BEWARE: Sellers of Native Instruments Maschine (USED)

[marvinj1112012]

If you're in the market for a native instrument piece of equipment called "MASCHINE" please make sure that the seller if used has diactivated the equpiment through Native Instrument customer service.

Seller are trying to sell this item w/o doing this. If you should buy this piece of equipment w/o it being diactvated you will only be able to use it in DEMO mode.

Hope this helps.

[ashs_au]

follow-up to the above, it's even more complicated:

1) The seller needs to contact NI and remove the Maschine serial from their account. They can do this by contacting NI Support by email. This could be done before or after the sale but obviously would be better done before & mentioned in the auction details.

2) an EDU copy of Maschine software cannot be re-sold. NI will refuse to transfer the serial to the new owner.

3) if the software is part of a bundle, NI will not transfer the serial unless it's the whole bundle being sold (i.e something like Komplete?). Same applies to a product that's been used to do a cross-grade.

It's possible there's even more situations where a sale would be verboten...

Confusing? you bet. I think plenty of sellers are confused about it as well & are unknowingly violating the above terms of the s/w agreement.

No reason not to buy & sell an NI products on eBay but the above limitations need to be taken into account.

At least NI support are pretty responsive.

peace

[gogogadget542]

I recently made a blog article for those of you looking to purchase a used Maschine. This article will step you through the process of buying a used Maschine on eBay to ensure that you don't get burned. 

Find out: 

1. How to score a Maschine for the cheapest price possible. 


2. The red flags that you should totally avoid when searching for your Maschine


3. How to properly transfer your Maschine license through Native Instruments to make sure that you can actually USE your Maschine once it arrives at your door. 

Check out my guide to buying a used Maschine. 

[abqman08]

These postings are absolutely correct, no matter what the seller may say. Some are posting how they will transfer their registration to the new buyer after the sale, just need your user name and password. Things like that.

I bought a used Maschine, the seller would never contact me back before purchase, so I went ahead and bid and won. My son received the Maschine, and we couldn't activate due to the serial number being registered. Seller wouldn't even attempt to resolve the issue, just gave a full refund. Many of these sellers aren't the registered owners anyway, so they can't help. They're just hoping to sell one and people won't know.

One I was watching just sold for $387, wasn't unregistered and didn't include Komplete Elements. Ugh. Buyers get smart!

[pierreyves34]

Beware. Maschine registration and customer support HANGS UP ON CUSTOMERS. I had read about it somewhere, i did not believe it, and it happened to me today. While i was trying to sort out the license transfer process for a legitimately purchased used Mashine. I first got a hold of an unresponsive and rude agent, i asked to speak to his boss, who added insult to injury by actually hanging up on me. 

So if you are reading this, beware about buying a used maschine. Actually, after my experience today, I will actually add, don't buy NI products period. They have failed to realize that even if a second-hand sale brings them no revenue,  the purchaser must be treated with respect. He is still interacting with the NI brand, He has probably bought new products in the past. And he could have been a lifetime customer of new products had he been treated with respect.

This experience was so incredibly frustrating, I decided it was worth it for me to take 15 minutes and spread the word. And no, i do not work in the music gear industry...

Now go on and play music!

[listener1976]

I bought a used maschine from a family of an owner who had passed away.

NI customer support is brutal. They are rude and completely condescend on everything asked. The most frustrating experience I've ever had. Benjamin was the name of the agent I was dealing with and he should be outright fired for how awful his attitude was.

[maax555]

My suggestion is to find a Maschine you wish to purchase, send email to ensure the item has been unregistered in full ( including any software that was bundled). If this is the case then purchase the item ( do not pay). Email the seller and request he emails you the serials so you can register and ensure everything is fine! Then pay for the goods. If the seller is trustworthy this should be ok as you will have an email trail if there are any issues.

[darkredrecords]

It's 2016 and still their service is questionable fyi for anyone thinking otherwise... they need a service upgrage talking about Komplete upgrades the irony

[jantamrac]

Over a year later and software registration remains an issue.

Native Instruments' (NI) absurd insistence on de-registration by the original owner simply does not acknowledge the reality of the market.

What is worse is that they refuse to sell the Maschine software separately.

The situation is so bad that in early 2017 Guitar Center (the largest musical equipment dealer in the world) added a disclaimer for used Maschine products that states:

"Any used Native Instrument product that is sold without software, is sold as a hardware unit only. Native Instrument’s does not sell the software separately and cannot accommodate missing licenses."

They currently have 120 used Maschine controllers in stock and the great majority do not have software available. The only viable customers for these are people who already have registered Maschine software who want to add another Maschine to their rig. Or someone who wants to buy a door stopper with flashing lights.

All of this is bizarre. The Maschine software works only with their hardware and has no value without it. The hardware is useless without that software. IMO, they should make it simple to re-register the software when someone proves owership of the hardware. Arturia and Novation (and possibly others) do so. If NI thinks making registration of used equipment difficult will encourage people to buy new, they are wrong in most cases. What it has done have the opposite effect and is poisoning the market for used NI gear and NI products in general. It also wastes countless hours of their own support
time.  A very clear example of the managers of a company being completely out of touch with the real world.

[jantamrac]

Another year has passed and the situation with Native Instruments is much worse.  Details below but I want to add an additional clarification/caution first.

Some sellers will say, "Software included".  By that, they usually mean the original discs that are included in the box.  HOWEVER, those are of no value whatsoever unless the seller provides a valid License Transfer ID.  Without that ID you will not be able to register and activate the necessary NI software.

Bottom line: Before sending any money, ask the seller for that ID and ask NI to verify that it is valid and active.  The seller should not have a problem doing this because the ID will work only with their hardware.  If they cannot/will not provide it, find a different seller that will.

In the past year, NI have released a number of new products.  This has apparently encouraged a lot of people to ebay or trade in their old gear.  Used NI gear now completely dominates Guitar Center's used MIDI controllers at just under 600 available units.  That equals almost half their inventory in that category.  Last year at this time the count was only 120.  AND NI comprises almost as many items as the next three brands (Akai, Novation, M-Audio) *combined*.  And once again, a random check indicates that most do not include software which makes them useless unless you already have it for another of their products.

As Marvin, our friend who started this thread almost six years ago said, BUYER BEWARE.

[realmanuel]

Hello, I want to buy an used maschine mk3, they sell it without any software or license...... but I own maschine jam and also I own a maschine 2 software license and komplete license...... will the maschine work on my system? Thanks

[bottomlessgroove]

I have the same question.  It's implied that a Maschine controller will work with your registered software, but I have not seen a definitive "I did this and it worked" answer anywhere - yet!  I'll let you know if I find some relevant information.

[bottomlessgroove]

Here's some info from KVR.  Use at your own risk...

"Yeah, the license is not tied to the hardware and can be sold or transferred independently. I've done this myself. I had a Maschine Mk1 and updated the software to v2 when it was released a few years ago. Last year, I found a great deal on a used Maschine Mk2 with the v2 software. Rather than transferring/reinstalling the new license and unregistering my existing license, I just kept my old license/expansions installed and swapped out the hardware. I confirmed with NI that the v2 license I received with the Mk2 was unregistered, then sold the Mk1 controller with the new v2 software, and the buyer had no problems installing/registering it."