Grey Market

[Mickspix]

Rob Sheppard decries the horrors of the grey market in the latest issue (October). What he should address is the presence of a system where a camera can be bought in other parts of the world, shipped into the U.S. and still marketed for significant discounts.

Rahter than knock the grey marketers, he should criticize the manufacturers for their lack of uniform pricing or their refusal to honor warranties on cameras purchased through the grey markets they caused.

[Ed Cordes]

I purchased a Canon 500mm F4 IS about 1 1/2 yeaars ago from B&H. It was an "imported" lens. I saved a few hundred $ so I could then buy the 2X TC. The lens came with a US warrantee and has performed flawlessly under a lot of travel and heavy use. I have had it in Bosque del Apache, Africa and Yellowstone as well as using it a lot at home. Frankly, i am happy I saved the money for use elsewhere.

[Walczak Photo]

I'm sure this is highly debatable, but it seems to me that when you're paying for the "US warrenty" vs. grey market, that you're actually paying for a replacement camera (or lens, accessory, etc.). In my own case, I was looking at Canon XT's...thru regular distributers, the XT with a USA warrenty goes for around an average of $600 to $700 body only. Grey Market, I saw them for as little as $280 (or less). I.e. when you buy that US warrenty, you've already payed for that second camera (and then some!).

Now from everything that I've read, grey market products come off the same assembly lines as their legit counter parts. As I've said before, with a company such as Canon, let's face it, Canon didn't get to be "Canon" by building cheap crap that's gonna break within the first week of having it. While I don't have the exact numbers, I'm willing to bet the failure rate of Canon camera's across the board is less than 1 per 100 units. Companys like Goldstar, Samsung, Coby, Sansui or others...yes, then I might be worried about the product failing relatively soon and a "US warrenty" might certainly be a factor, but Canon? Nikon? Think of it this way...would you walk into a Best Buy or Circuit City or Ritz camera and fork out $700 or more for a camera and expect it to fail within the first couple of months? No, of course you wouldn't! If you really thought that camera was going to quit after only a few days or weeks, you simply wouldn't buy it...right? So again here it really seems to me that all you're actually paying for with the US warrenties is simply a replacement product...you've already payed for that second camera. Personally, I've never liked forking out cash just so corporate exec's can go out and buy a new Porchse every year or so and take a 2 month holiday in the Bahama's. Good, old fasion corporate greed...ya gotta love it.....

My only gripe in regards to grey market was, and again this is my own personal experience here, that the camera I wanted to purchase via grey channels, apparently didn't come in English...I could only find Chinese or Japanese models...the camera had to be sent in to be "reprogrammed" for English. As such I got the impression that the grey distributers (at least the ones I tried to deal with) use the grey models for "bait and switch"...they lure you in with the cheaply priced grey market item, then tell you all of these horror stories to get you to buy the more expensive US counter part (and they were incredibly pushy about it to boot!). Had this of been a lens or other accessory, I wouldn't have minded Chinese or Japanese labling on the product, but the camera itself? Kind of hard to learn a new camera if you can't read the menu's! LOL!!! There's also the issue of when they say "body only", they mean body only...no battery, no software, no charger, no memory card, no camera strap....just the body. Now a days, memory and batteries are dirt cheap for most digital cameras (I just saw 1 gig CF card's at Staples on sale for $20!) so that's not really a huge deal, but it certainly is worth keeping in mind.

As I said recently in another thread, my solution was to compromise and go with refurbished. Still a great deal, includes a 90 refurb warrenty and best of all, the camera's in English! The one I got comes with a 28-80mm Tamron lens, 1 gig memory card, battery, charger...everything! The new camera is scheduled for delivery tomorrow .

Alrighty, just my usual $.02 worth...sorry...no USA warrenty comes with it! LOL!!!

Bright Blessings & Gentle Breezes,
Jim

[henryp]

I purchased a Canon 500mm F4 IS about 1 1/2 yeaars ago from B&H. It was an "imported" lens. I saved a few hundred $ so I could then buy the 2X TC. The lens came with a US warrantee and has performed flawlessly under a lot of travel and heavy use. I have had it in Bosque del Apache, Africa and Yellowstone as well as using it a lot at home. Frankly, i am happy I saved the money for use elsewhere.

We're glad you're satisfied. Thank you.

[Walczak Photo]

I found lot of Chinese and Korean products in Grey Market, they are cheaper than what we get locally. But...there is a problem with these products, it is very difficult to get spares and after sales support. Government should take steps to curb these practices.

Well, again we have another thread that's about a year old that seems to have gotten trenched to the surface again. Regardless, I have to disagree with the idea that the government should curb these practices. First and foremost, "isolationism" in a global market economy is very short-sited at best. To me this is akin to people in the steel industry who complain that US steel can't compete and so we should ban import steel...the only people that really hurts are those living in our own country. More specifically, how exactly should the government regulate such a specific thing such camera equipment? There are a number of "import" products that are often very decent quality and excellent purchases. My wired remote for my Canon 40D for example...I could have gotten a genuine "Canon" remote and payed upwards of $80 or more...mine was $10 and works perfectly. So what...should they just try and curb the sales of cameras and lenses? But a lot of people think that a gray market lens can also be a pretty good deal...no Korean menus to deal with and again they come off the exact same assembly line!

Very simply, people like options...myself included. I don't like wasting money on something just because it's "made in America". To me that's simply ridiculous. That $50 I saved on my remote can then go towards a tripod or filters or something else that I can also use. More over, if you are going to start banning imports...let's just say that gray market cameras aren't the only items that are imported. Even the "American" cameras are imported...or at least made from imported parts and for that matter you can bet your computer, TV, microwave oven and half the other products in the average American household are too. So where does one draw the line? For better or worse (better in my opinion) the world -is- moving towards a global market economy...one people, one planet, one economy. There's a lot of people like myself who can't afford to throw money away on something as petty as "nationalism". More over, by supporting the idea of a global market economy, with time maybe issues such as the lack of parts or support won't be quite such an issue.

These are as always just my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such, but again I really feel that the idea of having the govn't "curb" such practices is short sighted if not a bit naive...either way it's probably not going to happen. You can live in the past or embrace the future for what it is.

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

[Tusker]

In my search for a D700-- I only need the body, I have found so far, the list will contain, battery, etc. If not I move on, if I am REALLY interested, I WILL ask questions, and save the replies I get. I haven't picked out a seller yet, but can tell you, I have found a 700 to 800 price difference, and everything in between-- It pays to research. If it looks too good to be true, it just might be. ask questions, and if the answers you get don't suit you- move on. JMHO of course.

[gldiana]

I found lot of Chinese and Korean products in Grey Market, they are cheaper than what we get locally. But...there is a problem with these products, it is very difficult to get spares and after sales support. Government should take steps to curb these practices.

No, it shouldn't. Keep the government out of this. If you don't want to buy grey market, then just don't buy it. It's not illegally obtained, stolen, etc. If you don't like it buy in a regular shop but don't try and take away the freedom that certain people enjoy from buying items for a lower price. Maybe those people don't care about the warranty because they know the product is good enough. I could go to Hong Kong and buy a certain lens for cheaper or have someone buy it in Hong Kong for me, what difference does it make?
I don't even like the "grey market" appellation because it was invented by manufacturers to make consumers feel there was something fishy going on, while the products are exactly the same and built in the same factories. Would you blame a European for wanting to save $500 on an Apple computer and purchasing one sold in the States instead of Europe?