Who sells on Back Market?

Welcome. If you’re new to the Back Market world, you might have some questions about what we actually do to bring you that state-of-the-art refurbished tech. Well, there’s a method to that.

Sellers are the backbone of our marketplace. They help us help you in find quality refurbished tech that won’t harm the planet, all whilst saving you some cash. 

Read on to find out who sells on Back Market, how we vet them, and the steps we take to maintain high quality standards.

Does Back Market refurbish tech?

To answer the first question: No, we don’t refurbish the tech ourselves. We’re a trusted third-party marketplace that connects you to a talented lineup of sellers who refurbish or sell refurbished devices.

What kinds of sellers are on Back Market?

Back Market only allows professional refurbishers and verified businesses that meet strict quality, sustainability, and customer service criteria to sell goods on our platform.

There are a few types of sellers who use Back Market: classic sellers, retailers, and distributors.

Classic sellers

The OG’s – this was the first type of seller to join us when Back Market launched in 2014. This category includes:

1. Factories that refurbish electronic goods at the end of their life

2. Repairers, small stores, and refurbishing workshops that do the same work but on a smaller scale

3. Recyclers who take devices apart before reselling any components that are still useful

4. Traders and wholesalers who sell batches of refurbished devices

5. Companies that lease hi-tech devices to businesses, then refurbish and sell them on Back Market

For more information on how to trade in your device for cash, click the button below.

Retailers and distributors

This category includes product manufacturers, major retailers, and mobile operators. They sell devices that have been sold, then returned and refurbished. Many of these items are never removed from their packaging by their original customer, meaning they’re in great condition.

Can anybody be a seller? How does Back Market add new sellers to the platform?

We don’t just let anybody join the club. All new sellers are vetted by our internal team before going live on the Back Market site. This includes checks of their refurbishment processes and performance metrics like return rates and customer satisfaction. Here’s what this looks like:

• First, aspiring sellers have to provide specific legal documentation and information to pass our onboarding process.

• All sellers must agree to and sign our Sellers Terms and Conditions and Back Market Quality Charter, assuring the devices they sell are in line with our standards. 

• This stage must be approved by our onboarding team, as well as by a Seller Success Manager. Seller Success Managers are tasked with supporting sellers and making sure they always fulfil their operational potential. 

• Once a seller has passed the onboarding process, we set up the seller’s account.

What types of tech can sellers list?

Sellers can list refurbished electronics such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, appliances, and accessories, all of which must comply with applicable regulations and meet our quality standards.

What happens when a seller has been added?

Once a seller has passed all these stages, it’s go time – they can sell on the platform. After a trial period, where we implement specific quality checks.

These quality checks are performed by Back Market’s Innovation Lab, our team of quality and refurbishment experts, and supported by our in-house algorithm that ranks sellers based on quality and customer satisfaction indicators.

Sellers must maintain quality indicators above certain thresholds, including customer reviews, complaint rates, return/refund ratios, and delivery times. Back Market’s Innovation Lab also runs mystery orders to check the quality, the delivery, and the packaging of the seller’s items.

If a seller’s performance drops, Back Market may issue warnings, limit, or suspend a seller from the platform.

Explore the seller’s catalogue on Back Market, and reduce your impact on the planet

Sellers are a part of the Back Market ecosystem that challenges Big Tech’s demands on our spending. Every refurbished device listed by our sellers is one less in the landfill. And in most cases, you won’t even miss the new car smell.