Howdy,
I was checking out this same question when I was looking at Crown Power Amps.
I called Crown and asked them what is the pluses and minuses from purchasing a Crown Power amp on ebay and from a non authorised dealer.
Here is what they told me:
1) As far as Warranty, you will still have their 3 year warranty.
However
when the Warranty period Starts would be different.
a) With Authorised Dealers the Warranty period begins with the actual date of purchase on your receipt.
b) Non Authorised dealer's the Warranty period begins with the date that the Power amp was actually manufactured.
So you hope that it is not old stock or has been sitting on the shelf for very long!
2) If out of the box there is a problem with the Amp, you may return the Amp to the Authorised Dealer and receive a new Amp.
a) If the same thing happens with a non Authorised dealer, the Amp would need to go to Crown, for Factory Repair!
I ultimately found a Authorised Dealer
http://www.rmcaudio.com/ that was a $50.00 difference from the cheapest non authorised Ebay dealer that I could find.
However RMC Audio had Free Shipping and I would have had to pay the shipping with the Ebay dealer!
For the cost of a $20 dollar bill, I went with RMC, an Authorised Dealer!
Each piece of gear and Manufacturer may be different.
I would advise calling the Manufacturer and ask them yourself.
I have always purchased via Authorised Dealers and have also found that if you do your homework you can do so at little extra cost.
There are many Authorised Dealers on Ebay.
I've purchased from Authorised Ebay dealers for:
1) Shure Mic's
2) DBX Gear
3) Sennheiser Gear
4) TC Electronics
Call them and ask if they are actual Authorised dealer or not.
I've had dealers advertise Full US Warranty and then find out that they are not really Authorised as in the Crown Amp purchase.
BUYER BEWARE! Especially on Ebay!
I also purchased a CE4000 on ebay from a gentleman that said that he was Authorised, so I called Crown, and they said that he was not.
I called him back and he said that it was not under his Ebay dealer name but a different name and a company out of New York.
He gave me the Company name and I called Crown back, this time they confirmed that yes that dealer and his name was Authorised.
I made sure that he gave me a Receipt from the Authorised Company, which he did not want to do but he eventually did!
Man you have to watch these people, some shady deals going on!
Cross your T's and dot your i's and be careful!
Later,
Bud