Grey Market Cameras

[Ejazzle]

are there many differences between Grey market cameras and Regular cameras? Build quality wise?

I thought grey markets were made with cheaper materials but i am hearing other wise.

What is everyones imput on this?


Ej

 

[icassell]

It is my understanding that grey market cameras were just ones that were not destined for the US market, so their warranty is not valid here in the US. I don't think this necessarily means they are any worse, just that you are not protected if they are.

 

[sabbath999]

The cameras themselves are generally the same, however they may contain different accessories... for example, a camera destined to be sold in a country with 220 AC would have a different charger than one destined for the US market. Additionally, manuals and paperwork are sometimes in different languages.

 

[Garbz]

Not these days. The electronics are usually location agnostic. My charger is covered in chinese but I can make out 100-250V on the back. But you may get a different fig8 cable because I assume they use a different wallplug in china. My grey market lenses come with the same multi lingual manual as my real ones, but yes for a full camera manual this may be a... grey area.

That said Grey market means a lot of things but often it's nothing more than an additional production run done under the table. A company may for instance run on weekends without telling the company they are manufacturing for. More often than not you get an identical product just serial numbers don't appear in Nikon's or Canon's database, which bites you in the butt if you do a warranty exchange.

 

[Moglex]

Goods also qualify as 'Grey' if they were produced for one area and are then sold in another.

e.g. Barnd X decide that they will sell item Y for xxxx Yen in Japan but the equivelant of xxxx x 1.5 Yen in the UK.

So some enterprising company buy a pallate load in Japan and ship them to the UK, paying all appropriate taxes but still managing to sell them cheaper than 'legitimately' imported examples.

The two problems that can possibly crop up here are localisation and warranty.

 

[clupica]

Living here in Switzerland I sometimes buy from B&H Photo. ON B&H the "grey" market Nikon lenses are listed as imported. The only real difference I've seen has been noted. Grey market lenses are not covered by Nikon U.S. It might be possible to get warrenty service if you could find out where it was imported from (and could speak the language) and try Nikon support in that country; maybe.

If you returned the lens (or camera) to B&H within their return period you would be ok, but after that I think you'd be on you own. On a lens at B&H you usually only save $10 - $20 on a gray market lens; don't know about cameras.

So if I have to risk no warranty why buy from the U.S. A 200mm Nikon macro is $1550 imported from the US and $1950 here in Switzerland.

 

[Overread]

Grey market ususally means that the camera/lens has come into the country through a souce other than the registered company dealers - that in part allows for its cheaper sale. Now this often means that the lens/camera is originaly from a differnet country - which can mean you end up with the wrong connecting cable or wrong instructions (most camera companies have thie manuals online anyway so you can get them there).
Further the issue of warrenty varies from company to company - I belive canon issue and honour an international warrenty which you can use with a grey import - sigma and nikon though do not support/offer such and so you can end up with no warrenty.

This is different from the import shops in HongKong in that you do end up paying import tax (UK) on these goods.

Generally I would not be inclied to get a camera body on grey import due to the greater chance of it becomming damaged when compared to a lens (which usually requires butterfingers to get broken). Camera bodies can ship with defects just as lenses can ship soft - depends on the model again - so check the product (canon 100-400mm for example can ship soft)

 

[Village Idiot]

But don't buy gray market from a shady place like Broadway Photo. Chances are they're just calling it that and selling you a bum kit in the hopes of making some extra money from you.

 

[Dao]

Ejazzle,

Let's take an example.

Few months ago, Canon has a instance rebate on some of the canon gears. Let say, a company in UK bought a lot of lenses from US and shipped it to UK. (Paid for the all the import taxes). Of course when the company buy a lot, they can save even more. On top of that, the US currency is a little weak so that may make it even cheaper.

So now, when those Canon gears sell in the UK market, they will be considered as Grey Market goods. So what do you think of the quality of that Gray Market goods selling in UK?

 

[Ejazzle]

thanks guys! i always thought they were cheaper quality. ii guess its just a rumor though.

 

[mdsoares]

I work for Ingram Micro, an authorized Sony and Nikon Digital Imaging distributor.

Companies such as Sony and Nikon do not let just anyone resell their equipment. In order to be an authorized Sony or Nikon reseller you have to sign up, meet some minimum requirements, and sign a an agreement stating you will ONLY procure your products for resale through authorized distributors.

Grey market items are simply products that have not gone through the proper chanels. They may have been purchased overseas, or have changes hands a few times. For example, the camera may have originally been purchased by a Sony or Nikon reseller through Ingram Micro. However it was then sold to another reseller, who sold it to another reseller who finally sold it to you. This is called 3 tiering and breaks the Distribution partner agreement for Sony or Nikon. Thus the product is labeled "greymarket" is the warranty is voided.

The proper distribution structure is supposed to be Manufacturer(Nikon)>Disributor(Ingram Micro)>Reseller(Adorama)>End User(YOU).

However grey market items usually follow a process like this: Manufacturer(Nikon)>Distributor(Ingram)>Reseller(Bob's Camera Shack)>Reseller(47St. Photo)>Reseller(Adorama)>End User(YOU). This makes the product "greymarket" as it did not follow the correct channel structure.

As such Sony or Nikon (or any other vendor) declares these as greymarket and usually will not honor the warranty.

However they are 100% the same product, they were just not purchased through the proper Sony distribution channels.

As it so happens, many greymarket camera are versions intended for Europe or Asia, but this in itself does not make it greymarket. Grey market denotes that it was not procured through the official Sony disti channels, and has nothing to do with it's origin or the quality of the product.

So if you buy a camera that Adorama or someone labels as "Grey market", it is 100% a normal Canon or Sony or Nikon Camera...however it didn't go through the proper channels to get there, and as such may not have a valid warranty.

There is nothing illegal, or wrong about purchasing greymarket products. However you take the risk that if it does break (which it is no more likely to do than a normal one) the warranty is generally void.