I made this because I feel there’s some interesting questions and implications this raises specifically because it’s going after unauthorised sellers who market their goods as new.
I specifically did not try to answer all the questions I’ve raised because for most of them I don’t have a definitive answer, or possibly even what it should be. I’m interested to see discussion on these points though!
It is a good point. There are a few industries where companies tend to be really strict about who you buy from and will refuse to honor warranty from unautorized sellers (headphones, other than the least expensive, are one that I came across recently). Many others require some kind of proof of purchase and I would guess most people realize that if you get something on ebay there is a good chance that the manufacturer will not honor the warranty. Sometimes this is just due to time limiting considerations (if something has a year warranty and you buy it and sell it unopened a year later should the person who buys it get a year warranty?) and sometimes the company wants to limit the warranty to the first person who buys it.
IMO, warranty needs to be considered independent of if an item is new or not and any company who has a problem with how Amazon is representing that should go after Amazon and not random third party sellers. I would also strongly support companies being required to either honor warranty on items that are resold new or specify a warranty period independent of when or where it is bought that is listed on the product. Many companies do everything they can to make sure the warranty sounds great when you buy while making every excuse to not honor it later. "Authorized Sellers" are just one part of that.
I think the biggest question you missed is "does a warranty count as a warranty if the manufacturer doesn't actually tell you about it". A previous thread on the topic noted that the game and its marketing materials don't actually mention any kind of warranty anywhere.
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I made this because I feel there’s some interesting questions and implications this raises specifically because it’s going after unauthorised sellers who market their goods as new.
I specifically did not try to answer all the questions I’ve raised because for most of them I don’t have a definitive answer, or possibly even what it should be. I’m interested to see discussion on these points though!
It is a good point. There are a few industries where companies tend to be really strict about who you buy from and will refuse to honor warranty from unautorized sellers (headphones, other than the least expensive, are one that I came across recently). Many others require some kind of proof of purchase and I would guess most people realize that if you get something on ebay there is a good chance that the manufacturer will not honor the warranty. Sometimes this is just due to time limiting considerations (if something has a year warranty and you buy it and sell it unopened a year later should the person who buys it get a year warranty?) and sometimes the company wants to limit the warranty to the first person who buys it.
IMO, warranty needs to be considered independent of if an item is new or not and any company who has a problem with how Amazon is representing that should go after Amazon and not random third party sellers. I would also strongly support companies being required to either honor warranty on items that are resold new or specify a warranty period independent of when or where it is bought that is listed on the product. Many companies do everything they can to make sure the warranty sounds great when you buy while making every excuse to not honor it later. "Authorized Sellers" are just one part of that.
I think the biggest question you missed is "does a warranty count as a warranty if the manufacturer doesn't actually tell you about it". A previous thread on the topic noted that the game and its marketing materials don't actually mention any kind of warranty anywhere.