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TECH TIP
4
Would the
Real
OEM
Please Stand Up?
OEM stands for Original
Equipment Manufacturer.
When you buy a genuine
OEM part through an autho-
rized distributor, the product
you get is made by the
Original Manufacturer of the
printer. If the distributor is
not authorized by the OEM,
you cannot be sure. How can
you tell the difference?
In many cases, that’s not
easy to do. Here are some
ways “OEM” gets confusing
out in the marketplace:
1) OEM product that
doesn’t meet OEM specs:
Let’s say Factory A makes
true OEM product. But let’s
say they have components
that did not meet the OEM’s
strict testing guidelines. If they
sell these non- specification
parts to another party, can
that party sell them as OEM
product? The answer is no.
2) The OEM
manufacturer changes
the composition slightly:
If the same manufacturer
changes the composition of
the materials slightly so they
can sell the parts to non-OEM
authorized suppliers, can
those be sold as OEM? The
answer is no — although they
are from the same place the
OEM parts come from, they
are not OEM.
While there is no DNA test
to identify a real OEM part,
there are a few rules of thumb
to help ensure you are buying
a genuine OEM part:
1) “Authorized Reseller”
The easiest way to determine
whether a product is true
“OEM” is to find out if the com-
pany is an OEM Authorized
Reseller. If so, they are more
than likely selling the genuine
part. The reason is that in
order to remain “authorized,” a
company must commit to sev-
eral principles, including accu-
rately labeling product as OEM.
Straying from the strict defini-
tion of OEM and one risks los-
ing authorization.
2) Which OEM?
Ask if the product you are
purchasing is HP, Lexmark,
Xerox or another specific
OEM, not just “OEM” in gen-
eral. If the company names a
specific OEM, this could be
the real McCoy.
3) Low, low
, low
price. . .
If the price is too good to
be true, it probably isn’t the
real deal.
We’re aware of your concern
that the term “OEM” gets
overused and misrepresented
in the marketplace. You can
be sure that at Parts Now!,
OEM means that every com-
ponent within an assembly is
sourced from the original
manufacturer. If just a single
component within a larger kit
is OEM, we won’t claim it as
OEM.
Purchasing true OEM
products from authorized
distributors like Parts Now!
brings additional value. Not
only can you be sure your
part is bona fide OEM, you
can also get better access
to OEM parts.
By Jeremy Mueller