Massage Chairs: New vs. Used vs. Refurbished

Massage Chairs: New vs. Used vs. Refurbished

Although the vast majority of sales we make at Massage Chair Relief are new chairs, we do have a Pre-Owned Directory on our website that is visited quite regularly. On that directory we list all the floor models of our brick-and-mortar showrooms that we are selling. We also list all of the chairs that are returned to us.

All new chairs come with a factory warranty of anywhere from 1-5 years of labor coverage, and anywhere from 2-5 years of parts coverage. Because we are an authorized dealer for the chair brands we sell, we can transfer the remaining warranty to the customers who purchase a used chair from us.

Used Massage Chairs

The market for used massage chairs is strong and many chairs are sold through private sale venues, like Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, just to name a couple.  You may even have a neighbor, work associate, friend, or family member who is selling their massage chair.

The most important thing to know when considering a pre-owned chair purchase is that, other than from an authorized dealer, like Massage Chair Relief, you will not have any warranty on that chair…at all. When you purchase a pre-owned chair, you will be solely responsible for the cost of parts and the hiring of a massage chair technician, should a problem ever arise with your chair.

Not one massage chair company that we represent, let alone every other massage chair distributor in the USA, allows for the transfer of their chair’s warranty to a new private buyer of a pre-owned massage chair. I have, personally, seen ads and been told by massage chair buyers, that people post private massage chair sales stating that the remaining warranty of their chair will be included for the new owner when they buy their pre-owned massage chair. Not true! Buyer Beware! Below is a screenshot of a chair for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Notice that the ad mentions that “It has warranty on it…”.

When you purchase a pre-owned chair, you just might get a chair that will never break down, and you’ll be free of the hassle of ever having to deal with repairs. But, for the most part, you have no idea what the chair went through in the home of the previous owner. Did they have animals…especially those that shed? Did some mice set up their home under the massage and compromise the wiring and other electronics of the chair? We have actually heard from our massage chair techs about mice nests! Did the previous owners use the chair multiple hours each day of the week? Has the previous owner disclosed any issues with the chair? Does the chair look beat up?

You might also want to consider if parts are still available for the used chair you are interested in buying. Is that distributor even still in business? Has that chair model been discontinued for quite some time? How expensive are the available parts of the chair? A call to the distributor of the chair might be helpful to answer some of those questions.

Now, if you find a chair that is working just fine and the owner is selling it for a very, very low price, then the concerns I’ve listed may not deter you as much, when deciding to purchase a pre-owned chair. If it is cheap enough, and it is in decent working order when you check it out, you could probably just scrap it when it dies and get another one to replace it at the same or similar price point.

If you are going to purchase a pre-owned chair, I would definitely encourage you to buy locally so that you can try out the chair before buying it. If you see a chair listing that is out of your area, you will have to deal with complete unknowns as well as working out shipping arrangements to get the chair to your home. That can be quite expensive!

Refurbished Massage Chairs

Some of our distributors sell refurbished models, as well as their own pre-owned chairs (either returned or chairs that were used in trade shows). Warranty will be offered on those chairs but, depending on the distributor, the warranty may not be the remaining warranty on the chair, but something less. Some distributors group their refurbished and pre-owned chairs together and call them “certified pre-owned”, taking a tip from the auto industry.

Refurbished massage chairs are chairs that have been “cleaned up”, meaning they have literally cleaned the chair and/or they have any damaged parts replaced so that the chair is fully functional. They almost always come with a lesser factory warranty time period. Instead of 1-5 years of parts and/or labor, they may just offer 90 days to 1 year of labor coverage, more for parts. That is not uncommon at all in our industry. But, at least you get a factory warranty and the peace of mind that comes with it. Some may come with a full factory warranty, depending on the company.

The distributor may do the same for pre-owned chairs they are trying to sell. You might get a very limited warranty, like the refurbished chairs, or the remainder of the factory warranty. As with refurbished chairs, you might even get a full factory warranty on a pre-owned chair. It all depends on the distributor.

Some distributors will grade their refurbished and/or pre-owned massage chairs. They will also For example, Infinity assigns and A, B, or C grade to a certified pre-owned massage chair. Grade A means it is in very good condition, grade B usually means that there is some very minor scuffing on the chair’s upholstery or plastic pieces, and grade C usually means that the chair has some very obvious and more significant blemishes to the chair body and upholstery. Having said that, they will not sell the chair if it is not functioning correctly. The grade A-C is assigned based primarily on the condition of the chair body exterior.  See below for an example of a graded pre-owned chair…

In Summary

Well, there you have it. What you need to know and be wary of when looking at new massage chairs vs. used massage chairs vs. refurbished massage chairs. In a nutshell:

• New massage chairs come with full factory warranty for 1-5 years, depending on the model.
• Used massage chairs, purchased from an authorized dealer, come with the remainder of the factory warranty.
• Used massage chairs, purchased privately, come with NO factory warranty at all.
• Refurbished  massage chairs, purchased from the distributor, come with a factory warranty but, often, for a lesser time period of coverage.
• Used massage chairs, purchased from the distributor, come with either a lesser time period of coverage, the remainder of the factory warranty, or a full factory warranty (depending on the distributor).

Dr. Alan Weidner

P.S. Call us at 888-259-5380 if you need clarification of anything I have written in this article or if you have any questions about a pre-owned chair you are considering.

P.P.S. Give us a “Like” or “Share” and leave me a comment or question below to share what you learned, or ask any questions, so other folks can benefit from this material.