@Cats3000 wrote:
@AngelPuppy1 Apple has "Autorized Resellers" for their products. Best Buy is one, there are others. You can find an "Authorized Reseller" in your area on the Apple website by scrolling down to the bottom and clicking on the link.
As for "Open Box" products at Best Buy, the name sounds like returned items or refurbished items rather than new items. I'd be very hesitant to purchase. If I wanted a refurbished Apple product, I'd go to the Apple website and check there. I'd trust their refurbishing process over others.
"Open-Box" products can be any product that's been returned to Best Buy (or other retailers) even if unopened and in perfect condition. The retailers will typically open a returned item to be sure it wasn't opened, damaged, had parts removed, etc. and then once they verify it's still perfectly good and normal, they'll sell it as an "Open Box" product. You can save a lot of money by buying an "Open Box" item and they typically come with the full original warranty. You can buy the same shrink wrap plastic the original manufacturer used to reseal a product that you've tampered with, so even seemingly "factory-sealed" items often need to be checked.
There are endless scams run by the less ethical elements of society, and retailers have to be on the ball to catch up with them. One example is buying a new laptop computer and then putting the old, used laptop in the box that the new laptop came in and returning it to the store for a refund. If the store doesn't check what's in the box they can end up giving the customer a free new computer. Pay $700 for a new computer, box up your old computer in the box the new computer came in, return it to the store for a refund and you get back your $700 and keep the new computer while the store is stuck with your old one. Unless they check serial numbers (typically printed on both the box and computer) this scam can work.
Stores can get destroyed pretty quickly if they're not on the ball. There are even bands of thieves who travel from state to state pulling scams. Stores with self-checkouts like Walmart, Target, BJ's, and the like are especially prone to thievery. Unethical "shoppers" will scan the UPC code of a cheaper product (laptop, HDTV, even videogames, etc.) and then print out a sticker with that UPC code on it and paste it over the real UPC code on whatever they're buying. They'll scan the fake UPC code and get their receipt and head for the door, underpaying the store by what could be hundreds or thousands of dollars. Even the clerk at the door, if there is one, will often merely check to see that the product being purchased is more or less on the receipt. If they see a 65" Samsung HDTV (the lower end ones sell for under $500 these days while their higher-end ones can sell for over $2,500, they often assume it's the right one and let the customer go through. If the scam works, they get a $2,500 HDTV for under $500 and can resell it to someone else for lots more than they paid.
"Open-Box" just means that the item left the store at some point and came back. They've opened it up, checked it out, and verified that it's as good as new and everything that's supposed to be there is truly there. You're generally very safe buying "Open-Box" items as long as you're buying them from a reputable vendor. In many cases, the item was never even opened by the original purchaser.
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