Parts

Sourcing quality parts and the different "grades"

There isn't an industry "standard" or grading scale for the quality of parts. There are a few consistencies however if you order from a reputable manufacturer. Most wholesalers will have a grading scale or chart talking about the differences. Most however are broken down by budget, standard, or premium displays or parts. Below are some examples of terms used in the industry:

• OEM (original equipment manufacturer) - this would be a brand-new part directly from the company that designed the original product i.e. Apple, Samsung, Google, etc. There are only a few brands that have OEM parts available to the public.

• Refurbished - these parts *might* be mostly made of OEM components, but typically rebuilt in some way. They can be very high quality, depending on who refurbished them. An example would be a company took a damaged OEM iPhone display, removed the LCD (original), and put a new, non-cracked, glass panel over the top.

• Aftermarket (AM) - made completely outside of the original manufacturing process. This is where the quality gap can change greatly. Typically aftermarket displays or parts can be broken down even further

  • AM (A+ or Premium Grade) - this will usually be the best aftermarket display, and comparable to a refurbished part. Some can be almost a 1:1 match to an OEM, but at a more budget price. This grade makes up a big portion of the repair shop's sales.

  • AM (A or B or standard grade) - Some quality differences will begin to be noticed like visual brightness, color accuracy, touch response, etc. but might be sufficient for some customers.

  • AM (C, budget, or blemish grades) - the very cheapest of parts, and something that "works" but may have very obvious trade-offs in performance for price.

There are many different grades of parts, all called different things depending on the manufacturer. Check with the individual wholesaler for their "Grading" or "quality" scale. You'll have to decide the value/quality price difference you'll want to carry for repair business. Some models go for high-volume cheap repairs while many prefer the higher-quality, more expensive model.