Purchasing on Amazon

[jaf]

I decided to buy into the Ryobi line since they have a lot of 18v tools that aren't available in other brands at the Ryobi prices.  So I went on Amazon and found the glue gun I wanted, a charger, and two 4ah batteries (all listed as One+).  However, when I went to register them at the Ryobi site, only the glue gun was recognized.  Later, I found using P108 instead of P197 (listed on the serial number plate on the tool) worked.  I couldn't find the charger in the Ryobi database (mine had a model number of P118.)  I looked in their tool catalog and they had a picture of it with an included battery, but not as a charger by itself.

 

So, is buying Ryobi tools on Amazon a problem?  I understand it can be with Ridgid brand tools because of their Home Depot exclusive seller thing.

 

Since I'm in the early stages of registering, I'm not sure how this will turn out, but if I can't register some of the tools, I inclined to write a low review on Amazon mentioning the "can't register warning" so others won't make the same mistake.

[jaf]

So no one knows if buying new Ryobi tools on Amazon can be a registration problem?

[ChrisK]

It comes down to whether or not they are an authorized retailer. I have only bought Ryobi at hd though.

[paulengr]

I can’t find anyone claiming to be an authorized retailer for new except Home Depot. Ryobi and Husky are house or “store” brands for HD just like Kobalt for Lowe’s. So effectively what you are looking at is one of three things. Either someone is buying tools at HD at retail and reselling, buying say old stock or clearance and reselling, or its black market (stolen), or its grey market which typically means they bought something either rejected at the factory and someone went “dumpster diving” or the factory unloaded it cheap locally, or outright stolen off the production line, or if you’re lucky maybe it’s a sales demo. Either way when you take it to a repair center you can’t show the original receipt for any of these, and the repair center can’t do warranties on grey market goods, and black market (stolen) can get them into legal trouble which is why they insist on receipts and check serial numbers with HD to be sure before they touch it. At the very least you won’t get warrantied and at worst you’ll get your tool confiscated and if you have a receipt only have to answer questions and deal with a police report.

I did check and Tyler tools advertises they offer ONLY factory reconditioned tools and they are authorized for this. That’s the only name other than HD that popped up. Careful searching their web site shows they are either another name for or have some kind of affiliation with CPO Tools which does a lot of reconditioned tool business and is a reputable company. They sell on eBay and direct so Amazon presence would not surprise me. If you click on the button to list the seller Amazon tells you where it came from. If it looks fishy, it is. It is very easy to game Amazon’s retailer system. The first hint is less than 50 or so recs, often only 1 or 2. Second hint is when it’s a very strange “call me” description attempting to get you to buy outside the Amazon channel. Third hint is an unbelievably low price, such as way below the CPO price. CPO is like Walmart...not the cheapest but usually near the bottom of reputable vendors so if it’s more than 10-20% under that, it’s probably scam.

Personally I’ve bought reconditioned stuff from CPO, Ohio Power Tools, Acme, even Dell before. Never had an issue except on cell phones off Amazon (2 out of 3 were OK).

I wouldn’t bother with Ryobi unless it’s a one time only tool (one job, one time, don’t care if it fails). I use my tools every day, break sockets occasionally, break chucks, wear tools out, break them getting dropped 20 feet up, lose them in tanks of raw sewage or overboard on water, you get the idea. I buy quality to a point because I expect to use, and lose, my tools. Tool loss/breakage/wear is a cost of doing business. Ryobi is intended for homeowners and guys too cheap for their own good. They have some very cool gadget lover tools but no matter how much I try to tell myself how cool they are, it’s just obvious it’s lipstick on a pig. I’d steer you to look at Ridgid or HPT/Metabo and look at Acme Tools and CPO Outlets online where you can get the big dollar brand on clearance or reconditioned. The price will be the same, no chance of grey market, and it will hold up.

[fm2176]

As others have said, failing to buy from an authorized dealer will void the warranty for some brands, especially those officially sold at only one or two chains.  I haven't had any problem warrantying my DeWalt and Milwaukee tools, though.  DeWalt sent me a DCB102, DCB204, and ToughSystem rolling box while Milwaukee repaired my 2763 impact without questions.

 

I started buying Ryobi for some of the "very cool gadget lover tools" the poster above speaks of.  Even now, my most-used tools are the Devour sweeper, large (for a cordless model) wet/dry vacuum, and inflator.  I did pick up one of the promo impact driver kits for $36, though, mostly for the compact battery.  I've also got a blue (P205?) drill that looks archaic even compared to the still-bulky cheap (but still produced) impact. 

 

Unless he's expanded or switched brands, my neighbor swears by his Ryobi drill.  Last I checked, it was the only cordless tool he owns, and though he runs the electrical contracting company instead of doing the dirty work nowadays, he still works that drill out both at the job and around the house.  In other words, everyone has "their" brand, and not everyone is willing to spend more for something that may or may not last longer.  My Milwaukee Fuel 2763 developed a faulty trigger shortly after I bought it.  The DCB102 worked like a champ until one port stopped charging a couple of months later.  I'm not a pro, but I find it ironic that my less expensive brands (Ryobi and Ridgid) have yet to have a problem.  That said, I've even found one of my Ego 5.0Ah batteries may be faulty (it seems to have fluctuating run-times) and have to get replaced.  All this, and even my old Porter Cable 18v stuff was still fully functional with 4-9 year old 1.3Ah batteries when I gave it to a coworker.

 

One final note, early this year, HD clearance out a lot of older lithium-ion batteries that were replaced by newer designs.  Then you have people like me who could have easily parted out that impact kit for twice--or more--what I paid for it (I didn't as I plan to celebrate my retirement from the Army and move back home with a torture test to end all torture tests).  You see this every year during the holiday season.

[paulengr]

The OP asked about sourcing from Amazon not tool quality. In my mind you already got rid of the premium brand price going midrange. When it comes to sourcing if you can buy the same tool from another vendor with the same warranties and a better price go for it. But Amazon is not the seamless market it appears to be.

In terms of quality this is the problem. HD is already leveraging their buying power and name recognition to take more margin for themselves and offering house brands at a cheaper price even over the crowded midrange market. PC is a midrange product of SBD, same as Craftsman. They also sell Dewalt and Black and Decker.’The midrange market falls between the low and high end. The issue is that there is going to be a design compromise. SBD is not going to cannibalize their Dewalt market. The design compromise might be reliability, offering a cheap price to occasional users, or it might be underpowered, few options, missing accessories, or otherwise compromised but still reliable. That’s what Porter Cable is, underpowered but reliable. You need experience and reviews to tell the difference.

I mentioned Ridgid and Porter Cable because if someone is price conscious enough to look at the secondary market for a low to mid range brand, there’s no way they would consider a premium brand, whatever the logic is. The midrange market is tricky because no matter what tool or brand it is, there are compromises. SBD is not going to rebadge a Dewalt tool as Porter Cable because it cannibalizes Dewalt margins. The features, power, batteries, or reliability are going to be compromised, period.

So we have to accept that compromises exist in the midrange market. The question is where the compromises can be made and still have an acceptable tool. A homeowner or other occasional use situation doesn’t need reliability or fast recharge times for instance. A light carpentry or assembler situation doesn’t need the speed of a dry waller, or the torque and energy of a mechanic drilling holes in plate. But where compromises are acceptable Ryobi might be a great fit.

There are tools in the midrange market where the compromises are in the speed or torque departments but reliability is there. It can work for basically everybody but might be considered weak (Porter Cable impacts) or high vibration (Ridgid). Ryobi is both weak and low reliability. Depending on the work load it might last a long time and if it’s just shooting screws that’s fine.

The midrange market would be much easier to figure out if they would all just put up signs telling us where the corners were cut. That isn’t going to happen so we don’t know directly, and that’s the midrange dilemma.

The low end is easy...everything is probably compromised. It’s a one time use tool. All the packaging specs are lies but you wouldn’t run the tool at its limits anyways. You need it one time for something light duty. Like say I’m doing something with family and I took a plane trip to get there. When I’m done the tool gets given away or thrown away.