“My 8 year old daughter bought an iPad Pro 5th generation with her savings and the item was not prepared for 4 days. I sent an enquiry only to find out there was a “warehouse issue” with my order and it would be cancelled. I asked for a replacement iPad as an alternative but they cancelled the order without my consent. While we were awaiting the iPad my daughter also bought $200 in case and accessories which we can’t get refunded for due to her opening them in excitement. Nothing offered from Back Market to make this right. Horrible experience!!!!”
“I'm not the kind of person to do this but desperate times call for desperate measures--am hoping that if I make this public Backmarket will actually treat my horrific customer experience with respect. Bought a phone, it stopped working just after the one month warranty window, sent it in for repairs, waited three weeks for it to get fixed, only for them to send it back still broken. I couldn't wait any longer for a functioning phone and had to buy a new one. I requested a refund and have been met with a wall of automaton customer service refusing to help and repeating that all they can do is have me send it in again for repair. I really want to believe in this company as I so agree with the need to stop buying new tech all the time, but I am genuinely horrified by the poor quality of service and woudln't recommend them to anyone. If you are considering purchasing but are nervous about peace of mind in purchasing a used product, I highly recommend not purchasing from backmarket, as they don't provide the customer service one would expect when taking this kind of risk.”
“I purchased a refurbished MacBook Pro M1 and upon arrival, I found a significant amount of dust inside. This is not something you’d expect from a refurbished laptop. I promptly requested a return using the postage they provided. However DHL failed to deliver the laptop. I then contacted the retailer and they suspended my account without refunding me. This is incredibly dishonest and I will never recommend or buy from them again.”
“I have bought from backmarket twice. The first time went very well as I bought an IPhone that worked perfectly fine, however, the second time, I bought a MacBook became a nightmarish experience. I bought from a seller with over 4.2 star reviews so I thought everything would go well.
I mostly used this MacBook during the summertime due to me being a student, but after that period the absolute HELL began. There was the constant glitching of the touch bar and the horrible battery life that made me initially contact customer support during my warranty in march of this year. I bought the computer in June of last year so the warranty was still applicable at this point. During that period of a glitchy touch bar on a computer I barley used, I reset my mac password and miraculously the glitching stopped. Me being a student, I stopped the return process because it would've been very difficult to oversee when I am constantly moving from school to home.
Then, fast forward to now, July, when I try to charge my macbook that I have so far only used once this summer for an event, nothing. I leave it overnight: nothing. The screen is completely black and when I try to power on, it does not work. Now, I do realize that my warranty is about one month expired so I contact the customer service anyway and get met with very minimal solutions for a computer I played over $600 for. They offered me 10% off another purchase from them, 15% off of a repair service, and a trade in offer where I would get $71 back. Honestly, this felt like a spit in the face after the hell I went through with this computer.
Though I realize my warranty expired, I barely used this computer and did everything in my power to keep it in pristine condition. No water damage, no heavy items on top of it, no humid areas. It was always kept in an insulating, cool sleeve. The responses from the customer service, specifically, Lucy, were honestly dismissive of the trials and tribulations I've had to go through with this computer and this company so far. I talked with a representative on the phone who was very understanding ( I had to go through multiple searches and FINALLY found their number on a Yelp website) and am patiently waiting for my case to be reviewed so hopefully there will be an exception because I barely got to use this supposed "Excellent" macbook, before it became faulty. WILL UPDATE SOON!!”
“Under no circumstances should anyone buy from this outfit. Phone died ten months after buying it, sent back to them to repair or replace as under warranty. It transpired they sold me a phone that had an old ICLOUD account (not mine) in breach of Apple's policy. They acknowledged not my account, however, said I had to remove it from a phone that did not turn and just returned me the phone. Absolute Cowboy outfit.”
“I placed an order on 6th June for a tablet at £300. Two days later, Back Market cancelled it claiming the item was "no longer available from Want a New Gadget due to a stock issue."
This is a lie. Immediately upon receiving the cancellation email, I checked their website and found the exact same item from the exact same seller still listed — now at £499.
That is not a stock issue. That is bait and switch, which is illegal under UK consumer law.
To add insult to injury, their customer service is completely inaccessible. The live chat goes nowhere, emails bounce, and there is no way to contact them through your account. In the same cancellation email, they offered a 5% discount — which doesn't come close to addressing a £200 price hike.
Order reference: 81764206
I will be escalating to Trading Standards. Companies should not be able to treat customers this way and simply get away with it.”
“I've now bought two items from Back Market graded 'Excellent'. Both were in a condition that makes their advertised '100-point professional quality inspection' look like pure fiction.
Earlier this year: a refurbished mini-PC that arrived with internal components rattling loose. Inside I found years of compacted dust and foam padding so rotten it disintegrated when touched. If any inspection took place, I can't imagine what it was inspecting.
More recently: an 'excellent condition' refurbished iPhone 15, purchased with a £57.99 'New Battery' upgrade. It arrived with the previous owner's screen protector still applied - in itself hard to reconcile with any meaningful refurbishment process. The battery showed 642 charge cycles and a first use date of March 2024. A new battery would show fewer than 5 cycles. The add-on I paid for was simply not delivered.
What I've since come to understand is that Back Market is a marketplace for third-party sellers, not a refurbishment operation. The sellers' identities are hidden until after purchase, meaning the 5-star reviews on a product listing may relate to a completely different seller than the one who fulfils your order. Back Market appears to place the burden of quality control entirely on those sellers, with no meaningful oversight. Based on my experience, some of those sellers appear to be doing little more than wiping down the outside of a device and shipping it.
When I raised the iPhone issue, Back Market's customer service spent weeks in a loop of broken promises, contradictory advice, and unreachable return options. They insisted I had to return the item using a courier whose nearest drop-off location is an hour away from my address, refusing to use any alternative courier with local drop-off locations, despite having used one of them to deliver the item to me in the first place. They then falsely claimed that the label they'd provided me entitled me to arrange a collection from the courier. That wasn't true. When I pointed this out to them, they agreed to arrange a collection for me. That was a week ago. They kept saying they would inform me once they had a collection booked in, but now they're pretending the entire conversation hadn't happened, and are once again insisting that I travel an hour to the drop-off location they suggested.
It really feels like they're deliberately trying to make the return as difficult as possible to avoid giving me the refund I'm entitled to. The matter is now at Letter Before Action stage with payment provider disputes open.
The '100-point inspection' claim should be investigated by Trading Standards. Avoid.”
“Very disappointing experience, especially as a repeat customer.
I purchased a refurbished phone which developed a battery fault. I returned it for repair, but the device was sent back to me with the exact same issue still present. This raises serious concerns about whether any meaningful repair or even basic quality checks were carried out.
I then had to spend additional time setting the phone up again, only to confirm via diagnostics that the battery remained in poor condition. I am now having to return the device for a second time just to obtain a refund — something that should have been resolved properly the first time.
While customer service responses have been polite, they have largely felt procedural rather than accountable. A 5% discount code was offered as goodwill, which does not come close to reflecting the time, inconvenience, and frustration caused.
This experience has significantly undermined my confidence in Back Market’s refurbishment and repair standards. Based on this, I would strongly advise others to be cautious — particularly if relying on aftercare or repairs.
I will be watching closely to see how the refund is handled.”
“We liked our experience until we went to utilize the 24 month damage protection plan that we got - that shows on our invoice - only to find they canceled it one month after purchase! They are impossible to contact any way you try...so frustrating. I emailed teh insurance company and they said we have no plan because it was canceled due to product return. Bogus.
now were high and dry.= with a damaged phone taht cost us nearly $300.”
“I had a really frustrating experience with Back Market. I ordered a Samsung Galaxy S20 listed as “unlocked,” assuming it would work with my carrier, but it turned out to be a Canadian model that doesn’t connect to U.S. networks like T-Mobile/TruConnect. The phone is basically unusable, even though the listing suggested otherwise.
To make things worse, I paid for expedited shipping and the phone still arrived 5 days late. They refunded the shipping, but that doesn’t make up for the delay and inconvenience, especially when the device didn’t work in the first place.
Instead of resolving the issue, they offered a discount code, which isn’t helpful when the product itself is unusable.
Overall, the listing was misleading, the shipping was delayed, and the resolution process has been slow and frustrating. I expected a lot better.”
“There team demonstrated exceptional transparency, responsiveness, and support throughout the entire process. They guided me through each stage with clarity, transforming what initially felt overwhelming into something completely manageable. I greatly appreciated their honesty and open communication. I would confidently recommend them to anyone in need of reliable, trustworthy assistance.”
“Be very careful using Back Market’s trade-in program.
I sent them my iPhone for a $47 trade-in. After they received my phone, they told me the only way to get paid was to provide my bank account information AND my Social Security number. That is extremely sensitive information, and I was not comfortable giving it to them for such a small amount of money.
I contacted them and asked if they could send a check, PayPal payment, store credit, or simply return my phone. They refused and told me they cannot send my phone back because I agreed to their terms.
So now they have my phone, and the only way to get paid is to hand over my private financial and identity information. That is not a reasonable or consumer-friendly policy.
This experience has been frustrating and concerning. I would strongly warn others not to send in their device unless they are comfortable providing their Social Security number and banking details.”
“Sent faulty product. Offered a replacement. Sent faulty thinkpad back, waited for replacement. This got lost in transit, tracking failed. I clearly asked for another product having wasted a lot of time and effort, they auto refunded. No effort, no customer care. Zero consistency. 1 month, no laptop.”
“I ordered a phone in the grade Good which should have had ‘minor scratches’. It arrived with a deep noticeable scratch across the camera and the screen was popping out on one corner. I told them immediately and it’s not been one week of very little communication from them despite me contacting almost every day. I still haven’t had the return label and I’m stuck without a working phone. Terrible customer service I wouldn’t recommend.”
“I would give 0 stars if I could. There were no issues with order and delivery but a short while after receiving the iPad the battery was almost useless (would last an hour at most, you could see the battery going down by 1% every few seconds). I returned it to be fixed and on 8th January was told the iPad had been received and the seller had 3 business days to fix it and if they can't fix it in that time I would get a replacement or refund. After 3 business days I enquired for an update and was told the seller actually couldn't get into the iPad as it was locked (which I had told them in the form when I sent it back as it would no longer charge). I asked why it took 3 business days to give me this information and didn't receive any useful answer. Anyway I did what was asked of me remotely and to cut a long story short the seller has now had the iPad for 10 business days (14 days in total) and they have been given ANOTHER 48 hours to fix the iPad. At this rate I have no idea if I'll even get it back at all. Avoid at all costs!”
“If I could give negative stars I would. Backmarket are great if you don't have an issue with the device. If it develops a fault after a few (I mean 5) months, then you're on your own. Every response is like an AI powered thing, even though they say they value your custom etc. I had a proven issue which wasn't resolved properly so was offered a refund if I returned the item. They then told me they aren't refunding as there's nothing wrong with the machine, even though there was multiple issues. DO NOT USE - AVOID like the plague.”
