My pile o’ electronic crap these days includes a refurbished Yamaha receiver, a refurbed pair of Wharfedale speakers, a refurbed Toshiba upscaling DVD and a refurbed ADS MediaLink streaming media box. New, that stuff would have cost at least $750. I paid under $300. Then there’s the refurbed video card (paid $75; was $150 new) and motherboard (paid $50; was $110 new) in my computer.

A lot of people won’t touch refurbished electronics. I love the stuff. Refurbed equipment often consists of returns that people suddenly decided they didn’t want or didn’t understand how to use. The equipment goes back to a manufacturer or a refurb center, gets testing that often exceeds the workout given to new equipment, and gets sold again at a fraction of its original cost.

In return, the buyer usually gets an awful warranty — perhaps 30 days instead of a year. But if we’re talking about electronic goods with no moving parts, a piece of equipment that works for a week is almost certain to work for years and years. The $40 Toshiba, which has a laser and a motor and so on, was a bit of a risk — but at $40, it’s also darn near disposable, particularly considering that it contained a HDMI cable (which often costs more than $40 on its own).

I often rely on Ubid, Computer Geeks or Woot for refurbed goods, or I go digging through the deep recesses of Newegg.com for computer stuff. I’ve been happy and lucky in this hunt — it’s not for everyone, but it can really pay off.