Refurbished Laptops for Business: Procurement, Invoices and Support Without Nasty Surprises

With an invoice, yes. With VAT shown on it, only sometimes. It depends on whether the seller charges VAT normally or uses the margin scheme under § 25a UStG (Differenzbesteuerung). That shifts your numbers more than most discounts.

Our post on the margin scheme on a refurbished phone invoice explains how the scheme works. It uses a phone as the example, but the rule covers second-hand goods generally.

For margin-scheme goods, § 14a(6) UStG requires the invoice to carry the note "Gebrauchtgegenstände/Sonderregelung", and the duty to show tax separately doesn't apply. Input VAT deduction under § 15(1) UStG, though, is tied to tax that's legally owed and to an invoice under §§ 14, 14a UStG. No tax on the invoice means, in practice, nothing to reclaim.

For example, asgoodasnew's terms and conditions (as of July 2026) state, in our translation: "The items we offer are subject to the margin scheme under § 25a UStG. VAT is therefore not shown separately on the invoice." Disclosure: asgoodasnew is a Refurbito partner merchant, so refurbed and Back Market get their say further down.

In euros?

Worked example with assumed figures, not a real price:

Say a device costs €1,000 on an invoice showing 19% VAT, and your business can reclaim input VAT. Your real cost is €840.34. A margin-scheme device would need to be about 16% cheaper to match. Same sticker price, different cost.

The table only holds if you can reclaim input VAT at all. Small businesses under the Kleinunternehmer rule and others without input VAT deduction drop out. For them the sticker price counts. Which case you're in is a question for your tax adviser.

Different ones than a private buyer. The statutory right of withdrawal goes, business terms face fewer clause bans, and if you're a merchant (Kaufmann), a duty to inspect and report defects on delivery comes on top.

No right of withdrawal for business purchases

§ 312g(1) BGB gives the right of withdrawal to the consumer. Under § 13 BGB, a consumer acts for purposes predominantly outside their trade or self-employed profession. Buy the laptop predominantly for the business, and what we wrote about refurbished returns and who pays return shipping doesn't apply to you in the same way. If a seller still offers businesses a return option, that's a voluntary promise in its terms.

And the laptop you use half for work, half at home? "Predominantly" decides it. Honestly, there's no blanket answer, so ask a lawyer.

The duty to inspect under § 377 HGB

In our view, the nastiest surprise sits in the German Commercial Code. If the purchase is a commercial transaction for both sides, § 377 HGB requires the buyer to inspect the goods without undue delay after delivery, as far as that's feasible in the ordinary course of business. Fail to report a defect and the goods count as approved. The exception is a defect that couldn't be spotted on inspection. That one must be reported without undue delay once discovered.

§ 343 HGB defines a commercial transaction as one by a merchant that belongs to the operation of their commercial business. As a self-employed person you're a business (Unternehmer) under § 14 BGB. Are you also a merchant? That's a separate question, and for a lawyer.

Our advice either way: unpack the delivery, look at every device and switch it on, report anything odd in writing. A box sitting unopened in the storeroom for three weeks doesn't help you in any scenario.

What business terms are allowed to do

Under § 310(1) BGB, § 309 and several clause bans in § 308 don't apply to standard terms used against businesses. Courts still check for unreasonable disadvantage under § 307 BGB. A seller can give your business different terms than a private customer, as long as they aren't unreasonably one-sided.

In the asgoodasnew terms (as of July 2026), consumer and business rules differ. As we read them, business customers get a statutory warranty period of one year from delivery, plus a duty to inspect without undue delay and to report obvious defects in writing within 7 days of receipt. On the same page the seller advertises a 30-month guarantee. Whether that covers businesses, we don't know. Read the terms yourself before buying. We picked asgoodasnew because its terms document the difference clearly, not as a verdict. We haven't read other sellers' business terms.

Whether a specific clause holds up is a legal question for the individual case. Our post on warranty versus statutory warranty for refurbished devices untangles the two terms.

Define what "identical" means before you order, and get quantity and delivery time confirmed in writing. Ten identical machines don't just happen.

Where used company laptops come from is the subject of our post on ex-lease laptops and where they come from. In a Bitkom survey of 603 German companies with 20+ employees (fieldwork weeks 39 to 44 of 2025, published 3 February 2026), 28% return retired devices to leasing providers. So what a refurbisher can offer in volume depends on which batches come back. That's our inference, not the survey's.

"Fleet" isn't a legal term, by the way. We mean identically specced devices bought together. A model name doesn't pin that down, and even a refurbished business laptop can come in different configurations under one name. Fix the processor, RAM, SSD size and screen resolution, plus condition grade and keyboard layout. Layout sounds trivial until ten laptops with German QWERTZ keyboards land on an English-speaking team's desks.

Little is published about volume and speed. Back Market Pro lists delivery in 3 working days (as of 28 September 2026) and a dedicated account manager for business purchases. refurbed Business lists a personal contact and payment on invoice (as of 28 September 2026), but no delivery time. We found no minimum order on either page. We haven't read any business terms for rebuy.

Buying through a marketplace? Then your contract partner matters. See our post on contract partners on marketplaces versus buying direct. Ten devices from three sellers can mean three contacts when something breaks. For what to check on each machine, see our refurbished laptop buying guide.

Check Windows 11 per device generation

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. Windows 11 needs, per Microsoft, a compatible 64-bit processor, TPM 2.0, UEFI with Secure Boot, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, among other things (as of 28 September 2026). A mixed batch is only as future-proof as its oldest machine, so the exact CPU of every device belongs in the order. Check by generation. The model name tells you little.

Whatever the business terms say, and that varies by seller. The business pages list warranty length and a contact person. On swaps, loan devices and data wiping we found nothing there.

No ranking, please. The table only records what's published where. Warranty still matters to companies: in the Bitkom survey above, 75% of non-users named a long warranty or guarantee as a condition for using refurbished IT (surveyed 2023, published 13 February 2024).

What we'd ask in writing before ordering:

• How fast do you respond, and is that in the contract? A line on a website isn't an agreed service level.

• Swap or send-in repair, and who pays shipping?

• Is there a loan device during repairs?

• Does the warranty run per device from delivery, including partial deliveries? (With a fleet arriving in two waves, this gets messy fast.)

• What happens to the SSD when a device is sent in?

German tax authorities allow a one-year useful life for computer hardware, notebooks included. The letter that says so is silent on devices bought used.

The Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 22 February 2022 (in German) names that one-year life and states that it is neither an immediate write-off nor an option within the meaning of § 5(1) EStG, and that the taxpayer may deviate from it. A full write-off in the year of purchase isn't objected to. As far as we know the letter still applies (as of 28 September 2026). Whether your device counts as computer hardware there, and whether the current version still applies, is for your tax adviser.

Under § 6(2) EStG, acquisition costs up to €800, reduced by any input VAT they contain, can be deducted in full in the year of purchase. For assets above €250 up to €1,000 (also measured without input VAT), § 6(2a) EStG allows a collective item released over five years (checked 28 September 2026).

The €800 limit is measured after input VAT. A standard-VAT device at €900 gross (at 19% VAT) is €756.30 net, so under the limit. The same device at €900 under the margin scheme has no input VAT to subtract, so it's over. That's our own arithmetic with assumed figures. Does it apply to your business? Your tax adviser decides that.

Then there's the reserve no law mentions. Buy ten identical laptops, order an eleventh. When one fails, you swap internally and send the broken one off, instead of someone sitting there for days with no computer. Our rule of thumb, not a number from a study.

For a sustainability report, "refurbished" only works with documented numbers. According to connect professional (19 February 2024) on the Bitkom survey, 30% of non-users want documented CO2 savings for sustainability reporting.

The public research we rely on is older. A study by Öko-Institut for Germany's Federal Environment Agency (2016) found that for notebook workstations in the federal administration, manufacturing causes about 83% of greenhouse gas emissions. In its model, extending use from 3 to 6 years saves about 390 kg CO2e and €527 per product. Those are 2016 numbers about longer use, not refurbished purchases specifically. A direction, not a promise for your device. For Germany's e-waste figures, see e-waste in Germany 2026.

Ordinary deletion generally isn't enough, and a warranty repair can send your data out of the building. Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) names both in its module CON.6. Plan the wipe before the first failure.

In that module (2023 edition), the BSI writes that ordinary deletion through operating system functions generally doesn't delete information securely. It names warranty claims and repair orders as a risk, because data leaves the premises, and for encrypted drives it describes securely deleting the key as one route. IT-Grundschutz is a BSI recommendation for institutions, not a law for small businesses.

More generally, Art. 32 GDPR requires controllers to take appropriate technical and organisational measures, considering the state of the art, costs and risk. Whether your setup is enough is for your data protection officer or a lawyer to judge.

Before you order, ideally in writing:

1. Standard VAT or margin scheme? And can you reclaim input VAT at all?
2. Price converted into your real cost, after input VAT.
3. Spec nailed down: CPU, RAM, SSD, screen, condition grade, keyboard layout.
4. Windows 11 checked per processor generation.
5. Quantity and delivery date confirmed, and it's clear who your contract partner is.

That covers buying. The rest is about after delivery:

1. Business terms read, especially warranty period and duty to inspect.
2. Someone scheduled to unpack, inspect and report defects in writing.
3. Support promises in writing: response time, swaps, loan device, the SSD in a warranty case.
4. A spare device.
5. Depreciation and the €800 question talked through with your tax adviser.

The price tag rarely decides whether a refurbished laptop pays off for your company. The type of invoice does more, and so does whatever the seller promises on support in writing. That's where the gaps are: on the pages we read, refurbed Business lists no delivery time, VAT or data wiping, and Back Market Pro lists no invoicing or VAT. Ask there before you order.