4 Places You Can Find Refurbished Milwaukee Tools Online

It's no secret that power tools can get a bit chunky in the pricing department, particularly if you're buying from one of the major brands like Ryobi, DeWalt, or Milwaukee. As with just about any other physical product, it's possible to save a little cash by opting for a secondhand power tool rather than a brand-new one fresh out of the box. Of course, veteran brands like Milwaukee Tool would understandably prefer that you buy your tools new, as it both ensures you have all of the most up-to-date hardware and protections and, of course, gets them more money. This is probably why Milwaukee doesn't sell refurbished tools or products on its own website.

While Milwaukee doesn't offer refurbished tools on its website, it is far from the only place you can look. A handful of storefronts, both locally and on the internet, deal in secondhand tools that have been touched up and marked down for your convenience. If you know where to look, and don't mind the measured risk that comes with buying secondhand, you might just be able to save yourself a few bucks on your next Milwaukee Tool purchase.

Before we actually get into the places where you can purchase refurbished Milwaukee tools, we first need to offer a bit of a disclaimer. Technically speaking, anyone with a certain degree of mechanical know-how and access to the requisite parts could repair and refurbish an old Milwaukee tool, and in today's do-it-yourself landscape, they could also flip it online for a quick profit. However, there's an important distinction between refurbished tools that have received a professional seal of approval and those that were just slapped together by some random person. 

Milwaukee offers a limited warranty on all refurbished tools (or "Milwaukee Reconditioned," to use the brand's official parlance) that are sold through authorized third-party retailers. If something does go sideways with one of these tools, then as long as you got it from an official retailer, you can return it to Milwaukee, and it will repair or replace defective parts for up to one year after purchase. All officially refurbished Milwaukee tools have a date engraved on them indicating exactly when the refurbishing process was carried out. 

If, however, you obtain a refurbished tool through an unauthorized reseller, then Milwaukee won't give you any leeway in the event of failure. The warranty only applies on refurbishments made by Milwaukee-authorized personnel. Remember this when looking at refurbished tools outside of official channels.

If you're looking for a hardware chain you can trust that deals in quality refurbished Milwaukee tools, you should start with one that has a good relationship with the brand. One good spot to visit is Acme Tools, which maintains an entire section dedicated to all things Milwaukee on its website, done up in the brand's signature shade of red. Acme Tools is an authorized retailer and, more importantly, refurbisher of Milwaukee tools, so any Reconditioned products you purchase will have the limited warranty applied. 

If you visit Acme Tools' catalog of refurbished Milwaukee products, you'll find a surprisingly wide variety of offerings, including power drills, leaf blowers, chainsaws, and more. It's important to note that all these offerings are bare tools, which means they do not include a battery pack or a charging cradle. Prices can vary a bit, but compared to buying brand-new, you might be able to save a decent amount of cash. For instance, a fresh Milwaukee M18 leaf blower could normally run you as high as $199.99, but if you buy refurbished from Acme, that price goes down to $124.99 or less.

If you don't feel like ordering from Acme Tools or don't have one of its physical storefronts within easy driving distance, you may prefer searching on a storefront that deals exclusively in online purchases. In such a case, your next best move would be to visit Max Tool, another authorized retailer of Milwaukee tools and, more importantly, Milwaukee Reconditioned products. While it's not quite as fancy as the Milwaukee section on Acme Tools' website, Max Tool does maintain a dedicated page for its refurbished Milwaukee offerings, collecting more than 160 of them in a single, convenient location.

Prices on refurbished products can be either higher or lower than other storefronts; for example, the aforementioned M18 leaf blower costs a few more dollars at Max Tool than it would at Acme, but something heftier like the M18 compound miter saw, costs around $70 less at $479.70. It goes without saying that it's substantially cheaper than that tool's MSRP of $699, so either way, you're getting a pretty excellent deal.

Are you having trouble accessing Max Tool for some reason? In that case, there's another website you can use that has more or less the same prices and interface: Factory Authorized Outlet. You know it's an authorized retailer of Milwaukee tools because it's right there in its name. While it does have an overall collection for Milwaukee tools, Factory Authorized Outlet doesn't have a dedicated page or collection for its refurbished Milwaukee products; if you want to find them, you'll need to type "reconditioned Milwaukee" into the site's search bar. Once you do, though, you'll find a similar number of products to Max Tool for the same or similar prices, not to mention the same free shipping on high-priced items that many of the other sites offer.

Speaking of high-priced items, if you've got the cash to spend, you might be able to score quite the relative bargain on what would otherwise be a big-ticket product. For example, Milwaukee's Force Logic Press Tool Kit, which includes the tool itself, two battery packs, a charger, and a carrying case, would normally retail for $2,259. At Factory Authorized Outlet, you can get the same kit for $1,510.86, a difference of almost $750.

Before any of these other storefronts, you might've thought to check Amazon for refurbished Milwaukee tools first. In actuality, though, checking Amazon should be your absolute last resort for a couple of reasons.

Various resellers do sell bare Milwaukee tools on Amazon, and if you combine the lack of accessories with Amazon's usual pricing, you might be able to get some good deals. However, in regard to refurbished tools specifically, Milwaukee does not sanction those kinds of products through Amazon resellers. If you do happen to find any refurbished Milwaukee tools through your Amazon search results, they won't be from an authorized distributor, which means you won't get any kind of warranty when purchasing them.

More importantly, since these refurbished tools are being offered by random individuals selling on their own, the prices they set can range wildly from slightly cheaper to more expensive than new. It's the Wild West out there, and there's a very real chance of getting ripped off, so don't go looking for refurbished Milwaukee tools on Amazon unless you have absolutely no other recourse. Even then, it might be better to just buy new and get some peace of mind.