Tamron 24-70 2.8

[HeldInTheMoment]

I want to get the Tamron 24-70 VC lens. I see Amazon has it for $1299 with a $200 rebate, but eBay (new) has it for $750-$800.

Should I be worried with eBay being so much lower?

 

[tirediron]

If it sounds too good t be true...

I would ALWAYS rather spend a little extra and buy from a company where I know, should the need arise, I will have no difficulty in returning/exchanging the item. This is especially true with third-party gear where the QC isn't always quite what it should be, and 'bad copies' are not uncommon.

 

[Stradawhovious]

I've been burned buying glass on fleabay.

If they are a certified seller with a printed return policy, you could give it a shot, but like tired said, if it sounds too good to be true...

 

[HeldInTheMoment]

These were my same thoughts, thanks all! I'll pay the little extra and stick with Amazon!

 

[Derrel]

The two biggest and best gray market dealers I know of, Abe's of Maine and Tri-State, have it at $749 and $729, so that is the current gray market price in the USA, from large dealers that can actually deliver. I've bought from Tri-State. They are, IMHO, the biggest gray market specialty dealer in the USA. Cameta Camera has a lot of gray goods, as do some of the other bigger dealers, but Tri-State is a long-time gray market goods specialist.

Consider that 200 off of $1299 is 1099, so the gray market price of $750-ish makes sense. Consider that the Tamron regular USA warranty is what? Six years? Is that what it is now, six, full years?

The way this works is the gray market outfits like to try very diligently to sell you on a high-profit, fairly expensive extended warranty, which is likely to NOT have any claims made against it. By appealing to the low-price/great value buyers, they can sell gray market lenses substantially below the USA with warranty lenses (aka Official USA Warranty lenses), and since MOST lenses do not ever need warranty service, they earn $149-$259 (depending) for selling you a piece of paper, basically.

The idea that gray market goods automatically equals rip-off is not the case; it's a matter of understanding where the profit is made on goods that are readily available out of Japan through "official" importation channels, which really means manufacturer's warranty included in price, or through "non-official" importation channels that do NOT include USA warranty service performed by the manufacturer of the item included as a (hidden) huge chunk of the price.

When a company sells USA warrantied merch, the huge profit potential of selling their own warranty "protection plan" goes right down the toilet.

 

[HeldInTheMoment]

Derrel,

So basically you are agreeing that the "grey-market" price is good, but with the solid warranty from Tamron (included in the $1099), the $1099 price is over-all better with the warranty from Tamron and proven seller (i.e. Amazon)

 

[lacogada]

B&H Photo has the $200 mail-in-rebate but you also get a 10% reward.

Approx a month after purchase you would receive a gift card to be used on anything from B&H.

 

[Derrel]

Derrel,

So basically you are agreeing that the "grey-market" price is good, but with the solid warranty from Tamron (included in the $1099), the $1099 price is over-all better with the warranty from Tamron and proven seller (i.e. Amazon)

No, I was not saying that at all. My inclination would be to order one from Tri-State and pocket the almost $400, by resisting the warranty sales pitch. It's really up to the individual buyer to determine what warranty repair claims are worth. And that depends also somewhat on how a person would use a lens. And how much used lenses of the same model can be easily obtained for. As for "proven sellers", I consider Tri-State to be a proven seller--one that specializes in having a lot of high-demand gray market items in stock and ready to ship. I would buy from them before I would buy from hundreds of Amazon vendors.