When I worked for Sony it meant that items were not perfect.

Could be anything from a returned item that was faulty and has been fixed, to minor cosmetic damage.

I bought a "graded" 1300 quid tell for 600 quid through the staff shop, and the fault it had? the cardboard box it arrived it was damaged


With Sony the graded goods were still warranteed as well, other than any fault that they were sold with (like if there was something missing or damaged) but all were in perfect working order.