Amazon for Fluke gear?

[apelly]

Going to buy a Fluke DMM.

Best prices I've seen are on Amazon. Am I wrong? They won't ship over here, but I can get a mate to forward it.

The dealers in my part of the world are dirty thieving bastards.

[echen1024]

Amazons fine. Fluke still honors the warranty I believe.

[nowlan]

Someone mentioned a retailer who was less than amazon on here recently, but cant find it just now.
You could always put up a WTB for a particular model. Lots of yanks claiming sub 200$ 87v from ebay.

[nanofrog]

Amazon is an Authorized Distributor/Reseller, so if you buy from them and not a 3rd party seller that doesn't have that status, Fluke will honor the warranty in the US. Officially, anything not sold through an Authorized Distributor/Reseller is considered "grey market" at least in the US. So warranty claims are at their discretion here. Some have reported success, while others state they were denied over unauthorized Fluke retail status of the unit.

Not so sure about trying to get warranty service overseas though (not sure if they track the S/N's that closely, but I wouldn't be surprised as the packaging is scan-able). Perhaps this may even be moot in Australia vs. the US due to consumer protection laws that are in place there. 

[retiredcaps]

Amazon is an Authorized Distributor/Reseller,

Amazon's logo is not on the list of online sellers as someone pointed out in another thread.

http://en-us.fluke.com/where-to-buy/

[nanofrog]

Amazon is an Authorized Distributor/Reseller,

Amazon's logo is not on the list of online sellers as someone pointed out in another thread.

http://en-us.fluke.com/where-to-buy/

Came from an email back when I was considering between the 287 & the Agilent U1252B.

Might be worth asking Fluke again to see if it's still valid, and if so, why they're not listed on the Where to Buy page.

[apelly]

Someone mentioned a retailer who was less than amazon on here recently, but cant find it just now.

Never mind. If there was a big difference I'm sure the prolific posters would have been all over the question like a rash.

You could always put up a WTB for a particular model. Lots of yanks claiming sub 200$ 87v from ebay.

OK. I will.

Amazon is an Authorized Distributor/Reseller, so if you buy from them and not a 3rd party seller that doesn't have that status, Fluke will honor the warranty in the US.

I'm not in the US. But I see your point. Even though their stuff seems fail-proof.

Officially, anything not sold through an Authorized Distributor/Reseller is considered "grey market" at least in the US. So warranty claims are at their discretion here. Some have reported success, while others state they were denied over unauthorized Fluke retail status of the unit.

Not so sure about trying to get warranty service overseas though (not sure if they track the S/N's that closely, but I wouldn't be surprised as the packaging is scan-able). Perhaps this may even be moot in Australia vs. the US due to consumer protection laws that are in place there. 

There's a thriving parallel import market in NZ. Typically the importer has to provide warranty support. There are only a tiny few global brands that own their NZ operation, and they hate this "grey market." The local Japanese guys do respond well to an email sent from Japan in response to your escalation, but I have no experience with the Americans. Sounds quite mercenary.

Anyway, when you can get a single item couriered to your door from the other side of the planet, pay full retail, pay freight, pay associated duty/vat/gst/whatever and it's still 30-50% cheaper than buying locally I say "Fuck you!" (And that's being polite. Don't ask me what I really say.)

[nanofrog]

I'm not in the US. But I see your point. Even though their stuff seems fail-proof.

When I saw you're statement of "buying from Amazon", I assumed the US site for better pricing, then have it reshipped through a friend or service. Sorry if that was incorrect on my part. 

But you do see the potential for an issue should you ever require warranty service if it's not bought in NZ. From what I understand, it would be a problem here in the US in such a situation (unit bought in x country, but trying to get warranty service in y), and I'm not sure if NZ has laws that would prevent this from being an issue. I assume NZ is closer to the UK than US regarding consumer protection, which is relatively absent here.

There's a thriving parallel import market in NZ. Typically the importer has to provide warranty support. There are only a tiny few global brands that own their NZ operation, and they hate this "grey market." The local Japanese guys do respond well to an email sent from Japan in response to your escalation, but I have no experience with the Americans. Sounds quite mercenary.

The underlined bit is definitely different than here. All that's possible here regarding the seller, is whatever return period & conditions they offer. Outside of that, it's directly with the manufacturer under their conditions. No government intervention to speak of at all that precludes this (language added for state level exceptions, but I've never heard of any actually doing it other than insurance types of products).

Everything is very pro-business/corporation here, not pro consumer. They've spent piles of money to make sure of that (just reach in pocket, pull out relevant politician/s to get what they want; $cha-ching$).   

Anyway, when you can get a single item couriered to your door from the other side of the planet, pay full retail, pay freight, pay associated duty/vat/gst/whatever and it's still 30-50% cheaper than buying locally I say "Fuck you!" (And that's being polite. Don't ask me what I really say.)

I don't blame you one bit. 

[apelly]

All that's possible here regarding the seller, is whatever return period & conditions they offer. Outside of that, it's directly with the manufacturer under their conditions.

That is basically true here too, but (as a consumer) you're relying on a global brand to to protect their reputation. (As well as solid consumer protection law, but any one supplier could be a fly-by-night operation.) I could talk about this for days, but perhaps over in /general...

Anyway, nobody has suggested a cheaper place to buy Fluke than Amazon. I'm a bit surprised. Some guys here must buy stuff from places other than ebay. Someone known the cheapest place to buy Fluke meters.

[andtfoot]

I have found that if you add a bunch load of the same item each from a different seller on Amazon, occasionally you get one that appears to let you ship to here in Australia.

I just tried it with a Fluke 87V and found two so far for about 50% of local price:
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-FLUKE-87-V-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B0002YFD1K/ref=sr_1_1?m=AYXUXGYZSY4AP&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1385037677&sr=1-1&keywords=87v
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-FLUKE-87-V-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B0002YFD1K/ref=sr_1_1?m=A2IMBTMYA19BGA&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1385037793&sr=1-1&keywords=87v

I've never actually gone through and seen if it works though.

[SLJ]

Before you buy one, follow Dave's links to suppliers on his main page.  I think some of the companies might give an EEVBlog discount.  In some cases I think Dave gets credit for the sale and it helps support this blog.