Universal charger and ban on the sale of iPhone 14: what about the refurbished market?

Will reconditioned products suffer from new European regulations? While the universal charger will finally become an obligation in France from December 28, 2024the reconditioned sector will have to adapt.

The ban on the entry into the market of phones without a non-USB-C port drastically limits the possibility for second-hand manufacturers to obtain iPhones abroad. Gold, the refurbished market is currently largely driven by the sale of Apple phones a few years old and often sourced abroad. Precisely the type of mobiles targeted by the new directive.

And if the Apple itself will have to comply with the legislation by soon withdrawing its iPhone 14 from circulationBack Market, Recommerce, Smaaart and others will be able to continue selling iPhone 11, 12, 13 and 14…with a few conditions.

USB-C, savior or gravedigger of refurbished goods?

For a phone to fall within the scope of the law, it will simply have to have already seen its first life on the European market before the deadline of December 28. Products adorned with the famous marking “THIS” will therefore always have the right to citizenship in France, even if they do not have a USB-C port. The law in fact prohibits the “placing on the market” phone without the universal port, but not the “discount” on the market by a reconditioned player. Subtlety.

This basically means that products collected in Europe can continue to be sold on second-hand platforms as if nothing had happened. However, according to Eric Cordon, CEO of Quel Bon Plan, this will still be a blow to the sector. “Of the 4 million phones sold, only half are collected via European channels. Certain structures will mechanically have sourcing problems“says the manager.”This is dangerous for jobs, for our structures, for our ability to provide products at attractive prices to consumers.“

For Recommerce, on the contrary, there is no question of looking gloomy. The leader in reconditioned goods in France already obtains 90% of its supplies via European supply channels and should therefore not be overly worried. “Our position has always been to defend a circular economy which is based on local purchasing and reconditioning.“, explains Augustin Becquet, founder. For the company, the legislation could even clean up the market since “massive imports of products do not help the emergence of a European circular economy” that Recommerce is calling for.

Dusty phones worth gold

Will it still be possible to compensate for the drying up of extra-European imports to avoid a shrinking of the reconditioned market? For Augustin Becquet, the answer is a resounding yes. “Everyone is getting into the buy-back. According to studies we conducted with McKinsey, the number of returned products will quadruple between now and 2029“.

According to the founder, increased competition and the need for phones will increase the price of trade-ins and perhaps finally convince consumers to take their old phones out of the drawers. “We are going to create this circular loop“, philosophers the founder of Recommerce. With the ban on Apple selling its old iPhones, refurbishers will also have more latitude on prices, since there will be less competition on the new side.

VAT fraud = USB-C fraud?

The market still needs to be effectively regulated. And it seems that this is where the problem lies. “On large marketplaces, there is clearly VAT fraud which exists despite the rules“, sighs Eric Cordon. “It's hard to believe that these companies will not continue to circumvent the laws, especially on USB-C which is a less important subject than taxation or taxation.“.

Same story with Recommerce. “Our fear is that this law will be respected by a small part of the market. We want everyone to respect the issues, otherwise we will once again find ourselves in a two-speed market“. The trauma of the private copy tax has also been there. And if the industry has grown generously in recent years, it seems above all “self-regulate” with loud denunciations of competitors to the tax authorities. A not really viable model.

It is difficult to enforce the law on platforms driven by the globalization of the economy and the race for the lowest price. “On marketplaces alone, we had fraud worth 6 billion per year in 2019. And since then, e-commerce has become even more democratized with Covid“, notes the CEO of Quel Bon Plan. “They want us to believe that this directive will kill the sector when the market is already moribund“, says Augustin Becquet.

Awareness above all

Faced with these issues over which industry players have relatively little control, the strategies of different companies to continue to exist in this jungle diverge. “Today, anyone can sell anything. There are discussions to be had on traceability, digital passports“, argues Eric Cordon.

“Our fear is that there will be misinformation“, explains Augustin Becquet. “We want to explain to the general public that we can buy and resell products as long as it is done at European level. This law will be covered in a lot of media, so there are a lot of people who will say anything.“A word to the wise.