[TheKnack]

Something interesting is that it seems that you are paying a "deposit" on replacement batteries, which is refunded when you return your old battery. After this return credit, the cost of replacement batteries is about the same as iFixit and scam Amazon sellers.

Edit: Other parts also have a return credit... camera, display, etc.

[lazyier]

More conventionally this is called a "Core Deposit".

The idea is that you are buying new or refurbished products to replace broken parts. So you pay a core fee so you return the broken parts so that they can rebuild them and resell them.

This is common for automparts stores because as long as the cast metal parts are not damaged and within spec then there is no reason they can't be rebuilt. Alternators, water pumps, etc.

You are not obligated to return the parts. You can keep them yourself and if that is the case then they just keep the deposit.

[alimov]

I believe they do a fair bit of recycling to recover various metals. I don’t think its all fixed up and resold (if any of it is fixed and resold at all)

[mike_d]

Auto parts stores depend heavily on refurbishing cores. Only the most damaged units go to scrap.

You will lose a ton of money trying to buy a 15 year supply of starters and keeping them in a warehouse for 20 years (remember your sales only start once a car is out of warranty/production).

Car parts tend to fail in waves, so all the water pumps from 2012 Volkswagens are going to start coming in - and getting remanufactured - around the same time people are looking for them. You just buy a few from the OEM to bootstrap.

[simonh]

I very much doubt the old parts are re-used. Refurbished Apple devices all have brand new screens and batteries installed, even if they were as-new returns.

[dunham]

This is how it worked with Sun Microsystems parts back in the day. You'd put in an order, they'd send the replacement with a return label for the original. I presumed they did testing and maybe refurbished the parts, but no idea what actually happened with them.

For phone and computer batteries, it would be kinda nice. After going through ifixit, I've now got a pile of old lithium batteries that I have to figure out how to get rid of.

[NickRandom]

In the EU there is the WEEE directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive for those snickering in the back of the class!) which states this -

Distributor obligations - All distributors must: Offer free take back on WEEE; Accept WEEE for free from customers supplied with like-for-like products, regardless of whether this is done in store, online or by mail order

(You're Seattle based so not applicable in your circumstances)

[Source https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations-waste-electrical-and...]

[sschueller]

Yep, Switzerland has this too. There is a small tax an every electronic item you buy and you can return it to any other electronics retailer for free. We used to dump old server hardware at the Apple store because it was closest. :)

[fy20]

My supermarket has a recycling box where you can dump old electronics and batteries.

[brewdad]

My local Home Depot takes lithium batteries now. There was a limit on the number they would take at a time though.

[_carbyau_]

:-) Nitpick: perhaps GOV.UK is not a source of truth for EU directives anymore..

[mike_d]

You'll be surprised to learn that the UK still participates in quite a few EU schemes. Europol for example, the UK helps drive policy and is still a founding member.

[_carbyau_]

That does surprise me. :-) Thank you.

[joecool1029]

> I've now got a pile of old lithium batteries that I have to figure out how to get rid of.

Home Depot has bins just inside their stores and accept lithium and usually even nicad batteries. Other recycling locators located on the EPA information page: https://www.epa.gov/recycle/used-lithium-ion-batteries

[dunham]

Thanks. I've taken CFLs there in the distant past, but didn't know they took lithium batteries.

[IfOnlyYouKnew]

Apple has a specific program to recycle used iPhones. There's a video floating around somewhere on their site about some robot they built for the task. I'm fairly certain they'll take your used Apple hardware for free at any store worldwide and might even do a better job recycling it than a generic deposit (although those may just pass it on to them anyway).

This program–the deposit–is strictly about increasing recycling quotas. They do have a refurb program but they'll actually pay you for hardware that can be used for that.

[mechanical_bear]

My local Best Buy has a bin in the foyer where they accept E-waste.

[ge96]

> scam Amazon sellers

Man I hate that. Only reason used devices are a turn off. Battery has 100% capacity, cycle it, nope 60% actually "brand new, OEM".

Write a comment about this, removed, great

[onphonenow]

No kidding. There was a reason apple started doing their genuine battery warnings (despite the complaints of folks like Louise Rossman).

This was a bad scam too because a lot of pretty naive folks got suckered in (battery says 100% but phone is dying, must be something wrong with phone)

[Nextgrid]

> No kidding. There was a reason apple started doing their genuine battery warnings

Maybe, but that's still a problem they created for themselves. Knockoff sellers would never have marketshare (and thus less economies of scale, reducing their cost advantage) if you can buy the genuine thing for a reasonable price as conveniently as you can buy the knockoff.

A lot of third-party/aftermarket parts are used not even because of cost but availability. Amazon offers same or next-day shipping for a lot of these knockoff batteries.

This reminds me of an incident when I needed to replace a lost AirPod - I was ready to pay and yet couldn't just walk into an Apple Store and buy the part. I had to instead set up a "repair" and wait for shipping and then UPS screwed it up twice. It took weeks and hours of annoyance over email/phone for something that should've taken 15 minutes to buy at the Apple Store on my way to the office.

[onphonenow]

I have applecare so never been an issue. It used to be you could get a battery replacement (official) for $50.

Don't disagree, they should make genuine batteries broadly available.

[gambiting]

I recently had my Omega watch serviced, and it worked the same way - parts are X if you send them the old part in exchange, or Y if you want to keep the old part. I'm assuming they refurbrish the old parts and re-use them, seeing as 50-year old watches don't exactly have plenty of parts stock available.

[donthellbanme]

The Swatch Group is doing everything they can to get the consumer to send the watch back to the factory when it needs a Service, or repair. They claim it's for quality assurance, but it just a money grab. They want that after sale guaranteed income. They don't want parts on the secondary market so guys like myself (Watchmaker) can procure, and charge customers a fair price.

The Reichmont nonprofit does the same thing. (I love throwing in nonprofit status. I don't know how they get away with that business entity.)

(NCWAA has been fighting for access to parts since the 70's with zero progress.)

[gambiting]

I didn't have to send it back to factory - there is an authorized Omega workshop in my city, they can order all the original parts directly from Switzerland. The watch is even getting a new dial(50 year old "new" stock!) and yeah, Omega is just sending it to them on a replacement basis.

[dmonitor]

That's pretty good for the battery. Guaranteed to not explode in my phone, and the old battery gets recycled (presumabley)

[londons_explore]

I think the reason for the return credit is to prevent another phone or device manufacturer building a device around an apple component.

Apple displays and cameras are certainly not something you can buy in bulk on the open market as a device manufacturer.

[gambiting]

If someone was trying to build a business around buying iPhone parts through their repair website, I'd question their sanity. Even if that return credit didn't exist, how many replacement cameras or whatever could you really order before Apple would shut you down? 10? 50? 100? What kind of product could you possibly build with that?

[cyral]

This is probably why it requires your serial number, so they can track the number of repairs made for each device.

[lkxijlewlf]

Great. iPhones are now cars.

[oriki]

You say that like it's a bad thing in this context. Cars are (immensely) far from perfect, but hey, parts interoperability is non-zero and for plenty of cars (even newer ones) you can still reasonably get them fixed.

It'd be awesome if I could head on down to a phone parts store and pick up a couple of components so my phone can live perpetually in repair, but we're not quite that far along yet.

[bmj]

"Core" charges make a lot of sense for automotive parts that be reconditioned/refurbished. I'd much rather have to make another trip to the parts store to return my bad brake caliper than toss it in the trash. The same goes for something like phone batteries. Apple is dangling a carrot to get people to return batteries (and other parts) for recycling/proper disposal.

[traceroute66]

> Something interesting is that it seems that you are paying a "deposit" on replacement batteries, which is refunded when you return your old battery.

And your problem with this is what, exactly ?

If you are genuinely repairing something then we're only talking a small window when you will be out of pocket (the time between receiving the part, replacing old one, sending old one back).

Apple do the same thing with iPhone exchanges under Apple Care. They'll send you out a brand new iPhone in advance (to allow you to transfer data etc. as required), but they'll take a deposit. If you don't send your broken iPhone back, they'll keep the deposit. Seems perfectly fair to me.

AFAIK in one way or another, the practice is widespread in the IT industry. For example, I recently replaced a Dell monitor on warranty. They didn't take payment up-front, but they certainly made it clear to me in no uncertain terms that I would be charged if I failed to return the monitor.

In terms of Apple specifically, its basically the way they work with their Authorised Service Providers. If the AASP fails to return parts, then the cost is billed to their company's account with Apple.

The reality is that in the world we live in, these sorts of parts/repair services are subject to fraud and other malicious use. So manufacturers (whether Apple or otherwise) are perfectly entitled to protect themselves.

[Nextgrid]

The potential problem is that unlike your monitor or a replacement iPhone where the original still has some value, a used up battery has near-zero value and probably less than it costs to ship it back in an individual box (as opposed to dropping it off at a recycling box at your nearest supermarket). This is clearly a bad-faith effort to make stocking up on parts impossible and make the entire process more inconvenient than it needs to be.

[traceroute66]

> a used up battery has near-zero value and probably less than it costs to ship it back in an individual box

That's if you look at it on an individual quantity. In volume quantity there may be other considerations at play.

> This is clearly a bad-faith effort to make stocking up on parts impossible and make the entire process more inconvenient than it needs to be.

Give me a break !

For a start, this isn't a "parts stocking" programme, it is a self-repair programe. You obtain relevant parts on a Just-In-Time basis. Jeez !

If you want to stock parts, go become an Apple Authorised Service Provider. You even get a credit account so you don't have to pony up the cash up-front.

[Nextgrid]

> this isn't a "parts stocking" programme, it is a self-repair programe

Why can't it be both? Most existing "self-repair" programmes (before such things had to have a specific name instead of just "buying parts") such as the ones for cars work just fine on the model of "show up at the dealership, give them a part number & payment card and walk out with your new part". They don't care if you're buying these parts to repair your car now or keep it for later and managed to stay in business for decades just fine.

> You obtain relevant parts on a Just-In-Time basis.

One major advantage of a self-repair programme (as opposed to just doing the repair at Apple or an AASP directly) is that you can work around some of the logistics and make the operation quicker/more efficient.

If you are particularly careless and smash your phone frequently (or your friends do, like in my case) you can keep spares of commonly-broken parts in advance so that the actual repair process is really quick and only involves a couple hours or downtime.

Having to order parts in advance and having to return the old part in a specific timeframe means you need to schedule the entire thing and plan around the logistics of it and it can no longer be a "I have a couple hours to kill tonight, let's make my phone new again" thing, at which point you get back most of the inconveniences of doing an official repair such as scheduling it, waiting for shipping, etc. I suspect this might be the point of these restrictions.

> If you want to stock parts, go become an Apple Authorised Service Provider.

Can I become an AASP if I do one repair a month? If so sign me up!

[stetrain]

I don’t see where it says they have a problem with it, they just called it out as interesting.