It's just another attempt at "controlling" the behaviour of customers...

As Ray says it's pretty standard. The only problem is that it's to short...

/Torbjörn

As I read it, Ebay dealers, not official M shops as LokShop.

If you buy from LokShop, you should contact them first for warranty issues as with any local dealer you buy stuff from...

What about genuine Marklin dealers who also sell on eBay? - Matthias at Station500 comes to mind.

Make sure you get an "official" receipt with the genuine shop sign, I assume the "restriction" applies for those who sell on Internet auctions only. I can also imagine that warranty does not apply to items from split starter sets and such unless you have a receipt for the whole set...

Good point webmaster.

Some official M* dealers co-operate with other dealers that are not listed at Märklin and will sell items with bigger rebates (eBay and other platforms).

If you buy from a professional German dealer, that dealer must provide two years of warranty for new items (this is a legal requirement).
If you buy from offical Märklin dealers, you can also make use of Märklin's two year warranty (this is no legal requirement, so M* can make obscure warranty rules as they like).

Good to have Märklin's warranty as a backup, though.

Many professional eBay dealers are official Märklin resellers and their invoices will be accepted by Märklin.

I tend to agree with Marklin here. I do not like ebay sellers in particular those who are not financially sound enough to take credit cards or have a shop open to the public. If Marklin can close them down then I am happy with that. I dont know where ebay sellers get their suplies but Marklin should be looking at that.
Ebay is fine for second hand if you wish to take the risk but a policy from Marklin of having dealers with a shop does seem good.
However I disagree strongly with Marklin fixing prices and holding back stocks (how daft is that) and I have not heard of any other firm anywhere coming up with this type of policy.
For me one good idea and one hopeless.

dave PS Brawa are now giving a three year warranty if bought through their dealers.

David,

I don't know where the financial soundness or whether they accept credit cards or have a shop has anything to do with it. These days, many people in the hobby business no longer generate a sufficient revenue from hobby sales to operate a dedicated business. This means that people look for ways to cut costs. One of these measures is to run an internet only business. No shop and related expenses, leaving a business which can be operated out of home or from a small office. Credit card companies and other agencies (PayPal) charge companies a percentage of each sale as handling charge, in addition to annual merchant fees. Some smaller businesses do not accept credit cards due to the fact that 4% paid to the credit card company can eat up a significant part of the profit if they are selling at 10-15% markup over their cost.

I realize that these new generation dealers without shops can sell for less than established shops and that this forces the shops to sell for less, resulting in less profit for those dealers with storefronts. In the USA, many dealers today do not stock very much Maerklin, but can order items from the Walther's catalog. In Europe, I think that we will see many smaller dealers disappear, as the owners get older and not as many new dealers are being set up. This will result in concentration by regional superdealers, much in the way that ETS now has multiple shops in the Stuttgart area. They have a network where each of their shops can be supplied by the mother store. I expect to see more of this type of setup in other regions. Eurotrain and Idee Und Spiel were similar attempts to set up dealer networks in Germany, with varying levels of success. Switzerland has a similar decline in the number of shops, but other than one shop in the French part of the country, I have not seen any major regrouping of shops under one name.

In other countries, the situation may be different. In North America, there are a handful of shops who stock a large selection. The rest depend on Walthers and maintain little inventory. I can't speak for the UK or other areas of the world.

Regarding online sales, one concern that I have with Maerklin items from non-authorized dealers on eBay is that you cannot be sure of the provenance. You cannot tell whether this is an employee of a shop or a third party who is selling items that have "fallen off the truck". These items may be obtained illegally via break-ins at hobby shops, distributors, etc. I don't think that there is a great deal of Maerklin counterfeiting, but Maerklin did stop selling replacement boxes because people used these to resell items from Start Sets or repackage items as in taking a Trix 22744 Re 4/4II TEE shell, a Maerklin 29859 Re 4/4II 11376, swapping shells and then selling in a replacement 37343 box as a "brand new" item. The 37343 was a one-time production and the value of the real models may be affected by the quantity of "fake" ones sold as "new". One way to tell whether it is a real 37343 or not is whether it has red lights or high beams. The 37343 was the only Re 4/4II to have a red rear light option.

That being said, eBay sellers do not often mention the provenance of their goods. Checking to see if the seller is listed as an authorized dealer is a good way to determine if everything is on the up and up. Asking the seller to send an official invoice is another recommended idea. I would also ask the seller if the goods are from a third party, that he provide the original invoice as well. If they can't provide an invoice, then maybe it is a good idea to avoid the transaction.

Regards

Mike C

Hi Tom,

Jain, yes and no. For anybody buying from a reseller, M might as well not bother at all with any sort of certificate. For consumers (as end users) buying directly from M it doesn´t add anything to their legal rights.
You´re right that the reseller is the one responsible towards the consumer, no matter what M writes. And no matter if the seller is an official M dealer or not. But most importantly, if the reseller disappears or goes bankrupt, a consumer can always force the manufacturer or his legal representative in his country to honor any valid claim. Read the text of the directive.

Ps: even M runs a webshop!
Ps2: here is the text I was referring to:
Where the final seller is liable to the consumer because of a lack of conformity resulting from an act or omission by the producer, a previous seller in the same chain of contracts or any other intermediary, the final seller shall be entitled to pursue remedies against the person or persons liable in the contractual chain. the person or persons liable against whom the final seller may pursue remedies, together with the relevant actions and conditions of exercise, shall be determined by national law.

I.e national law only governs the modus operandi here, not the legal rights as such of the final seller or the consumer.

Regards, Robert

Hi,
My experience with Märklin service and warranty has been very good to date.

I normally buy Märklin items from an Australian dealer, and they have handled the rare return very efficiently and promptly.

However, I have on occasion the need to buy from Europe or USA (eBay or some other means), when the locomotive I want is not available from the dealer.
In this case I am realistic enough to take my chances, and fess up that the item is NOT under warranty.
If Märklin service decide to give me the benefit of repairing under warranty, of course I don't complain. This has happened, believe it or not!!

For example, I recently returned a non-working loco (it is 5 years old) to Goppingen, saying that it was NOT under warranty. Anyway, I got the invoice today, and they only charge 50Euro for repair, which I think is VERY reasonable, considering the item is worth 6 times that.

regards
Kimball

Hi all,


This whole issue of warranty and so-called manufacturers' warranty versus the contractual warranty between buyer and seller is rather complex.
In all EU countries consumers' rights when buying a new product from a professional seller, be it a regular shop, or through the internet, professional Ebay sellers, other internet shops, are laid down in the EU directive 1999/44/EC.
It gives the EU consumer a 2 years warranty from date of sale. See the complete text here: EU 199/44/EC

In Märklins' most recent version of the warranty certificate they make a difference between a product sold by an official Märklin dealer and a product sold by another seller.
The crux here is that by de-facto setting up a restricted distribution system within the EU, Märklin is in violation of the EU Treaty:


This article has been used on a number of occasions:

As a result AEG-Telefunken paid a hefty fine…

Meanwhile since 1999, EC commission Regulation 279/0/1999 is in force. This is a block exemption on vertical distribution chains (manufacturer-distributor/importer/official dealer chains) and gives precise conditions under which such vertical distribution chains are allowed. Specific restrictions on price fixing and on the servicing of goods including availability restrictions on spare parts needed for repair purposes and sold outside the chain are explicitly not allowed. Generally speaking such chains are only allowed for categories of products where expert advice, end-user training and special know-how is required in order for the end user to take full benefit of the products. Since all of M's products fall within the scope of the EU Toys Directive this is clearly not the case here...

Instead the present Märklin warranty certificate clearly reflects an attempt to steer customers away from non-Märklin approved sales channels. That in itself is illegal within any EU country.

As for warranty itself, I have to admit that in my 17-odd years of buying Märklin products I have had 2 warranty claims which were dealt with promptly and to my full satisfaction. Both claims were on products bought from a store presenting themselves as a Märklin dealer. In one case I had bought a Märklin product through an Ebay merchant and when it arrived it was just not quite what I had expected, it was perfectly OK but just not to my liking. I returned it and my money was refunded within 3 days. So personally I don't have any problems with Märklin, their products, service or warranty.

Also any manufacturer has a right to fight 'counterfeit' sales or the sales of stolen goods and it is of course true that it is impossible to judge from a webpage whether one is looking at such an item. But that doesn't mean one is allowed to fight illegal practices with illegal practices. Oh well, such is life!

Best regards, Robert

See marklin website. (Google translate).

http://translate.google....nfos%2Fgarantieinfo.html