By Teri Farley


One of the factors you have to consider when kicking off your eye clinic practice is whether to buy new or used ophthalmic equipment. The decision on which choice you finally settle on will be determined by several factors including how much capital you have to start with, the price of new versus used ophthalmic kit and the availability of the apparatus in the market around you.

For people whose budgets are constrained, it makes sense that they should buy old equipment rather than new ones. The decision to buy used kit will reduce the capital demands of your eye care practice and leave you some considerable change to invest in other areas of the business such as decor, medical provisions and hiring of staff. Spending all your start off capital on buying new state of the art apparatus may leave you without enough money to invest in these other areas which nonetheless play a very crucial role in the overall success of your eye care clinic.

Even though brand new equipment is best, but there are some considerations that would make you opt for used kit. The decor of your office is important in that it shows the level of class and professionalism of the services from the office and this will boost the confidence of your clients. With extra staff you will also be able to provide professional services. So, you need to have a well spread budget to cater for all these aspects of the business hence the need to opt for the cheaper secondhand apparatus.

There are three options available while buying secondhand item. The first one is to go for equipment that has actually been used in private practice. With this type of kit, you may not get warranty as it may have expired. The apparatus may also need to be checked by your personal technician to make sure that it is in proper working condition. Unforeseen complications such as worn out calibrations may be causing you large repair and maintenance costs in the future. Generally speaking, this is the riskiest way to purchase secondhand optical kit.

Another option is going for refurbished item. These are but secondhand kit that have been refurbished and brought back to the market. They will cost much lower than new apparatus.

Once you have finalized the way forward on purchasing relevant apparatus, the next important decision to which to apply your mind is where to make your purchases. There are many establishing professionals who look for instruments amongst retiring medical practitioners. Should you stumble across such a fortunate find then you can be assured that the quality of tools purchased will be good.

You can also scan through several auctioneering sites to check whether you may come upon some good equipment. Wherever you prefer to get the kit, it is imperative that you demand to be supplied with the relevant documentation for the apparatus. Many auctions may still have issues with the previous owners of the kit.

Always weight the price of the used ophthalmic equipment against the quality before you make a commitment to buy. With refurbished and remanufactured kit ensure that you get a considerable warranty. A little research before buying the apparatus can save you a lot of time and costs spent repairing the equipment.




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