There are two kinds of tech buyers: those who would never, ever buy anything sullied with the words ‘refurbished,’ and those of us who wouldn’t mind shaving a few hundred bucks off the sticker price of returned and repaired computers and tablets.

When Apple started calling it “the new iPad” You just knew this was going to happen.

There’s a new vendor on eBay called “refurbished_outlet” that is selling refurbished Macbooks, iPads, and iPods at the same price which Apple sells their refurbished stock from their site. Here’s a list of features for these “Apple Certified Refurbished Products”:

  • Full one-year warranty
  • Returned to like-new condition
  • iPads/iPods include a new battery

(Editor’s note: Hopefully the ‘included’ batteries are pre-installed.)

  • Received complete burn-in testing
  • Original OS re-installed
  • Repackaged with manual and cable
  • Final quality inspection by Apple

These features are so similar to Apple’s refurbished policies that 9to5Mac believes that the Refurbished Outlet ebay store is run by Apple itself. You might be wondering customers would bother buying from eBay instead of Apple’s online store; 9to5Mac pointed out that, unlike Apple’s online store, the eBay store only charges sales tax in six states.

Another hint that the store is run by Apple? The Refurbished Outlet store has a category for “New iPad (3rd Generation)”. The absurd insistence to stick with the trademarked ‘New iPad’ name, despite the fact that the tablet is no longer “new” in any sense of the word, should dispel doubt that this store could be run by anyone but Apple.

Could this be from anyone other than directly from Apple?

Personally I’m hoping that Apple starts stocking refurbished Apple TVs. The while the current resale price for the older–and highly hackable–Apple TVs has gone down in recent months, more competition from trusted sources is always good for buyers.

What do you think of the Refurbished Outlet eBay store? Will it make it easier to find affordable Apple products, or is it unnecessary  Share your thoughts in the comments section below.