- eBay has been an online marketplace
for hearing aids for years.
But if you're not careful you can accidentally
buy counterfeit hearing aids
or hearing aids that will not actually work for you.
So in this video, you and I are going to take a look
at what's available on eBay,
so I can show you what to look out for.
Coming up.
(upbeat music)
Hi guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology
and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Anthem, Arizona.
And on this channel I cover a bunch of hearing-related
information to help make you a better informed consumer.
So if you're into that,
consider hitting the subscribe button.
eBay is a massive online marketplace for new and used
hearing aids that you can buy in an auction style format
or in a buy-it-now format.
The problem is, is that not everything on eBay is actually
what it seems, so I want to go ahead and take a look
at eBay, do a search for hearing aids and see what we find.
So let's take a look.
Alright, so let's go ahead and do some searching here
for just hearing aids.
So we're here on eBay looking for hearing aids
and first thing that we see pops up
is actually not a hearing aid at all,
it's actually a personal sound amplifier.
So, one of the ways that they convince you
to buy one of these sound amplifiers is to actually
list them under hearing aids
even though they are not a hearing aid.
SO these are not customizable in any way.
They essentially just amplify all sound,
including background noise or what have you.
You have to be very careful.
In fact this is one of the really good things
about the recent passage
of Over the Counter Hearing Aid Act.
What will likely happen is it will prevent these types
of products from being able to be marketed as hearing aids.
So hopefully they clamp down on the regulation for that
so you as consumers really know what you're getting yourself
into when you buy a product like that.
So let's go back to the search here
and just kind of run down, bunch of sponsored ads here.
So we have some invisible hearing aids here.
Again, these right here are not hearing aids
they are sound amplifiers.
So again, you have to watch yourself with those.
This is interesting here, let's click on this one.
These are actually custom devices here.
So someone at some point had these devices
custom molded for their ears.
And let's see what kind they are, they're the V-90
so they're a little bit older of generation,
but the starting bid is at 50 dollars
and they are used, of course.
And it looks like here that they are actually broken
so the right one is actually missing the volume control.
So one of the things that you would have to do
is actually get this re-cased.
So before buying any kind of hearing aids like this
on eBay, that has a bunch of different accessories
and batteries and things like that,
is that you would have to make sure that you could
find a hearing-care professional that could actually
re-mold your ears and send them off with those hearing aids
to get them re-cased.
So there is a chance that those devices could work for you.
But you have to make sure that you can find someone
who is willing to actually go through that process
with you with these used hearing aids.
On the other side of that is that even if these are
under warranty, that warranty does not transfer over to you.
So regardless of what they say,
any time you buy hearing aids online
you are not getting a warranty with that.
I don't care if they say they come with a 10 year warranty.
They do not come with a warranty.
As soon as you buy hearing aids from someone,
it is considered a gray market item
and all manufacturers do not honor those warranties.
So even if there was some remaining warranty,
those, when they get sent in with a new name,
they will not repair those for free.
They will not re-shell those for free.
So that's something to keep in mind.
I'm not saying you can't buy these online,
but if you do, you have to be aware
that there are going to be substantial expenses
to actually get those to work for you.
Alright, so let's go back,
let's scroll down a little bit more.
So we have a couple of brand new
Phonak Bolero 70 hearing aids.
These are from Cyprus.
So, sometimes when you buy products from overseas
they are skirting around the laws that we have
here in the United States.
But, nonetheless if you're buying it here
in the United States, going this route
is not recommended.
And often times these devices can be counterfeit as well.
And so it says here, this is a perfect example,
it says that with two years factory warranty
and free programming.
Well, that's great, but as soon as you buy these online
and you want to get them serviced or programmed,
you're gonna have to take them into a local facility
if you want to get them custom programed.
Anytime someone says that they will give you programing
and you're buying them online,
unless you are going in to them,
it is not custom programing.
It's just them making certain adjustments
to the hearing aids which may, or may not,
actually help you hear better.
So let's go back and continue on through the search.
Some more personal sound amplifiers that are being
marketed as hearing aids.
Same thing here, same thing here.
And okay, here is a really interesting one.
Let's click on this.
This one says 2017 new Siemens Touching Update-Fast P
digital hearing aid.
When you see devices like this, and of course they have
a nice little American flag icon here on the photo.
But when you start actually looking through these different
devices, when you see imagery like this on these products.
Any time that you see name brand stuff on eBay
you need to watch out, because this right here,
is likely a counterfeit product.
So when you buy counterfeit products,
they are generally purchased from overseas
whether it's China or wherever.
Whoever is actually doing these counterfeit manufacturing.
They have been shipped into, in this case,
San Diego, California and they are for re-sale.
Now there are some cases where hearing aids that you do buy
are actually legit from that manufacturer.
But I've seen this a bunch of times.
These products are likely counterfeit
and so you're not actually getting
the same type of technology, they're just utilizing
the name brand recognition of Siemens.
And of course they're at an extremely low price.
This is a buy-it-now price.
That should trigger a red flag as well.
Anytime that you see a hearing aid for under 80 dollars
that is likely a counterfeit or it is not a hearing aid
at all, it is just a sound amplifier.
So, one thing I want to show you here.
If you go to Alibaba.com
and see if we can find the Touching.
And so just a general what I'm doing here.
Alibaba.com is where you can buy different products
whether they're private labeled or whatever, from overseas
and typically China is what people think about.
And so, they have these devices that have the name brand
of, in this case, Siemens.
And they even do things like FDA,
they write a bunch of different keywords in here
to make you think that it's legit.
But this right here is not an actual Siemens hearing aid.
Siemens does not allow you to buy devices
direct on alibaba.com from Delhi, India.
So you need to watch out.
If you start seeing products like this
and it has Siemens written right on it.
They look a lot like Siemens devices and to the untrained
eye you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
But then you go ahead and you order this product
and you get it and you try taking it into a hearing care
professional to get it adjusted.
And they're like, well this is not a Siemen's hearing aid
cause it will not connect with our software.
So you really need to watch out for it.
So I'm actually looking for, the Siemens Touching device
that we just saw.
There we go.
So this is basically the hearing aid that is on eBay.
Would you look at that.
Basically the exact same device
and this device is a counterfeit device.
These are just things that you need to be aware of.
Now when you look at pricing right, depending on how many
pieces that particular individual on eBay is purchasing
from overseas, they can purchase them
for as low as a dollar to get these devices.
And then they go to eBay and they sell them for 77.99
which is a absolutely amazing markup.
And in this particular instance,
327 people were ripped off by this.
But, you're gonna also say probably,
well look I mean he's got great product ratings.
So let's click on that.
And yeah, I mean, of course here
this one's a top critical review and basically it says,
"Not an improvement".
Some of these say great amplifier at a great price.
Basic sound amplification, but that person
was not expecting much and it would be nice
to have instructions in English rather than Chinese.
Does the job, little feedback.
No filters, only volume control.
So, these are not very good devices.
So if you're considering buying devices like this.
They look legit, they look a lot like regular hearing aids
but they are counterfeit devices that just do not produce
the same type of experiences as a custom program device
that you would get from a legitimate manufacturer
that is not counterfeit.
Now if you guys have seen my other videos
you know that I am not anti buying anything online.
I think it is your absolute right to be able to buy
whatever it is that you want to buy.
And if you want to buy it online, that is absolutely fine
you just have to be aware of what the risks are
if you choose to go that route.
And so if you're gonna buy something online
and you feel like it's a legit product
that is totally up to you.
But when you get it, you cannot be surprised
if you take it into a hearing care clinic
to get it custom programmed using real ear verification
and wonder why they can't connect to the hearing aid.
Because a lot of those hearing aids that you buy online
they're not legit to the point where you can purchase them,
take them in to a clinic and get them custom programmed.
On the other side of that, when you are buying products
on eBay, they don't have your best interests in mind.
And what I mean by that is they don't care whether or not
you receive benefit at all from these products.
What they're hoping is that you just actually keep them.
Hopefully you bought them at a low enough price
that you're like well, I tried it and I didn't spend
that much money for it, so I'm not even gonna return it
cause the hassle of doing that is not worth it to me.
But, what you shouldn't do is assume
that just because you purchased a product online
and you gave it a good shot and you didn't receive benefit
from something that was purchased online
that you should completely write off hearing treatment.
That is the exact opposite of what you should do.
If you buy a product online and you determine
that you're not getting significant benefit from it
and you do in fact have a hearing loss,
you should absolutely go in and at least hear
what your options are, in terms of getting
your hearing loss treated appropriately.
So, do not lose hope if you've purchased something online
and you didn't get benefit.
It happens to a lot of people who buy stuff online,
particularly in the realm of hearing aids
when things cannot be custom programmed
to your hearing loss prescription.
There you go guys.
Hopefully this has opened your eyes
as to what actually is available on eBay
and what things you really need to look out for
when considering purchasing something from eBay.
Particularly a medical device like a hearing aid.
That's it for this video.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comments section below.
If you liked the video please share it.
And if you want to see other videos just like this one
go ahead and hit that subscribe button.
I'll see you next time.
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