The machine is rarely the risk. The risk is everything around it — the parts that arrive late, the warranty that turns out to be three months, the cartridges that cost more than you modelled.
This is the list worth working through before any equipment purchase, from us or anyone else.
Before you compare prices
1. Confirm the incoterm. EXW, FOB and DDP prices are not comparable. Ask which one you are looking at, and whether import duty is included or invoiced later.
2. Get the warranty in writing, with the handpiece term stated separately. "Two-year warranty" often means two years on the console and three months on the handpiece — and the handpiece is what fails. Ask what is covered, who pays freight both ways on a claim, and whether parts are supplied free.
3. Ask what the consumables cost, per treatment. HIFU cartridges, RF needle cartridges, hydra tips, antifreeze membranes. Over two years these often exceed the difference between two machines' purchase prices.
4. Ask where spare parts are held. A part shipped from overseas is weeks of a machine earning nothing.
Before you commit
5. Ask what training actually is. A live session with your operators is worth something. A link to a video is not training.
6. Ask for the specification sheet, not the brochure. Brochures say "picosecond"; specification sheets say pulse width. Where the two disagree, believe the specification.
7. Check the electrical requirement against your room. 110V versus 220V, and the current draw. A 4000W machine is not a normal wall socket.
8. Check the physical fit. Crate dimensions, machine footprint, door widths and whether the delivery is to the kerb or into the room.
9. Ask for the regulatory documentation the machine ships with, and check what your state or province requires for the treatments you intend to bill for. Scope of practice is set locally and it is your responsibility, not the seller's.
Before you pay
10. Confirm bank details by telephone, on a number you already had. Never act on a change of payment details that arrives by email. This is the most common way six-figure equipment payments are stolen.
11. Get the return and cancellation terms in writing before you order — specifically what happens if the machine arrives damaged, what happens if it arrives faulty, and at what point your order stops being cancellable.
The tell
A supplier who answers all eleven quickly and in writing is a supplier who has been asked before. One who needs a call to tell you the price, and another call to tell you the warranty, is telling you something about how the rest of the relationship will go.
Ours are answered on the shipping and warranty page, and every price is on its machine's page.