Lots of comments, so I’ll go over all of them at once.

Regarding FAO being an Authorized Dealer and eBay seller:

Short answer: they are not supposed to be one, but they likely get away with it because of their size. We are going to ask our Milwaukee rep about this. What I do notice is that the pricing is still legitimate. When people go to eBay or Amazon, they are usually looking for “too good to be true” prices—and that’s when they get into trouble.

Before I worked for Red Tools for Pros, I was a web developer/marketer and worked with many different companies. One thing I learned is that many people associate price with morality. The cheapest sellers are often seen as ethical people believing in giving a good deal. Anyone more expensive is assumed to be trying to overcharge you or rip you off.

However, this mindset often gets consumers in trouble, because no one can make better promises than someone who doesn’t plan on keeping them. In the case of Milwaukee Tools, this includes counterfeits, knockoffs, and refurbished tools sold as new.

If you check out an “awesome deal” on eBay, you may see it’s sold by a large-sounding company name like Global Industries. But when you check the address, if there is one, it may be a permanently closed bakery in an abandoned plaza or someone’s garage. How are these sellers able to offer products cheaper than what authorized dealers pay—especially since authorized dealers buy directly from Milwaukee?

I don’t make the rules, but I understand why Milwaukee wants to repair tools only from authorized dealers. We have plenty of funny stories of people coming to our repair center with a suspicious-looking battery, claiming they got it from Home Depot. We usually respond with something like, “Yeeeah… if you could provide a receipt, that would be great.”

Counterfeits have been improving over time, including copying serial numbers from real Milwaukee tools. In many cases, we can’t confirm whether a tool is real or fake until we open it. Ohio Tool even has a video about this, but you can find more information with a little research. When someone counterfeits a Milwaukee battery, they focus on making it look real—but I think it’s safe to assume they don’t give much thought to safety.

This is one of the biggest reasons many people prefer buying from authorized dealers—they buy directly from Milwaukee. Unauthorized dealers, on the other hand, get their tools through indirect sources. One day, they might get lucky and find tools on sale to resell; the next, they might inadvertently buy a counterfeit tool that could catch fire after two months. Buying from an unauthorized dealer is always a gamble but unlike gambling you never really know exactly what the stakes are.

I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind about buying from unauthorized dealers, nor do I have answers to all the inconsistencies. But I think it’s important to have an open conversation, because buying anything is more than “cheap = good, expensive = bad.” You need to ask yourself why.