On the way home from an offsite meeting yesterday afternoon, I had a voicemail from a colleague of mine here at Microsoft that I used to work with quite a bit when I was back in our Midwest District on the U.S. Team saying that he has a partner looking to get into refurbishing PCs to provide to their clients and wondering if we have some information on how to do this. I’ve also received this type of inquiry from some other partners in the past as well, so I thought I’d put up a quick post here to let you know how you too can offer legitimate refurbished PCs through the Microsoft Refurbisher Program.

Hereare a couple of questions you may be wondering:

• “What is the Microsoft Refurbisher Program?”
  • The Microsoft Refurbisher programs offer you specially priced Microsoft software, tools to help with software installation, marketing support, and recognition as a member of a Microsoft program.
• “Why should I join the Microsoft Refurbisher Program?”
  • Did you know…
    • If you are selling refurbished PCs to customers with Microsoft software, you must provide your customers the following items or you could be liable for copyright infringement*:
      • The original recovery media that was shipped with the PC when new.
      • The original Certificate of Authenticity (COA) associated with the exact PC, as well as a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (COA) when original recovery media is not available.*
      • The original manuals.
  • Keep in mind:
    • It is a refurbisher’s responsibility to ensure a PC is properly refurbished and licensed with genuine software before it is sold to a new customer.
    • Selling a PC with an unlicensed copy of Windows can subject the refurbisher and retailer to liability for copyright infringement.
    • The original Microsoft (COA) attached to the PC does not allow you to reload Microsoft Windows software when no original recovery media is present.
    • It is also the responsibility of the retailer also to ensure that it does not sell refurbished PCs that may infringe on Microsoft’s copyrights.
• “What options are there for joining the Microsoft Refurbisher Program?”
  • We currently offer two versions of the Microsoft Refurbisher Program, depending on how many PCs you refurbish a month:
    • Microsoft Registered Refurbisher Program - This program is for small and medium-sized refurbishers across the globe that wish to supply refurbished PCs preinstalled with Microsoft software to local consumers and businesses, and to qualified charities, non-profits, schools, and government programs.
    • Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) - This program is for large partners who average a minimum volume of 5000 PCs refurbished monthly. Refurbishers supply refurbished computers and servers with genuine Microsoft software preinstalled to businesses, consumers, and non-profits.

Want to learn more about the Microsoft Refurbisher Program or get started with it for your business as a Microsoft Partner? Either follow the links I provided above to either the Microsoft Registered Refurbisher Program or Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) programs or head out to the Microsoft Refurbisher Program overall page and get started.

On the Microsoft Refurbisher Program overall page, not only do we have a link to find out how to take part in the Microsoft Refurbisher Program, we also have links to other information, including:

• Locate a member of the Microsoft Refurbisher Program to purchase refurbished computers
• Find out about how you can safely decommission your used computers so they are ready to be reused
• See some case studies showing the impact of refurbished computers
• Facts about software piracy
• Additional resources
• and more…

I hope this helps get you started on your path towards becoming a Microsoft Refurbisher Program member if this is an area of interest for your business and helps questions you might have about how to and what you need to know about computer refurbishing.

Did you find this information helpful? If so, you may want to make sure you are utilizing all of the areas I share information online, such as: my Facebook page, my Twitter account, my Linkedin account, and my blog. Plus, you can now get all of the latest Microsoft Partner Information right on your phone!

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and RSS and see “What I’m thinking”
Director, Worldwide Partner Experience
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights