1 Year Manufacturers Warranty!

[Hawk]

Heres a question to all the folk that have bought Mp4 players from e-bay or anywhere else selling the same players.

In the sales blurb for these players it always states that the players come with a 1 year warranty, now I know that there is nothing on the disks or the "how to " pamphlets that even mention which factory they come from. I cannot find anything that says I bought my player on such a date and the warranty expires 12 months later.

I cannot find any kind of registration for the players.

Can anyone shed any light on this, am I missing something ? Is there something on the disks?

Are these "ghost" warrantys really there?

[Hawk]

Here is a copy of the e-mail I have just sent to an e-bay seller.


Hi, I have bought an mp5 player from you already and will buy more if I am happy with the quality when it arrives.
Also I have bought players from ebay with 1 year warranties and when they arrive there is nothing in the package that tells me the manufactorys warranty. How will you provide me with the manufactorys warranty ?
If I have to send products back to factory how will I know where to send them?
How will I know my players are registered with manufactorer for 1 full years warranty?
If I buy an electronic product like this I would want to see proof of my warranty.

Thank you and kind regards.



I am now awaiting a reply.

[admin]

I used to import and sell MP3/MP4 players awhile ago as well.

The "one year warranty" is actually a MANUFACTURER'S WARRANTY. This is what the manufacturer offers and is maintained and honoured by the seller. This is what I was faced with back then.

The responsiblity is with the seller to maintain and honour. Remember, you are buying from a seller who has bought it from a manufacturer in China. Chinese manufacturers come and go very quickly (usually lasts for a year or so) in China. When you ask for manufacturer details and registration, it's really not a possiblity. I guess this is what you get from buying a cheaper MP4 player from eBay than buying say a Sony, Samsung or Apple player. They are much bigger but also their prices are more expensive. So it's a cost/benefit situation. Unfortunately you can't expect to get the same warranty system as the bigger known branded players.

As an ex-seller of MP4 players, if there is a problem with the player, the seller will have to either send it back to the Chinese manufacturer or send another replacement player to the buyer. This is the risk the seller faces so I guess that's why they put the markup on the price of the player. You shouldn't need to send anything to the manufacturer. The problem is the seller has to honour it. They may not and may not respond to you or chose to close shop. For the seller to send the player back and have it come back from China is a large cost as well so it may actually not be worth it. I know I am faced with a high shipmnent cost if I were to send something to China.

Hope that helps.

[Hawk]

Thanks admin,

I was starting to guess as much, I am planning to sell them locally and really wanted conformation one way or the other.

The players can be bought cheaper through ebay than directly importing from someone like Lightin the box but then ebay was only a tempoary stop gap for a couple of weeks.

Youve just spurned me on to start with Light in the box from the off, at least there might be a greater chance of warrantys being honoured.

In your experience, did you find yourself dealing with a high percentage of returns ?

[admin]

Hi Hawk,

Luckily I didn't have a high percentage of returns, the odd one or two which was good. I think it's the 'risk' a seller has to take when selling a product. So you have to cater for that in the price and profit margin when selling so to cover yourself for situations like this.

It was ok for awhile but too difficult to manage as having a young family and all my income relying on selling MP3 players, it was too risky. So if you're going to do it, you've got to consider that too.

There are some companies that does 'drop shipping' which means you sell the product, once you get an item sold, go to their website, place the order and have the item shipped directly to the buyer instead. So they send it from their factory directly. Not sure then who is responsible for the warranty so you'll have to check that out.

Hope that helps.