How Does Insurance for Consumer Electronics Work?

Insurance, protection plans, warranties - the plans we use to protect electronic devices have many names. Whatever you call them, they are important tools to protect our beloved consumer electronics.

During the past several years, the insurance for consumer electronics market has grown tremendously. Just a few of today's common electronic products include TV sets, laptops, phones, and wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. The electronics category even extends to modern workout equipment and home automation devices.

According to information gathered by Statistica, the overall electronics market will exceed $422 billion a year in the United States, and global revenues will climb to over a trillion Euros. Along with the public's increasing investment in and reliance upon electronics comes a need for effective ways to protect all of these useful gadgets and devices with electronics insurance.

When customers purchase electronics, the seller will almost always provide a short-term manufacturer or seller warranty. Depending upon the product, these may last from several weeks to several months. Mostly, sellers offer these to assure customers that they purchased a product that will perform as intended and advertised.

To better protect themselves, consumers can buy extended warranties. They last longer and generally cover more kinds of incidents than seller warranties. Retailers almost always also offer extended warranties at the time of sale. Of course, since these protection plans may come from a variety of retail outlets, manufacturers, or warranty companies, they won't all provide the same coverage.

To determine how any particular extended warranty works, customers have to read the fine print. According to the FTC, federal law gives consumers the right to read any warranty before they make a purchase. To buy the right warranty, the FTC advises everybody to get these questions answered when they compare warranties:

Reading the fine print on extended warranties can frustrate even the most careful shopper. In contrast, Upsie doesn't just provide affordable, effective warranty coverage. They also make their protection plans simple to understand and use.

While warranty details may differ somewhat because of the type of device, it's easy to understand the basics by reading the Upsie "How it Works" page:

Upsie covers both new and used electronics. To qualify, the seller just has to offer a warranty with a term of at least 30 days. Upsie plans can overlap with seller warranties, and once the coverage expires, Upsie takes over.

Upsie covers all kinds of electronics, including phones, computers, wearables, and TV sets. To get started, visit the Upsie electronics warranty page and click on the type of product. From there, it takes seconds to fill in just a little more information about the product on the quote form and see Upsie's transparent pricing and coverage plans.