What you're actually getting
This is a single-outlet Wi-Fi smart plug from Amazon Basics, sold open-box by Amazon Resale. Open box means someone ordered it, probably unboxed it, and sent it back. Amazon then checks it over and relists it as Like New. In practice, that usually means it looks basically untouched.
For under three quid, it lets you control a lamp, a kettle, or a fan from your phone or via Alexa. That's it. No power monitoring, no energy readouts, nothing fancy.
Who this is actually for
My neighbour picked up a couple of cheap smart plugs last year to put his living room lamps on a schedule. Stopped faffing with switches every night. Simple as that. This is exactly that kind of purchase: low stakes, solves one small annoying thing, costs less than a pint.
If you're already in the Amazon ecosystem and use Alexa, setup is dead easy. Genuinely takes about two minutes.
If you're not an Alexa household, it does work with Alexa only, so worth checking that before buying.
The honest reservation
One plug. One outlet. No energy monitoring. If you want something more capable, spend a bit more and get a Tapo or a Meross plug with consumption tracking. Those are proper useful for seeing which appliances are quietly costing you.
But for two pounds seventy two? As a first smart home experiment, or just to automate one specific thing, it's hard to argue against it. The HotUKDeals community clearly agrees, nearly 5000 heat on the listing. Not half bad for an open-box punt.
