You’ve stripped off your clothes, pulled out the lube, and flopped on the bed, ready to enjoy your favorite sex toy. Only…wait. What? Why won’t it turn on?! It worked just fine last week! This, my friends, is when we need to call on the superhero known as the sex toy warranty. So, today, let’s talk about how to submit a sex toy warranty and other things you should know.
What is a Sex Toy Warranty?
You probably are familiar with warranties from, literally, every other appliance in your house.
A warranty is, essentially, a “promise” from the manufacturer that they’ll take care of your purchase if something unexpected goes wrong with it. Since any product you buy is made up of 30+ other little “components” that the manufacturer bought from someone else, there are a lot of opportunities for something to not work like it’s supposed to.
Sometimes, in factories where hundreds and thousands of toys are made a day, products make it off the assembly line that don’t work like they’re supposed to. They’re stuffed into a box, and they’re shipped off like every other item in that batch.
You, unfortunately, might end up buying one of those malfunctioning toys. It happens more often than you’d think!
This is where that sex toy warranty comes in. This sex toy warranty is a “promise” that allows the manufacturer to offer you solutions if something goes wrong with your toy.
Most of these limited warranties against defects in craftsmanship or workmanship will provide a fix, replacement, or exchange for your malfunctioning toy within a certain time period if you can prove when and where you bought it.
This final part is vital: sex toy warranties won’t do jack squat for you if you bought your vibrator used 7 years ago from bestseller37101 on eBay. Manufacturers require proof of purchase to process a warranty.
In some countries, warranties are covered by laws. In others, not so much.
Why Are There So Many Defective Sex Toys?
I’ve never been involved in the dishwasher industry, but I’d guess that there are more defective sex toys out there than freshly-shipped defective dishwashers. This is for a few reasons:
- No regulation. The sex toy industry isn’t regulated, and it’s certainly not regulated enough to have requirements for factory standards. They don’t even regular whether cancerous chemicals are allowed in your toys, much less basic quality assurance standards.
- Harder to test. Most of us don’t want a bunch of people touching our new pleasure toy before we receive it. This can make it harder to test them ahead of time.
- No middle man. You likely bought your sex toy from a store, and it showed up. When you bought a dishwasher, there was a Bob’s Plumbing and Heating company that had to install your new appliance in your house. If Bob’s Plumbing and Heating was constantly dealing with appliances they had to uninstall and reinstall, they’d stop buying appliances from that manufacturer, essentially ensuring you’d never have to deal with a crappy dishwasher. Bob’s loses money in labor costs every time they have to deal with something not working. Without the middle man, you have to deal with something not working instead.
- Assumed embarrassment. Especially if you’re dealing with a cheaper/fly-by-night company, they depend on you being too embarrassed to try to return/exchange your toy. They already got your money. Who cares if it works once you have it?
- “Biohazard” Prohibited Returns. If you look at a lot of mainstream retailers, sex toys are specifically excluded from their return policies because of the bodily fluids they come in contact with. This means that you have no way to return the product. Some sex toy manufacturers depend on that, knowing you’ll simply be shit out of luck if your toy doesn’t work. Yeah, you can leave a bad review, but they’ll just become a new company next month with a fresh new name and the same ol’ toys.
How to Submit a Sex Toy Warranty
Let’s talk about how to submit a sex toy warranty.
Have the Receipt
First off, you can’t submit any type of warranty without a receipt. Manufacturers are looking for three things:
- The date you bought the item.
- Where you bought the item from.
- What item you bought.
Pretty much every retailer you buy your sex toy from will provide a receipt that includes all of these details.
If you buy from an in-person, brick and mortar store, take a quick cell phone picture of your receipt to ensure you have it available if you ever need it. If it was a particularly expensive toy, save the paper receipt. Some manufacturer might try to get out of servicing their warranty by claiming they need the “physical copy”.
If you buy from an online store, make a folder in your email account for all of your email order confirmation receipts. This can really save your ass down the line. I recommend making it a habit for everything you buy – sex toy or otherwise.
I Don’t Have a Receipt!
Not having the receipt isn’t great…but it isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker.
If you bought your sex toy online, you can likely reach out to the retailer where you bought it from to request a back-up copy of your receipt. Many online retail systems have a log of all of their customer’s orders.
If you bought it at a brick-and-mortar store, you might not be so lucky. They may be able to look up your orders if you bring in the exact credit card that was used to purchase it, but as most in-person adult stores are small businesses, they likely will not be able to pull up the receipt for you. However, since you’re already at the store, you can use some of the tips under the “Help! My Sex Toy Didn’t Come with a Warranty!” section below.
Take a Photo or Video of the Problem
If you want to get this warranty processed as quickly as possible, take some photos (and/or a video, depending on what the issue is) to have available with your warranty submission.
Most manufacturers will request this in their initial reply, and you can streamline your warranty process by having it ready to go.
Manufacturers want to make sure you actually have a problem with the parts of the toy itself. Sometimes, they’re able to help you troubleshoot your toy, saving you the time and effort of going through the warranty process. (Sometimes, you just don’t understand exactly how it works – or maybe didn’t charge it long enough. It happens more often than you’d think!)
Head to the Manufacturer’s Sex Toy Warranty Website
Once you have your receipt and proof ready, you simply have to reach out to the manufacturer in the way they request. Some manufacturers have a portal for uploading your receipt while others will want you to send them an email.
In general, you can find the sex toy warranty information in the footer of the manufacturer’s website. It may say “Warranty” or “Returns”. It may also be listed under their FAQ.
That’s it, though! Once you contact the manufacturer, you’ll be well on your way. Each manufacturer has its own unique process for claims, and they’ll instruct you what to do from there.
Sex Toy Warranty vs Guarantee?
Be careful when purchasing your sex toy to ensure it has a sex toy warranty instead of just a guarantee.
A sex toy warranty offers limited manufacturer replacement against defects in workmanship or parts. If a sex toy has a warranty, the manufacturer will offer to replace, fix, or exchange the non-working product. You may or may not need to pay shipping fees.
Some sex toys, however, offer a “guarantee”. This “guarantee” does not replace, exchange, or fix your non-working product. Instead, the manufacturer will offer you a deep discount (usually 50%) off of purchasing a brand new item with them.
Some manufacturers happen to do both! You’ll have a sex toy warranty on your new toy for the first year or two – and then the manufacturer will provide a “5 year guarantee”. You can see this in action with Lovense toys (a favorite of BongaCam.com models). Lovense offers a one year sex toy warranty with a 10 year sex toy guarantee.
It’s the best of both worlds for the manufacturer. They can market an ultra-long “guarantee” while simultaneously ensuring the money you spend replacing your toy will go directly to them.
(In the age of international, global production, however, sometimes translations don’t quite match up. Some companies are technically offering warranties – but their translated English uses a different term. Whatever they call it, a warranty is something that offers a replacement/exchange of a dysfunctional toy instead of a discount code.)
Neither a sex toy warranty or guarantee is “wrong”, but you want to make sure you understand the protection you’re being offered. If you assume a 10 year “guarantee” is actually a warranty, you’ll be left upset and out of money if that toy breaks 3 years in.
Examples of a Notably Long Sex Toy Warranty or Guarantee
The “standard” adult toy warranty is 1 year. On occasion, you’ll find some products, especially if their initial purchase price was a bit higher, to offer a 2 year warranty.
However, some manufacturers have gone above-and-beyond the standard. I figure it’s worth mentioning to ensure you keep your receipts way longer than you’d think you’d need to if you’re going to buy one of these toys:
- Evolved (5 year warranty)
- Sportsheets (5 year warranty on electrical items, lifetime warranty on most non-powered items)
- Satisfyer (15 year guarantee, search for “Guarantee” in their FAQ)
- LELO (10 year guarantee)
- Biird (5 year guarantee)
My Sex Toy Didn’t Come with a Warranty. Help!
While I always recommend buying products that come with a sex toy warranty, that doesn’t mean that you did. Honestly, I buy toys that don’t come with warranties too; sometimes the toy itself is offered by a brand without a warranty – but I really, really want that toy anyway.
There are a few things you can do if your toy didn’t come with a sex toy warranty:
- If it’s brand new, contact where you bought it. Provides photos and videos of how the toy isn’t functioning. Most sex toy retailers have a very short (15 to 90 days) window where they’ll take care of replacing/exchanging malfunctioning toys for you. They don’t want you to be dissatisfied with their service. (Be polite though!)
- If it’s not brand new, contact the manufacturer. No, they don’t have a warranty, but they may be able to offer you suggestions on how to deal with the problem. They probably won’t offer to replace it for you, but they might provide a discount code to rebuy it. In some cases (like a remote control isn’t functioning like it should), they may be able to let you purchase just the malfunctioning part.
- If the manufacturer isn’t contactable or responding, do some Google searches for your problem. Especially if you have a popular product, it’s possible that other people are talking about the same thing and may have some solutions you can explore.
- If you’re open to rebuying a replacement, contact the retailer where you bought it. Explain your situation and request a discount to buy a new copy. Many retailers will offer a nicer discount than their public discounts because you’re willing to rebuy with them – especially if you’re polite about it.
Updated: May 2025, January 2025, October 2024.
