Headphone cable, what do you do?

It's usually pretty easy to find information about warranties on most manufacturer's websites:

"Only products purchased from an authorized Grado reseller will be honored under our warranty program. Grado resellers are not permitted to offer merchandise through any online auction services; hence any products purchased this way are not covered under our warranty program. When purchasing a Grado product please keep all receipts, for they will be needed to have warranty service performed."

This agrees with what you were told about buying the cable on ebay.  I'd say your issue is with the reseller, not Grado.

https://gradolabs.com/company/where-to-buy

Then there are at LEAST 19 dealers on eBay guilty of false advertising.

Greg did you read the listing at the link I posted above?

Especially the last sentence in bold at the end.

Rather goes against the statement made by Grado would you not agree.

It appears Grado needs to get its house in order including its claimed fully authorized dealers who are selling on eBay.

So no, at this juncture I still say I have just cause to criticize Grado for this situation.

I have forwarded a couple of the Grado eBay listings to Grado customer service and invited their comments on the matter so will see if they respond.

People on eBay can claim whatever they want.

I'm not sure what recourse, if any a manufacturer has against someone making false claims to be a dealer of their products, but I know it's not uncommon.

I wouldn't have done it for a headphone cord, but when making larger purchases I often look on the manufacturer's website to confirm a dealer is authorized. 

There's a lot of grey market and counterfeit stuff on eBay and I don't think it's policed all that well. 

I'm not a Grado fan or anything, the only thing of theirs I own is a cartridge that came on a used table I bought. It's lame that your cord gave up the ghost so soon. I can't think of any of mine that have failed, although we all know that cables can and do fail. That in itself for me would probably be reason enough not to buy from them again. 

They do however make it crystal clear what they will and won't support. 

I guess Grado are not very concerned about eBay dealers claiming to be fully authorized .

Response from Grado customer service

"Thank you for your response.



Thanks for Enjoying Grado Products
Grado Labs4614 7th AveBrooklyn, NY11220"


Say no more, maybe they will investigate , maybe not.

Whether Grado are right or wrong to have nothing to do with my issue, that attitude displayed towards a genuine issue that is existent on Ebay is saddening tbh.

Moving on......

Reach out to Drew at Moon Audio in North Carolina.