Walmart offers restored tech and appliances—here's what you should know

With inflation on the rise and a lot of people looking to cut costs, especially ahead of the holidays, it makes sense to turn to solutions for holiday buying and gift-giving that allow you to save money. One way to get markdowns on popular items, especially things like tech and appliances, is to look into refurbished goods.

Refurbishment services are available at many retailers, from eBay's Certified Refurbished service to GameStop's refurbished game console program. Walmart has its own version, called Walmart Restored, that allows customers to browse through several different categories of refurbished goods, including TVs, headphones, kitchen appliances, and more. We've broken down the particulars of their program, including what the return policies are like for restored items, what sort of quality you can expect, and more.

What is Walmart Restored?

Walmart Restored is the refurbishment program from Walmart. It functions like other similar refurbishment services from big-box retailers, providing customers with an assortment of refurbished tech, appliances, and more. The refurbished items all come from Restored program-qualified sellers and suppliers, the quality standards for which are managed by Walmart.

The various sellers are charged with cleaning, inspecting, testing, and restoring the items they sell. All products must meet certain conditions, meaning they may only have a minor amount of cosmetic defects or blemishes and must function fully. Often, vendors reported that the products were in 'like new' condition, though it's not clear if that's Walmart's language.

How cheap are refurbished items compared to new items?

Walmart Restored items are, for the most part, cheaper than their new counterparts, though in some cases not by much. The biggest markdowns we saw were in the TV and kitchen appliance categories, with $300 markdowns on Samsung's QLED TVs and up to $300 off of KitchenAid's popular Professional 600 stand mixers. Restored AirPods Pro went for around $40 less than new AirPods Pro would cost, and KitchenAid food processors went for $36, around $30 less than full price 5-cup food processors.

One category that really didn't see many big markdowns (and often actually had markups) was game consoles. Walmart's refurbished game consoles, especially the refurbished PlayStation 4 and 5, were consistently more expensive than if you had decided to purchase a brand new console. If you were considering Walmart Restored for the ever-elusive PlayStation 5, we might recommend waiting for a restock over saving time by buying refurbished (Walmart actually has pretty frequent restocks).

What is the return policy like for Restored items?

You can return items purchased through Walmart Restored within 90 days of your purchase. The return policy indicates that you can return for a refund or replacement, and that the policy is backed by Walmart rather than the third party vendor associated with the product.

What brands can you shop at Walmart Restored?

You can shop top brands for tech and appliances through the Walmart Restored program, including:

• KitchenAid: home of our favorite stand mixer

• Samsung: home to some of the best TVs right now

• Apple: home of our best laptop for students

• Sony: home to some of the best noise-cancelling headphones we've tried

What sort of quality can you expect from restored items?

According to reviewers within the various categories of products that Walmart Restored has to offer, the quality of the refurbished goods varies somewhat from product to product. The tech products like laptops and game consoles tend to have fewer reviews associated with their product listings, but if you want insight on each vendor you can check the reviews they've accumulated for all the items they've sold at Walmart by navigating to their seller page (you can find a link to each seller within the product listing). There, you'll be able to find all their reviews.

Kitchen appliances ended up being the best-reviewed refurbished products in Walmart's selection. Restored KitchenAid food processors and stand mixers have thousands of reviews from customers, most of them pretty positive regardless of the seller. If you're in the market for a cheaper-than-average stand mixer from a top brand, buying through Walmart Restored could be for you.

One thing we noted was that there don't seem to be as many hoops for Walmart's vendors to jump through as certain other refurbishment services, like eBay's Certified Refurbished program. At the very least, there was not as much transparency about the selected vendors as other services offer. If you plan on using the service, be sure to explore the customer reviews of your particular item before purchasing, as that can give you a lot more insight into the vendor's specific metrics for quality.

Should you shop Walmart Restored's selection of refurbished products?

Shopping refurbished products is a great way to save money on pricier items. It's also a fairly sustainable way to shop, in the sense that you're repurposing an item that may have been abandoned and extending the life of already-existing products.

If you aren't adverse to a little bit of research ahead of your purchase, since we would recommend doing a little bit of digging into seller reviews before you snag a Walmart Restored product, it's a great way to shop. We would also recommend taking advantage of the 90-day return policy through Walmart Restored if you're unsatisifed with your purchase.

Shop Walmart Restored's selection of refurbished tech and appliances