They say there are two kinds of people in the world: people who divide people into two distinct groups, and ones who don’t.

Beyond that, there are definitely two types of customers: ones who don’t mind buying a repacked unit, and ones who refuse to do so.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have avoided the retail trenches, a “repack” is a piece of consumer electronics that has been taken out of the box for whatever reason, and then put back in the box.

Maybe it was a unit that a customer returned, maybe it was a store demo unit, maybe something entirely improbable. Regardless, it’s not Factory Fresh.

Some customers are okay with buying a repack, often with a modest discount. After all, the same warranty and satisfaction guarantees apply, so why not?

Others, however, absolutely refuse to accept a repack. They want their electronics to be virgins. And beneath the tape, the air in the box has to be from Japan or Korea.

They’ll even interrogate you. “Is this a repack!” they’ll demand, searching your face for any sign of deception.  And then they’ll put their face right up to the box, examining every seam of tape and every corner, looking for

signs that it’s been opened, and then cunningly resealed.

It doesn’t help that there are some retail salespeople who take a Zen-like pride in being able to repack a unit so that it looks factory new.

Not me. I can barely wrap Christmas presents, let alone make a repack look factory fresh.

I even once nearly got into a fist fight with a customer who flat-out called me a liar. One staple, JUST ONE, on the Sony XBR 36-inch CRT TV he was buying was missing from the box. And that was enough to set him off. He was certain that I was trying to swindle him.

Needless to say I didn’t salvage that deal.

Honesty is always the best policy. If you’ve got a repack, return, store demo, tell people that. Just like a stray dog from a rescue society, someone will want to give it a happy home.

And come on, take a couple of bucks off the price. After all, someone else has touched it!