range of products. This is a great benefit in itself, but it also provides an excellent opportunity to get a pre-owned bargain. Simon Dalton delves a little deeper.
Almost like buying new
One of the main things that puts people off the idea of buying second-hand is the condition of items that can be found on the used market.
Although there are plenty of products out there which are in very good condition, you can nevertheless find Hi-Fi components and cables with scratches, missing parts, tarnished connections and worn front panels. Loudspeakers can be even worse, with damaged cones and chipped cabinets featuring the obligatory coffee cup stain.
Even if they are in pristine condition, there’s always the worry that something might go wrong once you’ve bought it and being faced with the sometimes laborious, and often expensive, task of getting it fixed.
And then there's the prospect of counterfeit cables - you can read our article on counterfeit Kimber cables here
So, there are many reasons why you can be put off the idea of buying pre-owned.
We try to alleviate this worry by offering pre-owed stock with the same level of service and after-sales support that you expect from us when buying new.
We only sell pre-owned items which we would be happy using ourselves.
Every pre-owned product we sell goes through a thorough series of checks and tests to ensure optimum performance and safety. In fact, we are so confident in the quality of this stock that it comes with the same Lifetime Warranty and 60-day Money-Back Guarantee as our new products
‘Excellent Condition’
The vast majority of items in our pre-owned section can easily be described as excellent, if not mint. In fact, for most, you wouldn’t know they were not new.
Our customers tend to be a fastidious bunch anyway, but, when you think about it, most of these get plugged in at the back of the system and stay there until the time the someone decides on an upgrade; there’s really not much that can happen to them.
So, it’s not surprising that when we get them back, most are just as they were when they left the factory. And if they’re not, we’ll either reflect the condition in the price or, if they are in poor condition, we won’t offer them for sale.
What sort of products are available?
Basically, these are any items which can be traded in as part of the Upgrade Scheme. In practice, this means most Russ Andrews and Kimber cables along with items such as mains extensions and RF Routers.
Because they have been upgraded, we tend to have fewer items at the top end and more towards the beginning and middle; more Evolution-100 and 300 PowerKords than the 500, for example.
But there are exceptions, such as - at the time of writing - a Kimber Select KS-6065 speaker cable offering a massive saving of over £7000!
You’ll also often find older versions of PowerKords – Classics and References, for example – which are still great performers even though they aren’t the latest spec’… and they’re often some of the best bargains. If you see an older model and you’re not sure what it is, feel free to give us a ring on 01539 797300 or drop us an email to info@russandrews.com.
There are many great bargains to be had across the range of pre-owned products available and, occasionally, there’s the opportunity to own one of the higher-end Kimber Select models like the KS-6065 mentioned above!
Fully Guaranteed
We are so confident in the quality of our pre-owed stock that it comes with the same warranty as if it were new – in most cases that means our standard lifetime warranty of 25 years!
60 Days to try at home
All our pre-owned items come with our 60-Day, Money-Back Guarantee so you can try them yourself at home and if you’re not 100% satisfied, we’ll give you your money back (you just pay return postage).
How much will I save?
The prices of our pre-owned items are determined by their upgrade value – we do not make any money on our pre-owned stock.
For example, if someone has upgraded their 1m Evolution-100 PowerKord, which they originally bought over two years ago, they would receive back 50% of what they originally paid, and that is what we would sell it for.
Because we do not add anything to the cost of the cables, we do charge postage on all these items.
(For more information on our Upgrade Scheme, click here)
What about Warehouse Clearance items?
Products in Warehouse Clearance can be there for a number of reasons, but most often they are either products which could be classed as ‘B-Grade’ i.e. they have minor marks or scratches, or they are older models which we are selling off at a discount, often with substantial savings.
