Very good point, I did have this exact issue with a Ctek Charger I bought from them, had to send it back then the distributor sent me a new one directly. Was not really an issue for me but I hear what you are saying.
Out of interest and slightly OT, but what happens if an authorised distributor sells stock on ebay? For example Jet what if you sold me some panels on eBay, I am in Perth and have a problem? Surely the channel the sale comes through should not make a difference, after all its a business selling a product.
Bmo,
If i sold products on ebay I would no longer be an authorised distributor
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My business holds an account with the parent company, so your purchase can be traced through me back though the nat dist network . I have been able to rectify issues within 24hrs at locations that will amaze you. Because of this ability to lean on the nat dist network. Now profit margins are almost non existant when trying to match ebay but at least I sleep well at night and dont draed the phone ringing from Alice springs or geralton.
ebay sellers obtain their stock through other channels (no names) but that other channel is so large that the manufacture can not live without their orders so it is a catch 22.I wont bore you or create unfounded speculation as to how these companies get hold of the products to sell at these prices online ..but suffice to say there has been a court ruling that says they are allowed to so.. end story on that
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However same same the manufacturer must still warrant their product no matter where bought, however you must send it back to place of purchase, this is the part I don't like as that can be a 2 week turn around at best when on the road. As you send back to ebay seller, who returns it to the place that supplied them, then that company sends it back to parent company, 9 times out of 10 the middle mob just replace as they have very large stock volumes. and then ship back to parent/manufacturer at a later date. Or even the ebay seller will send you a new one and wait for thier stock credit later. Which is what these guys seem to do which is good.
If you buy a panel from me and it plays up in WA you call me I call the WA rep find the nearest authorised stockist to your location and I send you there. I would hate to be asking my customers to ship a charger or panels back to me from WA or NT , whilst on a trip, my prices are close to ebay $20ish more but , I have saved customers that many times over in postage costs and time lost without their item.
Let me be clear this is not an attempt to discredit any other business it just comes down to business models, and so long as the purchaser is aware of the ins and outs then all good, I supply components as part of an overall system design with outback travel in mind, as well as building in redundancy plans for component failure I also look at replacement time frames and the like, so for me and my particular business model on-line trading does not work as the loss of the support network is not worth the $20 saving to most of my customers.
that said not everyone who buys elec equip will travel far afield so the loss of this support system may not be as important as the $20 saving
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So its horses for courses and eyes wide open
As I said still one of the better traders under that business model, but your postage costs will push the price sky high anyway if you are in outback and then having to buy another item to get you through can pretty quickly make that $20 saving seem like a bad call.
Hope that came across as impartial as I really don't want to be poking sticks at others esp ones who are doing it better than others on-line.
Jet
