Understanding the difference between Gray and Authorized Products
When the products are purchased through an authorized channel, consumers get genuine products from the company. Authorized products are allocated by the company themselves concerning different countries’ needs and demands.
Let’s dig into what the grey market is. Grey market refers to products that are sold outside of the brand’s permission. When the products are imported from the company itself through legal and formal channels, the distributors have to pay the tax levied on the country being imported. But in terms of grey products, tax is not paid to the country as sellers and retailers directly import from another country. They are brought through different illegal channels to exempt tax, without brands’ permission.
Most of the grey market products are international version products. Importers purchase products without any agreement from the company. So, this can harm the relationship of manufacturers with distributors and also impair product reputation. When we compare the grey market product with authorized products, grey market products’ price is cheaper compared to authorized products. If a warranty is provided with a grey market product, it is from a third party rather than the manufacturer. As a result, it may or may not cover everything covered by the original guarantee. Thus, the greed of a few thousand rupees can cost customers refurbished products or potentially low-quality damaged products.
Then, how are authorized products different from grey products? Authorized distributors pay all the tax levied on the products they import, thus, the consumers are then provided with the VAT bill for the genuine products purchased in Nepal. It is a legal, ethical, and responsible practice.
The authorized distributor also provides after-sales services for the products purchased from them. They offer the service for the damages that have been imposed on the goods purchased that is within the warranty claims, for free. For the damaged parts, the original parts are ordered from the company (abroad) itself, after the issue has been communicated. Additionally, buying from an authorized dealer provides the highest quality because manufacturers nearly always deliver their best products to registered merchants. If you compare prices, you’ll discover that big-box retailers and private party sales are less expensive but don’t be fooled! Even though the price is lower, the quality is often compromised.
Let’s understand how to spot the authorized products from grey products. Steps of identifying genuine from grey products are:
- First, look for a service tag on the back panel of the product or in the settings.
- Secondly, go to the support section of that brand’s page. (like for DELL https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us)
- Thirdly, enter your service tag on the website.
- Fourthly, look at product details.
- Lastly, verify your product model number & country. If it states your country, it’s authorized. If not, it’s grey.
Additional steps are:
- to look for an official authorized distributor’s holograms like Generation Next Communication.
- to ask for VAT bills after purchase.
With this, buy genuine products from authorized dealers only to get uncompromisable genuine products and after-sales service. Let’s buy genuine cause you deserve exceptional quality.
