{"id":833,"date":"2017-08-25T07:59:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T12:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/?p=833"},"modified":"2017-08-25T07:59:14","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T12:59:14","slug":"find-hidden-apple-refurbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2017\/08\/find-hidden-apple-refurbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Find hidden Apple refurbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

tl;dr<\/strong><\/em> – By changing the first letter of a Mac’s model to “F” and appending it to\u00a0https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/product\/, you can access the product listing page for non-listed refurbished Macs. Example: for model\u00a0MF839LL\/A, URL is\u00a0https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/product\/FF839LL\/A<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

I was taking a look at Apple’s Refurb and Clearance section<\/a> the other day, curious what prices were like for the prior gen MacBook Pros (given that I have no interest in purchasing the overly-expensive current gen with only USB-C ports). I was a little disappointed to find just late 2016 models, still only USB-C endowed.<\/p>\n

Hoping for something more, I noticed a “Chat with Us” button on the Store’s site, and decided to ask a store rep if there were indeed any older (early 2015) models available, not expecting any. Much to my surprise, the helpful rep came back with a link, saying “MacBook Pro<\/a>. Try this link, can you access it?” Well sure enough I could, and it brought me to a full product listing page for a refurbed early 2015 15″ MBP model. Woah! That wasn’t listed on the store!<\/p>\n

Curiosity got the best of me. There was no index or way to browse other listings from the page the rep supplied, but this obviously existed in the system. Then I took a peek at the URL:<\/p>\n

\"URL<\/a><\/p>\n

Now there’s a couple of interesting things in that URL! It looks like something very similar to Mac model numbers in the first two segments (FJLQ2LL\/A<\/strong>), followed by a slugged description of the model. Knowing how permalinks work, I took a guess that the first two segments were the only required ones, and that the last text slug is just for SEO or human purposes.<\/p>\n

Could there be other models of interest lurking in the Apple Refurb store? I sure hoped so! I opened up the very trusty EveryMac.com listing of all Mac products for the last 20 or so years<\/a>, and for comparison’s sake, looked for the model from the link. Sure enough, the model number was\u00a0MJLQ2LL\/A<\/strong>. Bingo! Swap an M for an F, and you have the URL. Did this work for other models? How about a 13″ early 2015 MBP, model\u00a0MF839LL\/A? I removed the text slug, swapped the M for an F, and ended up with the following URL:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/product\/FF839LL\/A<\/a><\/p>\n

Money! Though not in stock, it did indeed take me to the product listing page for a refurbished model of that exact Mac. Awesome. Now stock is probably very limited on unlisted products, but you may just get lucky.<\/p>\n

If you find yourself looking for a refurbished Mac, but aren’t finding what you’re looking for on the short listings on Apple’s store site, try that technique to see if you can find some hidden gems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

tl;dr – By changing the first letter of a Mac’s model to “F” and appending it to\u00a0https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/product\/, you can access the product listing page for non-listed refurbished Macs. Example: for model\u00a0MF839LL\/A, URL is\u00a0https:\/\/www.apple.com\/shop\/product\/FF839LL\/A. I was taking a look at Apple’s…<\/p>\n

Continue readingFind hidden Apple refurbs<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1,161],"tags":[306,132,371],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nFinding hidden Apple refurbished Macs - Joshua Lyman.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I found a way to locate the store page for Mac products not listed on Apple's Refurb site, so that you can buy older MacBooks without resorting to eBay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2017\/08\/find-hidden-apple-refurbs\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Finding hidden Apple refurbished Macs - 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