eBay

2221941 · ‎03-05-2017

Why does eBay allow new items to be sold without effective warranty?

Schwinn 430 Elliptical Machine

This item is new and the seller claims by email to me that warranty is through Schwinn.

But when I contact Schwinn, they tell me that because the seller is not an authorized dealer, Schwinn will not honor any warranty.

I informed the seller by email about this but the seller is refusing to answer now,......make your own conclusions.

This could be very costly to any buyer when they find out that there is NO warranty after purchasing this item.

I believe eBay needs to ensure that new items have a genuine functioning warranty.

ypdc_dennis · ‎03-05-2017

Assuming purchase is not too old, open an Item-Not-As-Described case, especially if the seller said it had a warranty.

2221941 · ‎03-06-2017

Fortunately for me, I called the manufacturer Schwinn before purchase but other buyers may trust eBay and the seller only to find out later that there is no warranty and no recourse.

In this case, the seller didn't post anything about warranty for this new Schwinn 430 Elliptical except 30 day money back but buyer pays return shipping for a box that weighs 230 lbs. If you go beyond the 30 days, you have no options and no warranty from Schwinn.

My point is that eBay has a responsibility to ensure that sellers have a valid warranty when listing new items.

Also, questions asked of the buyer are not visible on the listing.....why not?

Amazon posts questions and answers on their items for sale, why does eBay not do the same?

Questions and the buyers answers should be visible to potential buyers to make the process more honest.

Seems to me that eBay could do a lot more regarding rules for sellers making it mandatory to post warranty details for new items.

marnotom! · ‎03-06-2017

@2221941 wrote:

Fortunately for me, I called the manufacturer Schwinn before purchase but other buyers may trust eBay and the seller only to find out later that there is no warranty and no recourse.

Was the customer service rep you spoke to working out of the United States or Canada? Do you know if Schwinn has separate warranties for the two countries?

2221941 · ‎03-06-2017

I gave all the details to Schwinn Customer Service 800-number.

The seller for this Schwinn 430 Elliptical is listed on eBay.ca and according to Schwinnfitness.com is not an authorized dealer and there would be NO warranty. Schwinnfitness.com handles warranty for both US and Canada.

The point here is, whether eBay.ca or eBay.com, when offering new items, the warranty should be clearly indicated as mandatory by the seller.

Also, in fairness, all questions and answers about an item should be visible to everybody just like on Amazon.

In this case, potential buyers would be able to see a legitimate question about warranty and subsequent silence by the seller when informed about the no-warranty issue.

I hope eBay is listening.

marnotom! · ‎03-06-2017

@2221941 wrote:

I gave all the details to Schwinn Customer Service 800-number.
The seller for this Schwinn 430 Elliptical is listed on eBay.ca and according to Schwinnfitness.com is not an authorized dealer and there would be NO warranty. Schwinnfitness.com handles warranty for both US and Canada.

I'm just wondering if Schwinn customer service is based out of the United States and the CSR you spoke to thought you were an American buyer contemplating purchasing from this Canadian seller.

In any event, the tack that I take is that I assume all items on eBay are "gray market" unless stated otherwise. While the site is being increasingly used as a sales venue for authorized and/or established retailers, there's still a strong contingent of sales from laypeople and one has to approach eBay with that in mind.

As far as your question to the seller goes, it may depend on how you phrased it. To me, the response of "warranty is through Schwinn" is not the same thing as saying "the item has a valid warranty". He may have been trying to be sneaky.

@2221941 wrote:

Also, in fairness, all questions and answers about an item should be visible to everybody just like on Amazon.
In this case, potential buyers would be able to see a legitimate question about warranty and subsequent silence by the seller when informed about the no-warranty issue.

Many listings do have a section for posted questions and answers. The two current listings for the item you were looking have a section for "Questions and Answers About This Item" about two-thirds the way down the page.

ypdc_dennis · ‎03-06-2017

@2221941 wrote:
... I hope eBay is listening.

These are forums for buyers and sellers -- eBay support staff do not read them.

Amazon uses a catalog system - questions and answers are tied to the product.

eBay uses a offer listing system - questions and answers to a seller are tied to the specific listing offer and would go away (even if displayed) when the item is relisted by the seller.

Adding a warranty info field is not a bad idea, as long as it indicates which countries have the warranty. Most companies do not have a world wide warranty program (it's usually by region) -- and eBay is a worldwide selling platform. So if you buy from an authorized dealer in another country there is no guarantee that the warranty will be honoured in Canada.

Companies are the ones who have to keep an active eye on things -- eBay has VERO ( http://vero.ebay.com/ ), amazon has a similar program to restrict sellers.

-..-

2221941 · ‎03-06-2017

Yes, the question section is there but with only a limited pre-set questions/answers.........and nothing about warranty issues.

For anything not listed, eBay says contact the buyer but the questions to the buyer are NOT posted like on Amazon.

The questions to the buyer are transformed into private emails and NOT visible to others and nobody can see when the buyer chooses to just simply not answer relevant fair questions regarding warranty.

The problem for buyers remains,....eBay needs to allow posting of questions about warranty or anything else for others to see just like Amazon does. Get it out in the open.

Please, eBay, make it mandatory for sellers to clearly indicate valid warranty for new items, it's only fair.

ypdc_dennis · ‎03-06-2017

@2221941 wrote:
...The questions to the ~~buyer~~ seller are transformed into private emails and NOT visible to others and nobody can see when the ~~buyer~~ seller chooses to just simply not answer relevant fair questions regarding warranty ...

Questions (not counting eBay's default questions) are displayed if there is an answer AND if the seller marks it for listing display.

femmefan1946 · ‎03-06-2017

Yes, the question section is there but with only a limited pre-set questions/answers.........and nothing about warranty issues.

Well, yes and no.

Most questions can be answered like this and these are useful for that reason. For that matter, most questions are answered in Descriptions.

In particular, very large sellers prefer FAQ to personal answers since they stop inaccurate answers.

Some go so far as to Block any other questions, and a wise buyer will just pass those by.

Some sellers have both a FAQ and the option to ask a more exact question.

But if a buyer asks a question and the seller answers it, the Seller has the option to post both to the listing.

It's an option because some questions are more like rants. For that matter , so are some answers.

Remember that until it is purchased, the seller owns the doohickey and has the right to control how it is presented to the buying public.

2221941 · ‎03-07-2017

The issue here is about honesty and fairness.

Why does eBay not have a policy for sellers to clearly state warranty issues?

This is an item listed at almost $1000,...... no small potatoes.

How would you feel if you bought a new item in good faith on eBay only to find out later that you have no warranty?

If eBay had a fairer policy, potential buyers could see when a seller is avoiding answering relevant questions about warranty.

In this case, the seller just simply doesn't answer questions about warranty (draw your own conclusions) and nobody is the wiser.

In my experience, Amazon stands behind purchases much better than eBay and I really like the open question/answer display on Amazon.

Ebay could easily make it a policy to protect buyers on warranty issues and not just get their sales fee and good luck to you.

reallynicestamps · ‎03-09-2017

FWIW-- I never buy the extended warranties offered on goods.

Maybe I'm living in a dream world.

As far as online warranties go, it's like a lot of things.

You get what you pay for.

If you were shopping online, and even more outside Canada, for a bargain price, there will be offsets.

One of those is that you are unlikely to get a useable warranty.

Even if you bought from a brick and mortar US store which was an authorized dealer, there would be a darn good chance that the warranty would not be valid in Canada.

And that doesn't even take in the cost of shipping back and forth to the repair shop.

I know that not everybody has a bike shop in their neighbourhood or even their town, but what it comes down to is "You can have it good, you can have it cheap, you can have it fast. Pick two."

Did the seller lie about the warranty? Maybe.

Maybe he has a warranty form for the bike, but doesn't understand that it is not valid outside his country or because he is not an authorized dealer.

And maybe he know that all too well, but doesn't care. Which is sketchey through scammy.

But if the doohickey you are planning to buy has a reputation of breaking down a lot, warranty or no, it's worth shopping locally first.

2221941 · ‎03-13-2017

To really be fair to buyers, eBay could easily make it a rule to make sellers of new items clearly state warranty issues.

Plus, if the seller skirts around relevant questions and doesn't want to take responsibility, let others see that by making questions/answers visible.

Warranty is important and should be part of a listing.

After all, eBay makes a fee on the sales and therefore has some responsibility to ensure fairness to buyers........other online marketers do it.