Do not buy any Sonus Faber used

Not having read any of the above replies, my thoughts:

Sumiko is not the manufacturer, "just" the NA distributor. I'm sure if SF wasn't happy about their policy, things would change (either the policy or the distrubutor). Sounds more like an effort to help the NA dealers stay in business. Think ahead: no dealers, no distributor = what? mail order from Italy? Good for the Italians and nearby countries, not so much for NA.

"Drive the prices down considerably", maybe (actually probably) for the gray market products. Might actually help the "real" products. Boxes are tough to keep around but a copy of the receipt can easily be tucked away and becomes a selling point. Ads might say, "OBM and R". Don't have the OBM? Well, pack it well and don't forget the R. It's part of the deal.

My 12 cents (adjusted for inflation).

So what have we learned so far? It's Sumikos right to make a policy. It's anyones right to have an opinion of their policy, there's the right to have an opinion of peoples opinions, ad nauseam.

The way I read it is: Sumiko will take care of not only the original owner but ANY subsequent owner of a SF product that was ever bought from a NA dealer. The receipt makes it easy but if they get lost there is a serial # trail, you or a dealer will ask for a part for an "xxx" with serial # of "#####", they will look it up and if it's NA based, you're fine.

Caveat emptor/buyer beware is a smart policy and should be in force. Sellers of gray market better add a disclaimer to their ad or it may come back to bite them.

Sumiko is NA family to SF. If your in NA and want to buy outside the family then get your parts outside the family and don't whine about it.

I do feel for the used buyer of a gray piece that didn't know but it goes back to "buyer beware". I can't imaging NOT getting even an authorized dealer to do the "labor", you'll just have to supply the part. I also think this is only going to affect a very small % owners. IMO!

To add: Seeing as this is about protecting their dealer network, I would think it quite possible that if someone wanted to trade in a gray piece on a new piece, the dealer (that Sumiko wants to protect) will get authorizition on the gray piece so it will be seviceable after he sells it.
Again, I think this will be a very small % of the time.