The images we use to depict the condition of our phones on the product pages are representative of a phone in Good, Very Good, or Like New condition. Our inventory moves very quickly, so it wouldn’t be possible to get pictures of every single device.

Every phone that Orchard sells is thoroughly tested and guaranteed to be in perfect working condition. That being said, some used phones look a bit newer than others.

This is why we rate each phone as either Like-New, Very Good, or Good to refer to the cosmetic appearance. Here’s what each of those ratings means:

Like-New
This is the best condition you can reasonably expect for a used phone. Please note that the condition for a Like-New iPhone 8 vs. a Like-New iPhone 15 might vary slightly due to the increased wear and tear on older models. That being said, all Orchard Like-New devices will be free of any clearly visible dents or chips on the front of the phone. Any imperfections, if present, will usually be found on the back or side of the device.

Very Good
This condition will mark a phone that has been gently used, but well taken care of. As with all of our phones, a Very Good phone will not have any major imperfections. You might notice some scuffing on the side of the device, or some light scratches on the body. There may be a few light scratches on the screen as well. Overall, these physical imperfections will not affect the daily use of your phone.

Good
A phone in “Good” condition has been well used, showing clear signs of prior wear. This includes scuffing and/or chips on the body of the phone. There will probably be a few scratches, especially on the bezel or sides of the phone. Additionally, there will likely be screen scratches, as well. However, all imperfections are merely cosmetic and will not affect the functionality of your device.

Part of our 30-point quality check includes an extensive battery test. We use tools that allow us to measure how much of the battery capacity is left, i.e. how much of a charge it can hold, and compare that to how much the battery was designed to hold when it was manufactured. This way, we’re making sure that the battery performs close to new, otherwise we replace it. And we know we aren’t selling a phone that will experience problems down the road.

Battery is something we’re asked about a lot, and for good reason: the lithium-ion batteries in a used smartphone degrade over time. That’s just how this particular technology works.

As a business that sells used smartphones, we have worked hard to figure out which batteries should be replaced, and which batteries should be left in the phone. There are two things that we are trying to balance here:

1. Ensuring that our customers get a full day of casual usage out of their phone between charges – that’s typically between 5 and 8 hours of active use depending on the model (note: heavy users will need to charge more frequency, even if they buy a brand-new phone!).

2. Ensuring that our phones remain cost-effective: replacement batteries aren’t cheap, and the more that we replace, the more expensive our phones will have to be.

Taking both of those factors into consideration, we’ve set our cutoff for replacement at 83% of the original charge capacity. Should the battery in your Orchard phone not last a full day of casual usage, please let us know and one of our customer advocates will be happy to assist you with a battery health assessment. We guarantee the health of these phones’ batteries, and we back that up with our 90-day no-questions-asked return policy.

No.

Apple and their authorized service partners are the only companies in the world that can source genuine Apple OEM parts. Instead, Orchard uses third-party parts that are rigorously tested and that we trust. This means that a phone repaired at Orchard could have non-OEM parts. Any Orchard phone may have been repaired as part of our extensive testing and refurbishing process, which means that any Orchard phone may have non-original parts.

Orchard now offers battery replacements before shipment on a limited selection of phones! 

If you’re ordering an older model like the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, you might be worried about battery health. While we’re proud to guarantee that a full charge in any of our phones will last you through a day of standard usage, we understand that a battery health closer to our 83% cutoff may be more worrying on older models, whose battery performance isn’t as impressive as newer phones.

The cost of this upgrade to a new battery is $50 plus tax. You can add this to your order by ticking the “Upgrade to Replacement battery for $50” box on the item page. If the box isn’t showing up on the item page, unfortunately, it means this add-on is not available for the phone you chose. Currently, we only offer this add-on for the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X.

When you order this add-on, we’ll make sure that you receive a phone with 100% battery health. Please note that this may delay your order shipping by 1-2 days, as we’ll need a bit of extra time to prep your order. 

Any questions? Send us an email at support@getorchard.com and we’ll be in touch ASAP.

No, used phones (including Orchard phones!) should not be treated as water-resistant.

Although more recent versions of the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S are sold as water-resistant, the seals that make up a phone’s water resistance erode with normal wear and tear. That is why Apple and Samsung don’t cover water damage under their limited warranties. You can read more about water resistance (and why it’s not included in their limited warranties) at the Apple and Samsung websites.

While we do test phones thoroughly, we cannot verify whether these water resistant seals have eroded over time, or whether the phone has been opened for repairs (which removes water resistance altogether). As a result, water damage is not covered under Orchard’s 90-day warranty.

If you are worried about splashes and spills, our one-year extended warranty covers anything that might go wrong with your phone — including getting dropped in the pool. Find out more about Orchard Care Premium here.

Although we won’t manually update each phone, most phones in our inventory are running the latest OS version available.

If you’re looking for a phone with a specific OS version, just let us know. Our team will be more than happy to search for you.

It can be! Most people do not need to have their Pixel’s bootloader unlocked, but if you’re interested in developer options or intend on installing a custom OS on your Pixel phone, we’re happy to arrange for a bootloader-unlocked device to be matched to your order, or to unlock one for you.

Make sure to get in touch with our support team at support@getorchard.com immediately after you place your Pixel order, so we can coordinate before it ships out. Our turnaround for bootloader unlocks is quite quick, but the process may delay your order by 1 business day. We are not able to unlock a phone’s bootloader remotely after an order has shipped.

Please note that our team is not able to assist with custom OS installation or inquiries about developer options on Android phones. Should anything go wrong as a result of a customer OS install, the 90-day warranty on your device would be voided.

Orchard’s inventory comes from people who sell their phones to Orchard through our app. The Orchard app ensures that a phone is fully functional through a rigorous testing process. We also work with wholesale partners and obtain phones through our corporate buyback program.

Once a phone arrives at our office, it goes through another two rounds of in-hand quality testing. We only sell phones that pass all our tests, so that our buyers know they are buying a fully functional device.

The price for each phone is set according to its Fair Market Value, which is an average of what identical phones are selling for across other marketplaces, like Craigslist and eBay. This is how we determine how much a seller will be paid for their device, and how much we’ll list their phone for in our inventory.

We guarantee that no phones sold by Orchard are or will be reported stolen. The most important thing to us is standing behind each phone that we sell, so we will replace your phone or refund you if your Orchard phone appears on the blacklist ever, even if your warranty with us has expired. 

We work very hard to ensure that we do not traffic in stolen devices. To date, Orchard has not had any of our phones reported as stolen.

We take a few precautions to make sure a stolen phone never gets listed in our inventory. The first and most important precaution is checking all our inventory against the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association’s national blacklist of lost and stolen phones. We also conduct two rounds of quality tests on all of our phones, making sure that the device is no longer associated with the account and SIM card of the previous owner.

Click here to view our Global TV segment where we discuss issues around stolen phones.