"Authorized" versus "Unauthorized" Dealers

[Spyro]

What is the difference in product purchased from an "authorized" versus "unauthorized" dealer?

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Generally speaking, warranty on items purchased from an unauthorized dealer will not be honored.

 

[angler31337]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salt Peanuts Generally speaking, warranty on items purchased from an unauthorized dealer will not be honored.

Exactly.

-Angler

 

[Spyro]

That's it? No warranty? Are they "used" but re-packaged to look new or something?

Why would Joe-Shmo Audio dealer carry name brand headphones for a little cheaper but with no warranty?

Are they purposely catering to the consumer that wants a lower cost but will take a gamble (no warranty)?

I mean they aren't black market or anything like that are they? It's just another way to purchase the product?

 

[Purgatos]

An authorized dealer has been audited by the manufacturer and gets some kind of certificate that essentially promises they trust this dealer and will honour the warranties issued by the dealer.

A non-authorized dealer would essentially just buy a bulk of products from the manufacturer and resell them outside of any kind of business relationship. They could have been turned down when requesting to become an authorized or merely didn't want to deal with the hassle of an audit or could be actively dishonest. There's no real way to know what their reasons are.

 

[themick]

Most times unauthorized dealers buy their stock from authorized dealers who are trying to unload product that they are having trouble selling. Something which is usually in violation of the dealer agreements they have with the manufacturers/distributors. Unauthorized dealers don't buy their product from distributors/manufacturers (they don't sell to anyone without a signed dealer agreement) so they don't have to adhere to the manufacturer's/distributor's policies such as minimum advertised price. If someone says they are an unauthorized dealers, I would avoid them as they are usually not the most honest and fair people to do business with. I used to work for a small retailer a few years ago, and it gets hard to do honest business when people decide to go around policies designed to help everyone in the chain make a living. It gets hard to sell a product for 300 when someone else is selling it for 250 and if you try to sell it for 250 you lose your dealership. They do cater to consumers who want a lower price but at the expense of the people making and distrbuting the headphones, the authorized dealers and the end user who might end up with a broken product that they will then have to pay to get fixed or replaced.

 

[Spyro]

Thanks, good insight. That makes sense.