We are a workshop first and a shop second
Rephonestore was set up out of RepairCentre Zarren, where devices are repaired at component level every day.
Most refurbished web shops are trading businesses. They buy job lots of devices, run them through a warehouse, give them a label and put them online. If something breaks within the warranty, the device is swapped or forwarded to an outside party.
With us that order is reversed. First there was a workshop with microsoldering equipment, measuring gear and people who repair a logic board under a microscope. Every week we saw devices come in that a shop had written off over something that could be fixed in half an hour. Those devices got a second life with us, and that is how Rephonestore came about.
It also explains why we sit differently from a pure trader. We do not have to write off a device with a faulty charging port or a display fault, we solve it. And if something happens within the warranty, the device comes back to the same bench it came from.
What we watch out for
Every device lists what we did to it. A replaced battery or screen is nothing to be ashamed of, but you ought to know about it.
IMEI check on arrival. Stolen or blocked devices go back out the door, not into the shop.
We would rather replace a faulty part than write off a whole device. That saves waste and it keeps the price down.