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Show HN: Warranty Genius

25 points by codelitt ↗ HN
Hi! We built a platform for easy product registrations, warranty claims, and general protection and repair of your purchases all in one location. We would love feedback on the site in general, if you can see the value to the user, if you'd use the product. How do you like the site? Our goal is to be a mint.com for your purchases. Instead of helping you manage finances we'd help you manage all of your products in your home.

https://www.warrantygenius.com/

15 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 44.7 ms ] thread
brd
Discussed and researched this idea in depth with a friend a few years back. I think its an excellent idea, sounds like you've executed well, and I love the claims assistance piece. Best of luck!
codelitt
Thanks. We appreciate the feedback. The hardest part right now is supporting all of the products out there. If it's not already supported (which means we have warranty info collected, a photo, msrp, and a bit of other info) then we go through and try to do it within 12 hrs. But this isn't immediate feedback for the user. Also we need to find a repair partner to help people get their stuff repaired.
brd
Yeah, the overwhelming number of warrantied products was one of the reasons we backed off. If we had tried it, we had decided that focusing on home appliances would be a good start since those are higher value with longer, easier to forget warranty cycles. Another reason we felt it would be an attractive place to start is because home owners are more likely to give a shit about their warranties compared to a kid with a 1 year warranty on a pair of shoes.

Finding the right market fit for a service like this will be important. Because of the numbers involved you really need to find the 20% of warranties that cover 80% of your users' needs.

codelitt
You're right. Right now we use ProtectYourBubble and it allows us to cover devices, electronics, and appliances. It's a decent start.
freerobby
I love the premise here. I built a less powerful version of this as a feature for http://www.paperphobic.com/ - it provides basic notifications, etc. before a warranty (or return policy) expires. If you can automate the process of manufacturer registration that would be amazing! Good work.
robzyb
Cool idea.

IMO your "Premium Plans" page could be improved.

It was difficult for me to identify what my money would actually by me when compared to the free plan.

I had to parse two lists separately, and do a lot of looking-back-and-forth.

dangerboysteve
You should capture credit card details (not the numbers) for the purchase. Amex for example extended the warranty an all purchases made on the card. Perhaps even look at the store details. Costco, I believe, extends warranty on certain items.

Amex or other cards could be a promotional partner down the road.

codelitt
That's an awesome idea. Maybe even some partnerships. We talked about doing an extended warranty/insurance program of our own where you can get insurance on the devices you register. Dunno yet though.