The obvious advantage of second-hand ophthalmic equipment is a lower price, but does second hand equipment really offer good value or is it a false economy and what are the disadvantages of buying equipment second hand?
One of your first concerns if considering whether to buy new or used ophthalmic equipment is going to be warranties, sales people selling new ophthalmic equipment may warn you that used equipment wont come with a warranty and is therefore a liability, they may even start quoting the cost of new parts.
Used ophthalmic equipment may well come with a warranty though, in some cases the manufacturer’s warranty will still be valid and in others you can buy from a reseller who offer warranties. If you buy older equipment direct from other optometrists or from anyone who isn’t a specialist then maybe you could have problems but it isn’t used ophthalmic equipment per se that is the problem but where it is bought from.
You may also be worried though about how it looks to customers if you have used equipment? New equipment is only identifiably new for a few short months anyway and as most of your customers will come for eye appointments much less regularly than that few would appreciate new ophthalmic equipment anyway as opposed to equipment that is a few years old. Don’t expect used ophthalmic equipment to be dirty or damaged either, most the equipment sold is relatively new and can be reconditioned.
Buying reconditioned equipment sometimes just means it has been cleaned and tidied up and maybe the electrics checked over. It can
also mean though that faulty parts have been replaced and parts such as bulbs, lenses and other parts that lose efficiency with time may have been replaced. As far as your customers will know then your used equipment could be new; also remember this is professional equipment that is built to last.
What about training then, most second hand equipment comes with the original manuals but buying new direct from a manufacturer
training is sometimes included. Well some resellers of second-hand ophthalmic equipment include training as well and are often in fact much more flexible with training including training for multiple staff and training at your premises.
So maybe you are starting to see that there aren’t so many disadvantages to second hand ophthalmic equipment but there is one thing that we can’t get away from and that is that second hand equipment is sometimes out of date, not always though.
Of course older models and superseded models will be cheaper so if you are on a tight budget you can save the most this way and you will have to judge if the features you will be missing out on are really that important: while some may mean a better service for customers and more accurate results a lot of new features added to update models are purely for time saving which you can manage without.
Even the latest models though from top manufacturers can be found second-hand often, ex display models also offer potential savings. With a lot of ophthalmic clinics they will go out of business in their first year, as is the case with almost any type of business, this is why nearly new equipment is often available at great prices.
The articles has been written by SEO Tampa Company consultant who writes for VSI.