As a rebounding enthusiast, I’m continually checking out the current market for great deals on exercise rebounders also known as mini-trampolines as well as updates on the latest improvements for these products as the technology being used on them gets better.

In my research, I’m finding some questionable previously owned exercise rebounders being offered for sale online. Some of the information being presented to unsuspecting potential customers is not correct.

One thing that everyone should know is the length and conditions of the warranty. Warranties are only good on new exercise rebounders no matter what brand that you purchase. The manufacturer will not honor its warranty (lifetime or a 5-year warranty, for example) on its unit if you’re not the original owner. Consequently, if you see someone indicating that there is a warranty covering your purchase for a used product, then the seller is either unaware of the conditions of the warranty or he is banking on you being unaware of that fact and is using it as a selling point.

If you’re not the original owner, you will be responsible for the entire cost of any repairs that need to be performed on the unit going forward. This is important. Regrettably, that $100 you originally saved on buying used rather than new will totally be gone when you need to replace the springs of your exercise rebounder the first time around. In case you didn’t realize, this will be a yearly expense if you bought a bungee-spring or soft-bounce unit like the Bellicon or Needak and you bounce on it often if not every day.

Recently, I encountered a listing on eBay for a seldom used Half-Fold Cellerciser® with balance bar for a price well under the cost of a new one. The picture of the item looked good — in fact, it looked too good. I realized that it was an image found on the manufacturer’s website of a brand new Tri-Fold Cellerciser® with its balance bar already attached for display purposes. It wasn’t a picture of the used item being sold on eBay at all. I painstakingly got through to eBay Customer Support by phone with three days left on the auction and explained to the representative taking the call about this situation. He indicated that he saw the photograph of the new Tri-Fold on the Cellerciser® website and told me that he would file a report with eBay’s Trust and Safety Department to have the picture removed. Did eBay ever remove the photo? No, they didn’t and some unsuspecting eBay member bought a used rebounder off the picture of a brand new one which wasn’t even the model of what was being sold. By the way, the listing didn’t even indicate the year the product was manufactured so this used Cellerciser® possibly could have been 10 years old.

With this in mind, here are a few tips to help avoid problems with used exercise rebounders:

1. Consider buying only used when you can try out the product first in person.

2. Find out the year (and month if possible) when the unit was first purchased.

3. Determine from the original owner how often the product was used (daily, weekly, seldom, or rarely). If the unit was used frequently, the springs may need to be replaced in the not too distant future depending on the brand that you’re thinking of buying.

4. Ask the seller when he took the picture of the merchandise being sold.

5. If you’re considering buying a used exercise rebounder online off a site like eBay or Amazon, figure out ahead of time how much it will cost to ship the unit back to the seller if the product is not all that you thought it would be. Even if the seller misrepresented the item, you will only be covered by the buyer protection policies of these sites for the original price and the shipping cost you incurred in receiving the product. You, the buyer, will be on the hook for the cost to ship the product back to the seller and that can run you anywhere from $40 to $100 using UPS Ground or USPS Select Parcel.

6. When purchasing online, buy a new unit rather than one that has been used whenever possible. If your finances are tight, consider using programs like PayPal’s financing program called Bill Me Later® to spread out payments for a brand new exercise rebounder over a six-month time period.

Rebounding is a great exercise with a tremendous amount of health and fitness benefits available for you to experience. Making a sound purchase and avoiding pitfalls when considering a new or used exercise rebounder will enable you to enjoy rebound exercise even more.

Source by Gregg Birkner