Now official: you can buy a refurbished Steam Deck from Valve

This is the best summary I could come up with:

As noted by Valve, "Each Certified Refurbished Steam Deck has been thoroughly tested to the same high standards as our retail units.

Every device goes through a complete factory reset, software update, and an extensive examination involving over 100 tests at one of Valve's facilities.

Battery health is also assessed to ensure proper functionality and longevity.

Although they may have minor cosmetic blemishes, they provide a reliable, high-quality gaming experience at a lower cost."

They all include the same full one year warranty as a brand new Steam Deck, a refurbished power supply and carrying case.

In the FAQ at the bottom Valve also notes that stock levels will come and go over time, as they are selected from customer returns that "pass rigorous criteria".

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Ooh, the base unit is nearly the price of a Nintendo Switch! If they can keep this going for another year and Nintendo decides not to go with backward compatibility for their next system, I might make this my Switch 2...

I'm hoping this settles the second hand market a little.
Far too many people expecting to get rrp (or more!) because the stock availability is finicky on the new ones. (When in reality, if you want one, you can get one, just need to follow the discord)

I pulled the trigger on this. I couldn't add one to my cart from mobile; I had to grab my PC.

Awesome! Great move.

Not too happy about the one year warranty on a refurbished product but I guess the normal steam decks also only have one year of warranty too.