POLL: Would you buy a grey market body ??

[tomee]

i bought my camera grey and purchased mack warranty for it

[gabber]

My camera body was bought here in Aus from a brick and mortar store. 3 out of my 6 lenses purchased have been grey market from HK though. The cost savings was just too much to look past.

A best mate has also just purchased a Canon 60D kit from HK just recently. He wasn't sure if he should just pony up the extra dollars to buy one here, but the savings must've been to hard to pass up.

If the price for dslr gear was even similar to what the yanks and asia get then I wouldn't think twice about getting all my gear from a local photo store.

[chrisprendergast]

ive owned several grey market bodies never had a single problem so i cant really comment on the service / repair side though

[wind]

In the past I've bought a Nikon 50mm f/1.8, 24-70mm, 70-200mm VR II, SB-900 and a range of bits and pieces with no problems at all. Delivery has always been prompt (within a week) and I've saved well over $1000 compared to buying from an authorised dealer.

Haven't had a problem so far but repairs are carried out by authorised Nikon repairers and reimbursed by the seller if it's still under warranty. Pretty good I think considering the prices we're forced to pay in Australia unfortunately.

[Roo]

Interesting thread and replies. My recent camera purchase I bought the body locally and the lens's, bits and bobs from HK. I was talked out of buying the body OS and in hindsight I should have stuck to my guns but meh.

I find it funny the arguments used by some to support local business etc but I ask this question. Stores like Seven 11, Food Plus started up back in the days when we had Milk Bars in residential areas but they were squeezed out of the market place due to market competition be it price and or opening hours, convenience etc. Harvey Norman, Bunnings, Dick Smith etc and the like have grown and are now offer large ranges of product at what is deemed by many as competitive pricing but they to have squeezed out the small retail shops owned by the mums and dads. It is interesting to read that the large stores are crying about the loss of market share, which is expected to grow exponentially each year, they certainly did not mind it when they were squeezing their competitors out of the market.

But remember, the people saying to support local, why did you stop supporting your local mum and dad stores years back? Was it price? Because it certainly was not customer service, I think we can all agree you receive better customer service from a mum and dad owned business than a girl/guy working in K-Mart etc

[jackdaw]

I have no probblems with grey. Huge savings and warranty can be covered with an aftermarket extended warranty for cheap.

[kjeems]

Bought my 60D and lens from HK. Very happy with the service. The company i went with even have a door to door warranty service where if you need to raise a claim they will organise a courier to come to your house to pick up the camera and ship it back to HK. Haven't had to use this option yet but if you don't rely on your camera for income then it's a good option.

Saved about 50% on the price.

[olympuse620]

Will never buy grey again. Purchased a flash unit from an aussie site, was shipped to me direct from HK. First time out it did not work. Had put brand new batteries in it. Swapped batteries out of my other unit, and put the new batteries into the working unit (used this set up for the rest of the shoot). Sent back to shop in Sydney, they sent it to their warranty claim company, they sent it to HK for warranty. In HK they say first it is not warranty because of water damage, then the story changed, now not warranty because of battery acid leakage from the batteries. I know that neither of these are the case. This is because the unit was stored in a pelikan case from the time it arrived to me, the batteries were brand spanking new (powerex - fantastic product) Try talking direct with company in HK, language barrier a problem, ask for photos of damage to be emailed to me (did not ever happen). Six months later got my unit back at the extra cost of $299 dollars, now the unit is more expensive than if purchased through proper dealer. So I will not go grey/gray again.

[PhotoPaul]

I have bought grey lenses and a second hand body. If I were to buy a more serious body, I think I'd haggle a local store to come in close to a grey price. I'm happy to pay 10-15% more than a grey price to retain warranty in Oz if it's not valid from the grey.

This is really interesting to read too, btw, as I work in musical instrument retail and we've been suffering from the grey market for years. I know, from our cost prices, that the money is made by the wholesalers, not the retailers (nowadays a retailer would be hard pressed to make more than 15% off a Maton, for example), and most of them still have their heads in the sand as far as how badly the grey market is impacting their sales. We hassled Roland Australia (who import Boss guitar pedals) for three years before they finally dropped their retail prices (off which our costs are determined) to compete with the grey pricing. All good that they did it, but it was three years too late. You could buy a DS1 from the US for 2/3 of our wholesale price! The public have had three years of thinking we're just greedy retailers and now they're laughing at us.

We're lucky that we concentrate on in-store customer service (great attitudes, helpful, honest etc), have ridiculous back-up support (I've taken hire amps to people an hour away just so they can gig, no charge), and have two valve amp specialists and I'm a guitar tech. The service side saves us. Perhaps it's time that the wholesalers/importers took a look at what's actually going on and do something to ensure world parity pricing. The wholesalers that have done that within the music industry have grown, the others haven't and, I dare say, many will go close down in the next few years. If the retailers can't sell them, they can't buy them and then the wholesalers go down. If anyone here works in camera retail, I'd be interested to know if the situation is the same and happy to discuss what the musical instrument wholesalers have done that has been successful.

PS: This isn't an ad for where I work, I'm just discussing the parallels.

[gw.toad]

I bought my camera from DDP in Sydney [grey stock] It came with a 12 month DDP warranty that wasn't needed...Saved 7 hundred $

[KeeFy]

Purchased on the 27th via DWI. Arriving today

[Bennymiata]

I have been buying most of my camera stuff grey for quite a while and have saved thousands.

Even in the old days, I travelled to Hong Kong quite often and bought my stuff there.
If you do buy grey, try and buy your stuff from a reputable web site, and not some shonky, faceless Chinese site where they don't care about repeat business.

If the local price is only 10-15% higher, then I'll buy locally, but until the importers of camera equipment start living in the real world (especially those that are owned and run from their Japanese HQ's) I won't buy from local stock.
How is that their cameras RETAIL in Hong kong and the US (without bargaining) for far less than the local retailers can by them for?
Because they are trying to rip us off.

They could get away with it years ago when importing stuff was more difficult, but people are a bit smarter nowdays and the time will come, sooner rather than later, when the importers will start going broke because the retailers can't sell their products and the dumb public won't buy them either.

It's not just cameras either.
Take shoes for example.
If you go to a US department store and buy some Pumas or Nikes, you will pay around $35-$45 a pair, yet the same shoes here retail for $200.
Cars are just as bad.
A Porshe in the US costs $74K, yet the same car here, with less options, cost $220K.
WHY?????
Because they think we're stupid and will pay the price.
The trouble is with cars, that even if you go to England and buy a RHD Porsche over there, and bring it back, while you will save a shedload of money on it, even after taxes etc., the government won't register it because the Porsche importers hold the compliance plate and they won't comply your car even though it is exactly the same as the one you imported privately, unless you have owned and driven it for over 18 months.
A lot of the motor vehicle ADR's are not for our protection, but the protection of ripp-off importers.

I understand that our labour rates are higher than many overseas countries, and we have NO import duty on camera gear, and that we have a 10% GST (unlike most of Europe where it is 20-25%), yet our prices here are 40% above most other countries.
Our retailers here don't make much margin on cameras, so it is the importers and distributors that are making all the cream, until they either wake up to themselves or go broke, taking the retailers right along with them.

[I @ M]

I understand that our labour rates are higher than many overseas countries, and we have NO import duty on camera gear, and that we have a 10% GST (unlike most of Europe where it is 20-25%), yet our prices here are 40% above most other countries.
Our retailers here don't make much margin on cameras, so it is the importers and distributors that are making all the cream, until they either wake up to themselves or go broke, taking the retailers right along with them.

As a prime example, the English are always complaining about how they get it in the neck regarding high prices as well compared to the rest of the world ---- but ---- comparing prices on an expensive Nikon D3x body between a high priced UK dealer and a similarly high priced Australian dealer the poms haven't got too much to complain about at the moment.

Grays of Westminster price converted on the current exchange rate and including 20% vat = AUD $7496.00

Vanbar of Carlton price on special = AUD $9709.00

Who is kidding who?

[Sylar]

A body i would be a little cautious but hey they are all made in the same factory at the same time and have the same international warranty. Its more laying out a few grand and hopping that the seller on the other end is honest, if its an ebay/paypal purchase then hey ya protected so why not....says i while browsing ebay for a canon 5D
I know the arguments for and against buying grey imports and how it hurts the bricks and mortar stores and you dont get the 1on1 time with sales people but hey my tamron 90mm sent for HK was $400 posted and the same lens in shops ranged around the $600 so i saved a 1/3rd of the cost. I know its not transport, asia is so close so do the camera shops make one hell of a mark up or dose the middle man/importer make a killing? is it as simple as supply and demand and hear in OZ demand isnt the same? regardless paying hundreds if not thousands more for something just because its bought from a shopfront im sure is little comfort for us end users!

[I @ M]

A body i would be a little cautious but hey they are all made in the same factory at the same time and have the same international warranty.

Best of luck with your international warranty.
I guess if you believe e$ay sellers who tell you that a camera body has that international warranty then you deserve what you get.

[Bennymiata]

As far as bodies and lenses go, the International Waaranty menas you have send it back to where you bought it from.

If that was overseas, then that's international isn't it?

Actually, there's no such thing as an International Warranty as the warranties are handled by the local importer, and if you didn't buy it locally, it does'nt exist.

Buying grey does have it's problems, but if you are buying name brand products, your chances of getting a dud from overseas is EXACTLY the same as getting a dud locally.

[Sylar]

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[Redgum]

Actually international warranties do exist especially on video and photographic equipment and my experience is that those warranties are clearer and more effective than similar local warranties that often have pages of exclusions. You just need to remember that warranties apply differently in most countries. As in Australia the difficulty in getting warranty service is the retailer/Distributor who doesn't make any money out of repairs. Legitimate manufacturers usually have good warranty service even if it is slow at times.
Local and on-line retailers with an Australian ABN number will probably use the same repairer (nominated by the manufacturer/representative) and in most cases pays the same fee. I have found on a number of occasions that grey market repairs have been quicker and cheaper than direct through Nikon (in my case). Same applies in the television industry.

Oh! and I paid just under $5k for my D3x (grey market) two years ago. Still firing.

[kiwi]

I'll quote Nikon Australia, talking about Camera Bodies only

http://ww2.nikon.com.au/warranty.php


"**WARNING** Please be wary of dealers claiming to be able to sell or provide you an international warranty for digital equipment when you are purchasing overseas. THIS WILL NOT BE A VALID NIKON WARRANTY. An international warranty is unavailable for the above items."

[Redgum]

Thanks Kiwi for raising that statement. This is the deception that others have talked about earlier. Two distinctions here - buying equipment overseas (whilst on holidays) and buying equipment overseas via on-line retailer (so called grey market). All manufacturers (in OECD countries) MUST provide a warranty. This also applies in most other countries, particularly China and most of Asia. It is quite true that this is not a NIKON warranty but neither is the warranty provided by Australian resellers through normal channels here. Warranty in Australia, as in most countries, is provided by a separate organisation. The word "International" only applies if the warranty extends past the country of origin. Most don't, hence the reason why equipment must be returned for repair in source country.
Legitimate dealers (including on-line) will source their warranty from the same source in each country (makes sense) but distributors in this country (called NIKON but really a subsidiary) would like you to think that only THEY can provide a warranty - simply not true.
In fact, for less than the cost of warranty (read exorbitant cost in Australia) you can insure you own gear for damage/loss through most Insurers and this makes far more sense than paying thousands to NIKON simply for the privilege of buying locally.
In reality, warranty is only of concern in this country if you pay through the nose for it. Alternatives are simple and inexpensive.