Non authorized dealers questions

[deedubb]

What are disadvantages to buying from non authorized dealers, other than warranty issues? Where do these guys get their equipment from and how do they sell them at the prices they do. For example, I'm not sure what the Pioneer Elite VSX94 goes for in the US at authorized dealers, but I see them on the internet for $1100 or so, with US MSRP being $1600. They list at $1900 here in Canada so that's a hefty price savings. One eBay auction indicates that these are new, A stock, non refurbished. So, what's the deal?

 

[fmw]

Most gray market products are purchased from the authorized dealers - normally as an inventory reduction issue. A few are imported from other countries. I would calculate that the dealer cost of that product is probably somewhere between $800 and $960. So you can figure the the gray market dealer's markup from there. The dealers aren't allowed to sell this product on the internet so they sell it to someone who can or have someone else do it for them.

The only issue would be the warranty. The product is the product.

I recently bought an expensive gray market product on eBay (a digital piano.) It saved me $1000 and worked out very well. It could have been disaster, as you know.

 

[dnice555]

I would def invest with an authorized dealer man. If anything goes wrong with the equipment you are stuck with it. It's worth the extra money up front for the security but that may just be me as I am very risk averse. Usually expensive products like tvs are thoroughly inspected by the factory but there are lemons and sometimes products get damaged while shipping. Just my opinion though.

 

[aberkowitz]

I personally don't like to spend large amounts of money on eBay on any CE gear sold by resellers. I've had 2 cases in the past where I have received lemons (2 DVD players) and luckily in both cases things worked out for me, but each case involved at least a week of phone calls and emails to work everything out- and neither of these was for more than a few hundred dollars!

 

[deedubb]

Tough call. Including the shipping costs, I can save close to $700 on this. Let's say I can get them to reduce the cost at a dealer by $200, that's still $500. I've never had audio equipment fail on me, except for a h/k CD player. I might have to chance it.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I have always been to chicken to try to save money this way. Building a relationship with a local dealer is always a good idea. I can get fair prices from my dealer and trade up when the urge hits me.

 

[GlocksRock]

I purchased both of my Yamaha receivers on ebay, from non authorized dealers. Well the first one was from a dealer, and he sent a cash register receipt, but it was still kinda iffy. Luckily I didn't have any problems with it, and so far I haven't had any issues with my current receiver. I saved about $300 on the latest receiver, so the savings was worth the risk of buying from a non authorized dealer.

 

[fmw]

Tough call. Including the shipping costs, I can save close to $700 on this. Let's say I can get them to reduce the cost at a dealer by $200, that's still $500. I've never had audio equipment fail on me, except for a h/k CD player. I might have to chance it.

Even if you have to pay for a repair, it isn't likely to be near $500.