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Grading explained: Grade A, B and C

The most important fact about refurbished grades is the one sellers rarely put in large print: grading is NOT standardised across sellers.

There is no universal grade scale

No single industry-wide standard defines Grade A, B or C — each seller sets its own grading, so the same letter can mean different condition from different sellers. One seller's Grade B may allow screen marks that another seller would grade C; one seller grades mainly on cosmetics, another mixes cosmetics and battery condition into the same letter.

That means a grade is only meaningful inside one seller's own system. Comparing “Grade A” across two different stores or marketplaces, without reading both definitions, is comparing two different rulers.

What the letters usually describe — in general terms

• Grade A usually signals the best cosmetic condition that seller offers: light signs of use, a screen in good shape.
• Grade B usually signals visible wear — scuffs, scratches or keyboard shine — with full function expected under that seller's definition.
• Grade C usually signals heavier cosmetic wear, and sometimes a weaker battery or other disclosed compromises, depending on the seller.

“Usually” is doing real work in those sentences. Always read the exact seller's own grading page, and note whether the grade covers cosmetics only or also battery health and function.

Questions that cut through the grade

• Is the grade cosmetic only, or does it include battery and function?
• What screen faults, if any, are allowed at this grade?
• Is a minimum battery health promised at this grade — and if so, what?
• If this specific machine is worse than its grade describes, what will you do?

In a local store you can skip much of this: put your hands on the exact machine and grade it yourself with the buying checklist. Online, the grade is a promise about a machine you have not seen — which is why the seller's return terms matter as much as the letter. See Back Market vs. a local store.

On this directory, grading details are published only as provided by the store itself, attributed to that store — never converted into a directory-wide score.