Ebay hearing aids

A $750 gamble. Must be nice. What if they break?

@aquacanis said:

I just got my ebay hearing aids at a savings of $4200.00. They have been on me for two days now and they are wonderful. BTE open. I can only tell you that after two days these
folks from England do a great job. IF that changes I will let everyone know. I am very happy with what I got for $795.00. It was worth the gamble.

Most new hearing aids (if you can call them that) sold on eBay are made in China junk. Available in bulk for about $15 each. Or if you buy a national name brand, it will not be covered by the manufacturers warranty. Most of the name brand hearing aid manufacturers have explicitly banned the sale of their hearing aids on the internet.

The only two mainstream brands that are sold on the internet and have any acceptable chance of being properly adjusted for your specific hearing loss and sound quality are AH and HearSource. I am a more than satisfied HearSource behind the ear hearing aid wearer and would recommend them without hesitation.

I don’t gamble with my money or my hearing aids even if it is ONLY $795.

MAxKY62 : Your assertions about Chinese aids and EBay are patently without foundation.

Facts are that there are excellent Chinese manufacturers of aids. One being New Sound, LTD of Xiamen, China. And they are not $15…,Most of their aids are in excess of $100 wholesale in large quantity.

And a number of the European leading brands have their aids assembled in high quality modern Chinese plants.

Yes there is some junk aids for sale on Ebay…but there are high quality aids also for sale at about half of what a local will charge. For example Siemens top line aids are listed for low prices. Price includes warranty and adjustment to your Audiogram.

Ed

OK, I went this route and will not take the gamble again. If anything goes out you might as well throw them away unless you can find another internet repair center that deals with those aids specific parts. I bought (2) pair of Dot 30’s for $1,000 with one pair that had some minor issues. I can’t find any internet repair center that will use Resound parts to fix them. Resound will not touch them also. I would rather spend the money with my ear doctor and have piece of mine.

On Ebay there are several legitimate authorized dealers for top name brand aids. These are new aids with full mfg warranty. If purchased with an AMEX credit card the warranty is for 2 extra years.

Buying used aids is a terrible gamble.

Ed

Not everyone has $5000 for a pair of HAs. You can get them on ebay for under $1000 for a pair. The gain will be maybe 5db less and the quality a little less. If they break, just buy another on ebay, youll still save over repairing $5000 HAs. I would never spend $5000 on HAs. I only got my Phonak Naida V UPs cause I got a great deal. Otherwise ill just buy them cheap on ebay and save my money in a bank or funds for stem cells in the future that can repair my hearing

IMO, the riskier proposition is to pay an HIS $5000 in the hopes that his outrageously priced hearing aid will improve your hearing. You could go to Ebay five times and break even, monetarily…

Stop and think about it. If some one is living on a small pension or Social Security, $5,000 represents eating or not eating. That is the reason I mention Ebay as a possible source. If you are moderately affluent and non-technical, of course, the local professionals represent less risk and better (maybe) fitting.

Ebay is like any other seller. You take some risk. But again let me point out that there are a few Ebay stores with overwhelming statistics on customer satisfaction. If a persons loss is mild or even moderate they could get a bargain from these Ebay stores if they stick to the highly rated stores. Just my opinion…Ed

I bought a pair of Resound Dot 30s on Ebay from seller quality.x.value in early July. Turns out that is Amanda. She has been responsive to my problems so far, and has sent me a set of longer wires and a dryer box. Yesterday she sent me an email and said she is going to replace one of my aids that works for a couple of hours and then puts out distorted sound. She said that they are covered under warranty.

I went to the Beltone store in town for their free hearing test and demo. They programmed a set of Beltone Reach aids for me, and I couldn’t believe how great they worked. But I couldn’t afford the $6,000 price. That got me started looking on Ebay, and buying the Dot 30s. They are supposed to be the same as the Beltone model I tried.

It takes a couple of weeks for the mail to get here from England, but for the savings I am satisfied. The Dot 30s were programmed to fit my hearing test
chart. I went to a real ENT for the hearing test I sent to Amanda for programming.

It is the $6000.00 that I cannot afford. I was told by a friend of mine who is an audiologist that 99% of the parts for ALL the big name HA’s are made in China and assembled in the country they claim to be made in. I believe him. The service issues should be taken care of by any technician who services your (brand name) hearing aids anywhere in the world.
I bought brand name aids. Not the junk with no name of warrente. Amanda was and still is excellent to do business with. I think the fear level created by the “what if” folks in this business is way over exaggerated. You can mail your HA’s to many very large U.S. businesses for repair and adjustment if necessary. I could own 2 pairs that the price I paid and still have $4000.00 left over. That is just too much money to give to someone for a pair of hearing aids if you are retired and on a fixed income like I am. If someone on ebay has a one hundred percent rating for a large amount of sales, you can believe it for the most part. I placed my trust in their ebay rating and it shined through as far as I am concerned.

The way i see it, hearing health coverage in the USA has 2 classes: the haves and have nots. You either have the money to buy custom hearing aids (or have insurance coverage) or you have to go without amplification.

We physicians know that untreated hearing loss leads to depression, anxiety, and social isolation in the elderly, and a JAMA article has linked untreated hearing loss with Alzheimer’s type dementia.

As long as it is of reasonable quality, some form of amplification is better than none. In fact, Sergei Kochkin in a 2003 article in The Hearing Review points out that in numerous studies he found only a slight positive relationship between the cost of a hearing aid and the actual hearing benefit received by a consumer. So paying more does not guarantee that someone will hear noticeably better.

A reasonable analogy is that custom hearing aids are like a new Mercedes (not just in cost!) and the better one-size-fits-most hearing aids are like a used Toyota. You can still get around in the used Toyota, and you are better off than not having any car at all.

That is why i developed the Acoustitone PRO hearing aid. If you can’t afford traditional hearing aids and are looking for a reasonable option at a reasonable price, go to http://MDHearingAid.com28. If it doesn’t work for you, you can return it for a risk-free experience. We have had over 95% patient satisfaction measured by surveys made after purchase and the very few number of returned hearing aids.

Dr C: I liked your blurb on your web site. Particularly your description of the effect of the various lobbies on restricting distribution of aids. Vested interest has resulted in $4,000-$6,000 aids being the standard.

Not that anyone is getting rich selling aids under the present inefficient distribution system with its restrictive regs.

This system has also resulted in stifling innovation of self programming aids for over the counter sale. Ed