Grade C describes used phones with significant cosmetic wear including chips, dents, and heavy scratches. Functionality must be 100 percent unless the lot is explicitly sold as “working with declared faults.” Battery health typically runs above 75 percent.
Grade C is the input tier for refurbishers. Stock at this level is rarely viable for consumer-facing retail without rework, but it's priced 35-55 percent below Grade B which makes it economically attractive for buyers who can replace housings, screens, and batteries at scale.
Trading Grade C requires more sophisticated grading verification because the line between “heavy cosmetic wear” and “repairable damage” is fluid. Per-unit photo manifests are standard in Grade C deals; ratio-graded lots (“90 percent Grade C, 10 percent broken”) are common but should always be discounted for the tail risk of higher BER content.