Extended warranty and AMC at checkout: how to offer it fairly

An extended warranty on the checkout looks like easy money until the claims start. Then too many end with "that is not covered" and a one-star review. Offer the plan once, at the moment the buyer has chosen the appliance. Beside it, one plain paragraph says what is covered, what is not, who repairs it and how to claim. Never pre-tick it. Send the full terms in writing with the invoice. A buyer who understood the plan before paying claims calmly; one who did not complains about you, not the provider.

Extended warranty and AMC are different promises

An extended warranty pays for repairs after the brand's warranty ends, for faults in normal use, on the parts it names. An AMC buys scheduled servicing, such as the wet service on an AC or a filter check on a water purifier, plus breakdown visits. It may or may not include parts; the water purifier post shows one written out visit by visit. Buyers mix the two up. Sellers let them, because "protection plan" sells better than either name.

Say which one you are selling, and how it sits beside what the buyer already has. Some brands cover one part for longer. If yours covers the compressor for years, the buyer should know whether your plan repeats that cover or adds to the rest of the appliance. Paying twice for the same compressor is the complaint you will hear in year three.

Who stands behind the plan

Before a plan goes on your checkout, answer these in writing. Who pays the claim? Who sends the technician, and do they reach every pin code you deliver to? What happens to the buyer's cover if the provider stops working with you?

Plans come from brands, from independent warranty companies and sometimes from insurers. A plan where an insurer pays the claims is an insurance product, and selling it brings its own rules. Those rules differ by body and change, so ask the provider which kind it is and check with your own adviser before it goes live.

The rule for the seller: if you cannot explain the claim route in two sentences, do not sell the plan.

The paragraph beside the button

Here is an illustrative paragraph for a front-load washing machine. Change the parts, the exclusions and the claim route to match your plan's real terms.

Two more years of repair cover after the brand warranty ends. If the motor, the drum bearing, the control board or the door lock fails in normal use, the repair, the parts and the visit are paid for. Drops, liquid spills, pests and power surges are not covered. Nor are hoses, the outer body or the drain filter. Repairs are done by the brand's authorised service centre. To claim, send your invoice number to our WhatsApp number and we will book the visit. Cover starts the day the brand warranty ends. You can cancel within 30 days of buying for a full refund.

Look at what sits in the first lines rather than behind a link. The exclusions are named. The surge line is there because a burnt board after a voltage spike is the claim a buyer assumes is covered, and its refusal produces the angry review. The repairer has a name, and the claim starts on a channel the buyer already uses.

Offer it once, and never pre-tick it

One clear choice, at the point the buyer has picked the appliance: beside the price on the product page, or as one line in the cart. Not both, plus a pop-up, plus a call after delivery. Leave it off low-priced appliances entirely; a plan on a kettle makes no sense for anyone. It belongs on washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, dishwashers and chimneys, where one repair after the warranty hurts.

Before the step goes live, check it against this list.

• The box starts unticked.
• The plan's price is its own line in the cart and on the invoice.
• The paragraph above is visible without clicking a link.
• Full terms reach the buyer in writing with the invoice, as a file they can keep.
• Saying no changes nothing about delivery, installation or the brand warranty.
• Anyone who answers your phone can say who repairs and how to claim.
• No countdown, and no "today only".

Pre-ticked boxes, add-ons that appear at the last step and urgency timers are checkout habits buyers resent, and the checklist leaves all three out.

For example: "Complete Protection" that was not

For example, picture an online store in Patna selling washing machines and refrigerators with a third-party plan called "Complete Protection". The store is invented. The checkout showed the name and the price. The terms sat behind a link. In the plan's second year, a buyer's refrigerator board burnt out after a voltage spike during a summer power cut. Surges were excluded on page four of the terms, so the claim was refused. The buyer's review quoted the plan's name back at the store, and the owner paid ₹14,000 for the board as goodwill, which the provider did not refund.

The store renamed the plan "Two-year repair cover" and moved the surge exclusion into the first lines of the paragraph. It also changed what sat beside the plan. Where the brand's manual recommends a stabiliser, the cart now offered one. A line beside it said the plan does not pay for surge damage, and the stabiliser is what guards against it. A buyer who skips the stabiliser now does so knowing the board is not covered. It is a partial fix: some buyers still read none of it, and the next surge claim will still end in a refusal, only a less surprising one.

When to leave the plan off

Pin codes where the named repairer has no technician should not see the offer at all. Nor should buyers of an appliance whose brand warranty already runs as long as the plan would. Then there is your own team. If they will not answer claim calls with the same care as sales calls, wait. A plan with nobody behind it is a promise you are selling on someone else's behalf. Renewing an AMC later is a separate job, covered in our post on AMC renewal.

Print your current plan's terms and try to write the one paragraph from them. If you cannot say in plain words who repairs it and what is excluded, your buyer cannot either, and that is the place to start. Pricing and packaging covers where the plan's price sits in the range, and e-commerce is the wider section for online sellers. If you want the plan paragraph and the checkout step written together, tell us what you need.