Authorised distributor
The same box is not the same purchase.
A grey-market unit is usually genuine. That is not the question. The question is what happens in year three, when it stops working and you need somebody who is obliged to help.
What we mean by grey market.
The grey market is the sale of genuine goods through unauthorised channels. For Vinshine it means sellers we never appointed listing our own products, usually cheaper, and without the warranty or support that comes with buying from us.
That is the part worth being clear about: this is not a shop warning you off somebody else’s stock. It is the people who make the thing telling you what they can and cannot stand behind. The full story, with the video.
What actually differs
- Stock comes from the factory, with a serial the maker recognises
- The warranty applies, and we are the ones honouring it
- Firmware and service come through a channel that exists
- Somebody is accountable for putting it right
- Usually cheaper, and usually genuine
- No warranty we can honour, whatever the listing says
- No service path, and nobody obliged to answer
- Harder to resell, because the next buyer asks the same question
What we do, none of it dramatic.
We explain the difference
Rather than assume anybody already knows it. That is what this page is.
We answer after the sale
Which is the part a grey seller cannot copy, and the part that matters in year three.
We watch the market
So we know where our own products are turning up, and who is listing them.
What we promise, specifically
We have not written the exact terms out here yet, and we would rather say that than summarise them wrongly. Ask before you buy and we will put the answer in writing, which is the version that actually binds us. A warranty described roughly is worse than one not described at all.