Grey Market... HUH??

Ptyler22

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I have been looking for an SLR and have come between either the d40 or the d40X I found a refurbished d40X body on Adorama for $449 which seems like a decent deal and I need a lens for it, I looked under lenses and there is an 18-55 which comes with the cameras and it is $91. My question is that the lens says (grey market) and I have no clue what this means. Does anybody know what the heck that means? Also anybody think the eventhough the d40 is .5fps slower and 4megapixels smaller that the d40 is a better camera for mostly sports? Thanks.
 
Well i believe grey market items are ones not genuinely made my nikon but to the same specs. The downside to these is there is no warantee

The d40 is better then the d40x, mainly due to the 1/500th sync speed.
 
Actually, grey market equipment is equipment that was manufactured and intended for an overseas market. So, it's a genuine C/N product - usually the exact same thing you'd buy that's not "grey." But, C/N's U.S. division won't recognize the warranty. Essentiually, you're buying a brand new Nikon lens, but you don't have a warranty or manufacturer support.
 
Thanks for clearing that up Mike.
 
If you go on B&H's site you will see they also sell grey market items. They show the word "Imported" for these items as opposed to "USA". If you click on the word "Imported" you will get an explanation of what imported or grey market consists of (at least for B&H). Basically, what they tell you is that any warranty would be handled by them.

While this works fine for reputable sellers like B&H, you need to be careful about buying grey market items from some of the less reputable sellers. Adorama is certainly a reputable seller, but you need to check their policy as well.
 
I have been looking for an SLR and have come between either the d40 or the d40X I found a refurbished d40X body on Adorama for $449 which seems like a decent deal and I need a lens for it, I looked under lenses and there is an 18-55 which comes with the cameras and it is $91. My question is that the lens says (grey market) and I have no clue what this means. Does anybody know what the heck that means? Also anybody think the eventhough the d40 is .5fps slower and 4megapixels smaller that the d40 is a better camera for mostly sports? Thanks.
A gray market item was imported by someone other than the manufacturer's preferred importer. For example, Nikon's preferred importer for the U.S. is NikonUSA (which just happens to be owned by Nikon). The items are identical and the only practical difference is the warranty. Most persons are unaware but the warranty, if any, is provided by the importer, not by the manufacturer. If Adorama is selling a gray market item, then you need to investigate what warranty they are providing.
 
I have a grey market lens, and two different Nikon Montreal representatives (on 2 different occaissions), explicitly told me over the phone last year that if I had warranty issues with it, it was covered under warranty. Different countries, different rules, at least in this case.

I did this research after reading a rather heated debate over on nikonians.org and was curious about what the answer was for me.
 
Well as you said different countries. I returned a lens for warrenty repair a while ago and was told it wasn't covered because it was a grey market lens and would charge me $250 for it. Boy I kicked up a stink. Eventually the company who sold me the grey market lens (amidst a importer handover mind you. Nikon now controls importing into Australia which used to be done by a separate company) said they have no idea why I have a grey market lens but I'm more then welcome to come and grab a new Nikon lens and they will take it up with Nikon in their own time.

Anyway many definitions of grey market have been thrown around here, but the reality is there is no true definition. Grey market is a whole industry. There was a fantastic documentary on it on SBS a while back. Often (as I am inclined to believe it works in this case) it's a case of the factory who manufactures for Nikon in China or Japan doing an extra shift off the books producing products with fake serial numbers. It is often an identical product, but there's a much higher chance of getting a dud as less stringent quality control is in place. Sometimes the definition means a lens manufactured somewhere it shouldn't be. Like the 80-200 f/2.8 may come from the chinese factory which does the 18-70 and other consumer lenses, and of course you end up with quality control issues again.

Off topic now but what I found fascinating is in one case the industry copied an entire company. NEC had no presence in china, but somehow there were 2 factories and an NEC office in bejing, making products that don't exist on NEC websites like dvd players and the like.
 
I looked on Adorama and it comes with a 1 year adorama warranty so you think it is safe to buy the refurbished d40x body (with a 90 day warranty) and the grey market 18-55mm with 1 year adorama warranty?
Or is it better to get a regular d40 with an 18-55mm and a 55-200mm package for $549?
 
I looked on Adorama and it comes with a 1 year adorama warranty so you think it is safe to buy the refurbished d40x body (with a 90 day warranty) and the grey market 18-55mm with 1 year adorama warranty?
Or is it better to get a regular d40 with an 18-55mm and a 55-200mm package for $549?

The decision is yours. Adorama has been around for a long time and they are reputable.
 
I have a grey market lens, and two different Nikon Montreal representatives (on 2 different occaissions), explicitly told me over the phone last year that if I had warranty issues with it, it was covered under warranty. Different countries, different rules, at least in this case.

I did this research after reading a rather heated debate over on nikonians.org and was curious about what the answer was for me.

Something's strange there. Nikon-Montreal didn't import the lens and didn't profit from its sale. It seems illogical that they would spend their cash supporting it.
 
Something's strange there. Nikon-Montreal didn't import the lens and didn't profit from its sale. It seems illogical that they would spend their cash supporting it.

does the lens have international warrenty?
I am aware that canon lenses with international warrenty can still be repaired under that warrenty if they are a grey import - though I must say this is second hand info and not from my experience
I don't know about nikkon
 
does the lens have international warrenty?
I am aware that canon lenses with international warrenty can still be repaired under that warrenty if they are a grey import - though I must say this is second hand info and not from my experience
I don't know about nikkon
No the lens has an adorama warranty just from the store, not international. Is that bad?
 

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