There’s no denying we all do a lot of shopping online, myself included, but there are some things you need to know before you buy a copier online.
For the most part I think online shopping is a great thing, but there’s a huge difference between impulse buying a DVD on Amazon, and buying a serious tool for your business.
They are out there though, online stores where you can buy a copier or MFP and have it shipped to your business with the push of a button. As tempting as it may be to buy from them, hold on a minute and read this post first.
When You Buy A Copier Online, Be Careful Who You Buy From
The thing about buying a copier online, or any other piece of office equipment, is that usually it’s not the product itself you have to be cautious about, but the person who’s selling it. Is it just a quick sale for them, is this something they’re serious about?
For example, you buy this machine off someone online for what seems like a great deal, several months later it needs repairs, and then your seller wants nothing to do with you anymore.
That’s not how it should be. A serious seller is one that provides full customer service long after the initial sale has been made.
If you’re about to buy a copier online, the one thing you should do is make sure the place you’re buying it from will be able to service it for you as well. Otherwise you can end up paying more to repair the machine throughout its lifespan than you paid to acquire it in the first place.
When You Buy A Copier Online, We Can’t Offer You A Service Contract
If you’re thinking to yourself at this point, “Well I can just buy a copier online and get a service contract from one of my local stores,” — unfortunately that’s not how it works.
We can’t offer an All Inclusive Service Contract on machines that were not bought from us. This isn’t just our policy, any office equipment store who values staying in business would not be able to offer a service contract to you, and here’s why.
If the machine was not bought from us, or maintained by us, we don’t know what kind of shape its in. Moreover, we have no way of knowing where the machine is in the cycle of replacing components.
It’s not fair to us to offer you a fairly inexpensive service contract, and then have to invest hundreds to replace parts shortly thereafter. In order for us to afford to offer a service contract on parts and consumables for machines we didn’t sell, the cost would be so exorbitantly high that no one would pay for it.
While we can offer a labor only contract on nearly all machines, on machines not purchased from us we don’t offer service contracts on parts or consumable items such as the drums, rollers, and fuser.
I hope that made you think twice before you buy a copier online. If you have any other questions you’d like my advice on, please leave a comment below.