Refurbly is a Sweden-based e-commerce platform specialising in refurbished mobile phones and consumer electronics.

Founded in 2019 in Örebro by David Lundgren Fetah, the company was built on a clear vision: transform how people access smartphones by replacing short ownership cycles with circular, sustainable alternatives.

Before launching Refurbly, David worked in mobile phone repair within his family-owned store, gaining first-hand insight into device lifecycles, repairability, and the growing environmental cost of constant hardware replacement.

That experience shaped Refurbly’s mission: extend the life of electronics while making premium devices more affordable.

Today, Refurbly combines refurbished device sales with a subscription model that enables customers to access phones flexibly, upgrade when needed, and reduce environmental impact.

The Customer

Refurbly has built its reputation on extending device lifecycles and making premium technology more accessible through refurbishment.

As customer expectations shifted toward flexibility and predictable monthly costs, Refurbly began evolving from a transactional e-commerce model toward a subscription-first approach, enabling customers not just to buy devices, but to access them through structured lifecycle programs.

The leadership team, spanning commercial, technical, and marketing functions, aligned around a clear objective: build a scalable subscription infrastructure capable of supporting both current demand and future geographic expansion across the Nordics.

The Problem

Refurbly had already validated demand for refurbished devices and identified subscriptions as a natural next step. However, their existing setup was not designed to support a growing physical product subscription business.

Subscriptions were being managed manually through Google Sheets, while Stripe handled payments, a workable solution at low volume, but increasingly limiting as complexity grew.

The team faced several operational challenges:

• Manual subscription tracking created scaling constraints
• Limited lifecycle visibility across devices
• Increasing administrative workload
• Fragmented tooling across payments, customer data, and operations

At the same time, Refurbly had developed a unique purchase flow, allowing customers to add mobile operator subscriptions directly during checkout, adding another layer of complexity that required flexibility from any subscription platform.

Additionally, the company needed to account for:

• credit score checks
• ID verification via Swedish BankID
• logistics integrations
• customer service tooling
• potential migration of existing subscribers
• multi-market expansion

What Refurbly needed was not just subscription billing, but a system capable of supporting the full operational reality of circular electronics.

The Solution

Refurbly partnered with circuly to establish a structured subscription infrastructure tailored to physical products and lifecycle-driven business models.

During early workshops and platform walkthroughs, circuly demonstrated capabilities that aligned closely with Refurbly’s technical and operational requirements, including:

• native Stripe integration
• automated invoicing
• subscription lifecycle management
• asset tracking
• returns handling
• customer management
• API-driven flexibility

Because circuly is built to integrate with diverse tech stacks, it offered Refurbly the ability to connect subscription operations to their evolving e-commerce architecture, whether transitioning from Commerce Layer or exploring alternatives such as Shopify-compatible environments.

Discussions also covered advanced requirements such as:

• integrating Refurbly’s credit score provider or circuly partner CRIF
• supporting BankID verification within the customer journey
• enabling migration of existing customers
• connecting logistics and support tools
• structuring bundles, auto-renewals, and buyouts

Rather than forcing process changes, circuly provided a framework capable of adapting to Refurbly’s model.

The Benefit

With circuly as its subscription backbone, Refurbly gained a platform designed to support both current operational needs and long-term strategic growth.

Key advantages include:

• elimination of manual subscription tracking
• structured lifecycle management for refurbished devices
• automation across billing, invoicing, and customer workflows
• improved scalability for subscription growth
• infrastructure ready for Nordic expansion
• flexibility to support complex checkout configurations

Most importantly, Refurbly now operates on a system built specifically for asset-heavy subscription businesses, where profitability depends on device utilisation, refurbishment cycles, and lifecycle control.

This positions the company to transition confidently from transactional sales toward predictable recurring revenue.

How circuly supports refurbly

Behind Refurbly Flex is a subscription engine designed for physical electronics, where contracts, payments, upgrades, returns, and assets must remain tightly connected.

circuly enables Refurbly to:

• manage subscription contracts end-to-end
• automate recurring payments
• generate compliant invoices
• track devices across multiple usage cycles
• support upgrades and buyouts
• manage returns efficiently
• centralise customer data

Because the platform is API-driven, it can integrate with Refurbly’s broader ecosystem, from identity verification to logistics, ensuring subscription operations remain cohesive as the business scales.

This infrastructure allows Refurbly to focus on advancing circular consumption, while circuly supports the operational mechanics required to make subscription-based electronics viable at scale.

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