5 Reasons for buying a genuine Iwata airbrush from an authorised retailer:
Please read the 5 hazards to avoid below and then go on to read our guide to choosing your airbrush, using the links to resources at the bottom of this page.
WARNING: 5 Hazards to Avoid
Engrave Danger
Make sure your airbrush has Iwata engraved on the side. Otherwise it is not a genuine Iwata and will not have been manufactured to the same standard of high precision engineering or quality of parts and materials. Iwata do not make unbranded or re-branded versions of Iwata airbrushes for anyone else. If you have chosen Iwata for its world-renowned quality and performance, then you would not want to compromise by buying an inferior copy.
Beware of:
Going Spare
Iwata is the top brand of airbrushes, so Iwata is the biggest target for copying. The market is currently flooded with copies, which look like Iwata airbrushes externally, apart from the Iwata brand name. However, on the inside, the copies are vastly inferior to the genuine Iwata airbrushes.
We have spoken to customers who have bought copies because they were mislead into believing them to be either genuine, as good as the genuine article or compatible with genuine Iwata spares. Customers have told us how their copies have fallen apart or do not perform as they expected. Many companies selling copies do not provide even the most basic support, such as spare parts availability. Parts wear quickly on the copies as they are made from inferior materials, so customers regularly contact us for spares thinking that the Iwata spare parts will fit. We cannot gurantee that any genuine Iwata part will either fit or perform correctly when fitted to a replica airbrush, as the engineering of the copies are of an inferior standard. For example, an owner of a replica asked us for an Iwata o-ring for between the nozzle and the body as theirs had quickly perished, but there is no o-ring between those parts on an Iwata. The poor engineering of the nozzle threads on the replica airbrush meant that the manufacturer had to add an o-ring. Also we were astonished to hear that customers who have bought copies are then being asked to pay more than the cost of the airbrush for a replacement o-ring by the same company they purchased the airbrush from, so it is cheaper to replace it with a new airbrush. This could indicate that such a company has no stock of spares and would have to disassemble a complete airbrush to supply spares. And it gives the impression that such a company sees their own products as disposable items!
Saving money by bargain hunting is tempting, but ultimately fraught with frustration. In our opinion, any amount of money you spend on a copy will be money wasted and could have been put towards a quality airbrush. If you are a beginner, you could easily mistake the poor performance and control of cheap airbrushes or copies to be caused by your own ‘inability’. You could become frustrated or even give up!
Please do not limit your creativity. Buying a quality airbrush is an investment. Consider that the cost may be far less value than your hours of wasted effort attempting to begin or advance using a sub-standard tool. A genuine Iwata, maintained with the respect it deserves, will last you a lifetime.
Absolutely Passed-Off
You may see airbrushes advertised that look outwardly like an Iwata and bundled with other products that we usually promote alongside Iwata. This misleads consumers into assuming that the airbrush is an Iwata.
Also beware of the pshychological ploy used on websites where companies use clever wording to misrepresent themselves as being more reputable than they actually are. Another trick, especially used on Ebay, is that rogue dealers steal chunks of copyrighted text and images from our website, which is the intellectual property of The Airbrush Company Ltd and some of which is the property of Iwata-Medea, Inc. USA. We grant our retailers permission to use these texts and images, but rogue dealers strengthen the illusion that they are authorised by stealing the copyrighted material. Perhaps it is pure laziness that these web shops do not wish to spend time on their own marketing. Customers should expect the same laziness from these web shops when it comes to after-sales service!
Keep Ebay at Bay
Second-hand equipment may be damaged and require parts or servicing. Often people sell equipment on Ebay because they had problems using it, due to poor cleaning, accidental damage or misuse. We provide a popular repair service for many brands, but sometimes the cost of servicing abused equipment on top of the purchase price can be a fair way towards the price of brand new equipment covered by warranty. Even if you avoid inferior copies and second-hand Iwatas on Ebay, you may be buying from a dealer outside the UK or from someone in the UK who ‘grey-imports’ from overseas. In this case you will not be covered by our 10 Year UK Warranty on Iwata airbrushes or our Service and Repair Discount, and you’ll have to return it to the dealer in the country you bought it from for warranty claims.
5 Reasons to back the people
who back your Iwata airbrush
5 links to more resources: