Hey guys, I'm confused about the whole e-bay thing. These remotes are not cheap (even on ebay they're 2-3 times the cost of a Harmony 890 - worth it, but still) and they are fairly new to the market (S70s at least). So where are the ebay remotes coming from if not authorized by UEI?

The only thing I can think of is an authorized dealer is selling remotes to someone who is then selling on ebay. In that instance I would expect that UEI is still getting the same amount per remote as they would get if the dealer sold it at full retail, the dealer is just not getting as big a cut, if any. So why would UEI not honor the hardware warranty for ebay sales? To try to get people to buy from a dealer perhaps? But then they do nothing to try and stop the ebay sales. I can certainly see saying you're on your own for programming and configuration, no help desk or phone support, but if the product is physically defective surely they should offer to replace it.

I don't mean to offend anyone, just curious. I admit I bought mine on ebay before I even really knew anything about them, it just seemed like a really cool remote. Pretty much knew I'd be on my own (with google) to figure out how to get it working, and everyone here has been a great help, but to hear that UEI won't stand behind it in regards to manufacturing defects is a bit of a shock. It's brand new sealed in the box and I certainly don't believe it's stolen, so that seems legitimate to me. It also seems to be a bit of a conflict of interest, and if I were a dealer I'd be pretty upset with UEI for either not trying to put an end to ebay sales or at least accepting them openly. I mean, if an S70 sells on ebay and assuming UEI still gets the same revenue, but has none of the risk of supporting a warranty, why would they ever want a dealer to sell one?