By Bryan Wall
Product Test Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakamātautau Hautaonga
Buying secondhand can be a smart way to save money and get more life out of products that still have plenty to give. At the same time, you’ll be reducing waste and avoiding the carbon emissions that come from manufacturing new products.
You can often save the most on higher-ticket items. But how do you know if the used product you are buying is going to perform well and is not just on a temporary diversion to the landfill? Well, we have two tools to guide you – our brand reliability surveys and our discontinued model test results.
Reliability and satisfaction
We survey thousands of New Zealanders every year and ask them about the products they own – what faults they’ve experienced, how satisfied they are and how likely they are to buy from that brand again. We analyse this data and present it as reliability and satisfaction ratings.
Discontinued models
We’ve collated many years of data on tested models that have since been discontinued. Often these models will come up for sale secondhand, so we’ve added a discontinued drop-down on our test review pages so you can see how well they performed.
Here’s some guidance on higher-ticket items you might consider buying secondhand: we let you in on the brands to look out for and give you some tips for making sure you’re getting the best deal.
