This type of stuff goes on all the time. Not only on ebay, but it includes numerous dealers that are often referred to on RR and/or discussed. I can't tell you how many times right here on RR I have seen posters say "Buy from this guy.....he's the cheapest on the net". Most of the time whoever they are referring to is not an authorized dealer.
You choose not to do your homework and find out about warranty info., and whether the dealer is authorized or not, you are asking for trouble. Odds are the buyer will luck out and the product does just fine, but if not, there's a fair chance you will get burned. Every time you buy from a non-authorized dealer, you are rolling the dice.
What does "authorized dealer" mean? An authorized dealer obtains the product through official channels, and usually pays more for the products for several reasons, and hence can't afford to sell the product as cheap as "non-authorized" dealers do.
Non-authorized dealers may buy radios through one channel (let's hypothetically say from a distributor in Ecuador), and sell them in the USA, where the parent company makes their authorized USA dealers pay (let's say) 15% more for their radios. The dealers authorized to sell in the USA can't compete with the guy who bought the radios from the Ecuadorian distributor and sells them on ebay. The authorized dealer, who follows the rules, gets burned and loses tens of thousands of dollars a year in sales to non authorized dealers.
Not only are many of the non-authorized dealers involved in unfair trade practices such as this, but they also take advantage of the fact that many parent companies do not go after non-authorized dealers for failing to follow the rules. Kind of like a big corporation failing to ensure it's franchisees are living up to corporate standards. If the corporation knowingly allows franchisees to cut corners and not maintain more expensive corporate ("authorized") standards, the overall quality of the product can lessen, and customer satisfaction drops. It's also not fair to the franchisees who don't cut corners.
This is likely exactly what happened with the OP. He buys a product new, and assumes it is covered under warranty, and when Cobra refuses to honor the warranty because the radio was re-sold by a non-authorized dealer or not sold through official channels, he gets mad and blames Cobra. This is not Cobra's fault.
However, it might be Cobra's fault for failing to take action against non-authorized dealers, who create an unfair playing field for authorized dealers. The authorized dealers are the victim, and the poor guy who bought from a non-authorized dealer and got burned is the victim.
The lesson here........pay a tad bit more and buy from an authorized dealer.
This link touches on some of the issue.
GMRS Outlet LLC*::*Price Match
....unlike yourself 
