What is meant by the term "B stock"?


I know this has come up before, but I'll be darned if I can find it. So. exactly what is meant "B stock"? Are these re-furbished units,or re-manufactured units? What would qualify a unit to get this rating?
I purchased a Yamaha DSP-A1 in gold, a "B stock" item at a substantial savings over a year ago, and the thing has run flawlessly and looks the same ever since I bought it. At the time, the dealer told me that these could have cosmetic blems, but neither he, or I could find any. Just curious whether these deals are worth it, and when selling the unit, must this be disclosed?
Thanks for any info.
sid42
I believe that it generally refers cosmetically, ie, there may be a minor scratch or blemish on the product.
As far as i know B-stock is anything that does not cut it when it comes to quality control. Say a reciever comes out and it has a bubble on the clear plastic cover on the display, they will replace that plastic face and sell it as B-stock because that actual unit had a defect, even though the defect might have been replaced.

I dont think they can legally sell any unit with an individual serial number that has any type of repair done or any type of blemish or malfunctioning parts as "A" stock, regardless to weather or not the problem was repaired, it has to be categorized differently in order to protect the consumer from buying a piece of gear that was faulty when constructed and then repaired. A company labels this as B-stock which notifys that the unit failed its initial quality control inspection and may or may not have been fixed. They are not legally allowed to sell repaired equipment as "A" stock

With the example of the reciever with the bubble in the plastic, if it is to be repaired, and afterwards does not have the origional plastic part, it then can not be sold as "A" stock because an actual process of repair had been done on that particular unit.

weather or not the repair is to be done largely depends on the amount of work to correct it.
If the unit had a bad volume control, it might be a quick low cost replacement, however, if the chassis is scratched they might opt to sell it as is without replacing the chassis.

Most b-stock items are perfectly good units. You may find some with a blemish that the manufacturer opted not to take care of due to cost of replacement.
Most b-stock items have had the minor problems fixed and are just as good as the A-stock

If you can get ti with a warranty, and find there are no cosmetic issues, there should be no fear in purchasing b-stock
Yes they can also be refurbished. Refurbished, for what ever reason a new unit is sent back to the factory or a factory authorized service center,not a dealer sevice, to repair or correct a defect.
Thanks to all of you for your response. Although the question still begs to be answered, should it be disclosed to a buyer that the unit was originally a B stock item? In my case, the original box says "B Stock" on all four sides, but one wouldn't know other than that. And yes, mine did come with a factory warranty for everything except "cosmetic items", although that isn't an issue, as it is flawless.
Thanks again for your info.