The Important Points
- To compete on price with lower-quality copy screens, you may consider a “glass-replacement only” repair price for suitable screens.
- However, replacing the glass yourself requires a significant commitment of both time and money.
- The alternative is to outsource it to us.
- Screens must be checked for suitability before you send them to us. In particular:
- All screens must be original (not copies).
- Apple iPhone and Samsung screens must still have the touch working.
- Screens with backlight problems, torn 3D Touch cables and other repairable quality issues are acceptable.
- Screens with permanent damage- bruising, screen burn or pixel damage- will be normally be considered unrepairable unless the customer is willing to accept these flaws in the refurbished display.
- We offer a fast, efficient service, and our refurbished screens are of better quality and reliability than unofficial “copy” screens.
- To avoid losing money on a repair, it is important that you are able to tell apart screens that are suitable for glass replacement from those that are not. Please see the article for further details.
Competing with Cheap “Copy” Screen Repairs
The Problem
If you’re a repair business that prides itself on offering the highest-quality repairs using refurbished original screens rather than cheap copies… read on.
You probably know that most “copy” screens– i.e. those designed and manufactured entirely from scratch by third-party companies- are of lower quality than original Apple and Samsung ones. In many cases, they’re downright awful and can even damage the phones they’re fitted to.
It’s clear that many repair businesses- especially those competing purely on price rather than quality- use them purely because they’re cheap. This allows them to lower repair prices and increase their driven-to-the-bone profit margins.
The good news is that once- and if– you get the chance to explain this difference to your customers, most are generally willing to pay a few pounds extra for the far superior original. So in theory, you don’t need to compete purely on price with the glut of race-to-the-bottom rivals.
The problem- as you may have realised!- is that you have to get potential customers to visit- or at least contact- you in the first place to sell this point, and there will always be some who see the lower price and go straight to your rival before you get the chance.
So, how do you get their attention? One obvious solution is to have a lower headline price, but that’s easier said than done if you’re not willing to compromise your standards.
The Solution…?
One solution to this might be to quote a “glass replacement only price” to your customers (via telephone, Facebook, email, etc.), conditional on the underlying screen being in good order. The lower price would help get the customer into your store, where you can assess whether their screen is a suitable candidate for glass replacement. Even if it isn’t, you can now upsell them on the (genuine) benefits of a full original screen replacement versus the false economy of a cheap copy. Generally, they’re more likely to accept this because they’ve taken their time to come to the store with the repair.
Now, here’s the problem. Is it practical for you to offer glass replacement?
Glass Replacement- Your Two Options
Option 1- Do It Yourself
Essentially, you have two options for carrying out glass replacement.
The first is to do it entirely in-house. This is far more doable today than it was a few years ago as machines have become cheaper. Even so, it still requires a substantial financial commitment– both for the initial set up, and on an ongoing basis for new equipment as screen technology evolves.
Similarly, you’ll also need to be prepared to spend time learning when you start and to commit yourself to ongoing investigation and training to keep on top of a constantly-changing field.
There is also the risk of damaging the screens and associated cost, and it’s generally hard to obtain high quality screens with no dust or other flaws. You’ll need to invest time perfecting the process and it is an ongoing labour-intensive job for someone to keep a stock of screens.
Realistically then, carrying out the glass refurbishment yourself is something that only makes sense if you’re willing to fully commit to it on a scale that might not make sense for a small repair shop looking for a small but steady supply of screens for their own use.
You may also consider that the time involved could be better used in another avenue of the business, especially if the screens are not of the standard you want and you don’t anticipate (or want) it becoming something your business is focused on.
Option 2- Outsource It
Your second option is to outsource all this hassle to someone like us. We certainly can’t deny having a vested interest here, but we believe that for the majority of phone repair businesses out there, it’s the one that makes most sense.
This still requires you to check whether your customers’ screens are suitable for glass replacement. Although we can’t speak for other companies in the refurbishment business, our standard of “suitability” (when such screens are sent to us) varies from screen to screen. However, they need- at least- to be original and (for iPhone and Samsung, but not iPad) to still have the touch working.
Backlight issues on iPhones can be repaired as part of the process (i.e. included in the cost)- with iPads we’ll charge extra for backlight replacement if necessary.
Torn 3D Touch cables on iPhones will be replaced as part of the service at no additional cost.
The screen also needs to be tested for bruising, screen burn and pixel damage, as this type of damage can’t be repaired. (Such screens would normally be considered rejects by our standards. However, we’re still willing to refurbish them on your behalf as long as you understand that such imperfections will remain in the final product).
(Please see “What We Can and Can’t Refurbish” for more details).
The benefits of outsourcing glass refurbishment to us are:
- We have a very high standard, so our screens are refurbished to factory specification.
- No risk to you- if you send 40 working screens, you get back 40 working screens.
- Faster turnaround as we do this job every day.
- Refurbished screens are as close to original as possible, since the parts we use are of very high quality.
- No backlight or dust issues, and backlights are of original spec.
- Set price, with charge known in advance so you don’t have varying costs.
- Reduced warranty work as there are on average far fewer issues with original screens than third-party copies.
Offering a Third-Party-Supported Glass Replacement Service
How you run your business is- of course- entirely up to you! However, as a guideline we’ll explain (roughly) how we might expect a glass replacement service outsourced to ourselves by a typical repair business to operate, and use this to point out any potential issues.
When the customer first comes into your store to have their phone’s screen replaced, you would assess it to determine if it was suitable for glass replacement. If it was good, you would swap it out from a ready stock of screens to complete the repair. Obviously, this would require you to have an existing initial stock of screens. Once you’ve saved up your first batch of screens and had them returned by us, this would provide you with replenished stock and form the basis of your ongoing service.
We understand that this might not be practical for every screen type, so for some- like iPads- your customer may be happy to wait a few days for you to send the screen to us to get refurbished. Generally with orders like this we’d try to turn them around as quickly as possible, but for guaranteed speed it would be better if you kept a stockpile of screens (especially on fast turnover models like the iPhone). We understand that you’ll still need a stock of screens for customers whose screens are completely broken, and in such cases we often have screens we can sell you.
The biggest risk here is that you wrongly assess a screen for suitability which is why it is important to check for marks (those being the most common missed issue). If you’ve carried out a “glass replacement” repair- at that price- but it turns out that the screen isn’t suitable for glass refurbishment after all, you may technically lose money on that particular repair.
What We Can and Can’t Refurbish
iPhone screens with torn 3D Touch cables are acceptable. (This will be replaced at no extra cost as part of the service.)
Screens with backlight issues will also be accepted. (For the iPhone, backlight repair is again included in the cost, for iPad screens there is an extra charge).
Screens with unrepairable flaws such as visible bruising or pixel damage would normally be considered rejects by our standards. However, if you want us to refurbish such screens– on the understanding that these flaws will remain in the final product- then we’re generally willing to do so. (This may be the case if you wish to keep a supply of lower-quality screens for customers whose original screen is less than perfect).
Acceptable – iPhone screen with torn 3D Touch cable. These will be replaced at no additional cost.
Generally NOT Suitable for Refurbishment – Screens with “bruising” and similar marks. This is permanent and cannot be fixed. Bruising is easy to miss under normal conditions, so should be checked for against a black background with surrounding lights turned off or as close to darkness as possible.
Although we’re willing to refurbish a screen with minor bruising if you specifically request it, it’s unlikely to be worth it for one this bad!
Generally NOT Suitable for Refurbishment – Screens with pixel damage. This cannot be fixed either. As with bruising, pixel damage is easily missed under normal conditions and requires checking against a black background in low light conditions.
We can accept screens with minor pixel damage on the understanding that the damage will still be there after refurbishment.
