Every offer on this marketplace carries one of four condition grades. They are not marketing labels; they describe where the part has been, and they should change what you pay and what you ask for.
Refurbished vs new surplus vs used: what’s the difference?
New surplus is an unused part that left the manufacturer’s sales channel, so it carries no manufacturer warranty. Refurbished is a used part that a supplier has inspected, repaired where needed and tested, under the supplier’s own warranty. Used is pulled from a machine and tested at best. New / OEM, the fourth grade, comes through the manufacturer’s channel with its warranty.
New / OEM. Bought through the manufacturer’s own channel, unused, in original packaging, with the manufacturer’s warranty. This is what you get from an authorised distributor. It is the most expensive and the least interesting on the secondary market, because if the part is still in production you would usually just order it.
New surplus. Unused stock that left the manufacturer’s channel and did not come back: an over-ordered project, a cancelled line, a distributor clearing a discontinued range, the contents of a machine builder’s store after a bankruptcy. Physically it is a new part. What it does not have is the manufacturer’s warranty, and what you cannot see is how it was stored. For a discontinued part this is usually the best available option by a wide margin.
Refurbished. A used part that has been inspected, repaired where needed, and tested. Good refurbishers replace electrolytic capacitors and fans as a matter of course, clean and re-seat connectors, run a load test, and issue their own warranty — typically six to twenty-four months. Quality varies enormously between suppliers, which is why the supplier matters more than the grade here.
Used. Pulled from a machine, function-tested at best, sold as-is or with a short warranty. Appropriate for a part you can test in situ cheaply, for a non-critical position, or as a stopgap while a better unit is sourced.
How much cheaper is surplus than new?
As an editorial rule of thumb for discontinued automation parts in Europe, new surplus sells at about 40–90 % of the original list price, refurbished at 30–60 % and used at 15–40 %. Scarcity overrides all of it: a part that only a few suppliers hold can cost more than its list price. Side by side:
| Condition | Typical price vs. original list | Typical warranty |
|---|---|---|
| New / OEM | 100 % or more if scarce | Manufacturer, 12–24 months |
| New surplus | 40–90 % | Supplier, 6–12 months |
| Refurbished | 30–60 % | Supplier, 6–24 months |
| Used | 15–40 % | 30 days–6 months, sometimes none |
Scarcity moves all of these. A part that is in six suppliers’ stock behaves like a commodity; a part that exists in three units in Europe does not, and a used unit can then cost more than the original list price. That is the strongest practical argument for buying spares before the part is scarce. The ranges in the table are an editorial rule of thumb for orientation, not a market survey; the offers for your own part number are the figures to rely on. The warranty column matches published terms: EU Automation gives 12 months on new and reconditioned parts and Radwell two years, both checked on 13 October 2026.
Choosing by position, not by price
The useful question is not “what is cheapest” but “what happens when this one fails”.
- Production-critical, no redundancy, long lead time to replace. New or new surplus, and hold a second one. The premium is small next to a day of lost output.
- Production-critical but redundant or quickly swappable. Refurbished from a supplier who publishes a real warranty, plus a spare.
- Non-critical, easy to test, easy to reach. Used is fine and often sensible.
- Safety function. New or new surplus only, and see the guide on safety parts. A refurbished safety relay with no traceable test record does not belong in a safety chain.
- Bridging until a migration. Whatever is cheapest that will run for the remaining life. This is the classic case for used. The obsolescence guide helps decide when bridging stops making sense.
What to ask before you order
Four questions cover most of the risk, and every honest supplier can answer them quickly:
- What exactly is the condition, in your words? “Refurbished” means different things to different companies. Ask what was done to the unit.
- What is the warranty, and what does it cover? Return-to-base replacement is the normal answer. Clarify whether it covers the part only or any commissioning cost.
- Has it been tested, and can you describe the test? “Powered up” is not a test for a drive. “Run at rated current into a load bank for thirty minutes” is.
- How has it been stored, and for how long? Relevant for anything with electrolytic capacitors. A drive stored for eight years should be re-formed before it runs at full bus voltage.
For a part with a visible price on this site you can ask these in the request; the answers come back with the quote, and they are a good part of how you choose between two suppliers offering the same grade at a similar price. The warranty guide covers the warranty questions in more detail.
Sources
Links checked on 13 October 2026.
- EU Automation: warranty: a 12-month return-to-base warranty on new, reconditioned and service-exchange parts.
- Radwell: about us: Radwell’s two-year warranty on surplus and repairs.