Grey Import DSLRs

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mangolicious

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Bit of a newbie question here - (and asked in various ways :lol:) - but I'm on the point of buying a new DSLR very soon and this is a niggling issue in the back of my mind.

What exactly is a grey import, or to put it more precisely - how would I know if I've been sold a grey import? What are the distinguishing features or tell-tale signs? What should I be on the lookout for prior to making a purchase? And what are the consumer's rights if I inadvertently buy one? Also, is it possible to buy a new DSLR in-store (as opposed to online) and still receive a grey import?
 
Anyhting bought in a high street store should be legit. Its only when buying online you need to carefull. If its shipped from abroad, its grey, but now some companies are shipping grey markets from the UK.
This isnt always a bad thing, and some grey market sellers like Digital Rev and Onestop are pretty well regarded.

Grey markets will usually have 2 pin USA or Chinese/Japanese plugs, plus no UK warranty card.

The best option is to do a search on this forum and google for various camera store names to see if other people have redcieved graymarket goods.
 
I was about to buy a brand new D7000 from Ebay UK in which the seller has stated that the buyer will get a full Nikon warranty. I checked with Nikon, they asked me about the serial number which I have sent to them (after asking the seller about it) and it turned out to be a non europe product and they said that they wont give me a warranty on that. If in doubt check with Nikon themselves
 
I checked with Nikon too after a store told me that they carried an International Warranty for their Nikon products - found out there is no such thing!
 
dltracy said:
I checked with Nikon too after a store told me that they carried an International Warranty for their Nikon products - found out there is no such thing!
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It's being economical with the truth, and rather cheeky - often, lenses will be covered internationally, it's only bodies that don't.

To sum it up simply, the best case scenario: you'd have exactly the same camera as someone who bought it in the UK, and you would've paid less overall for the same product. The worst case scenario? Your camera breaks, you either have to ship it back to where it originally came from (so for instance, Hong Kong) to get any warranty honoured, or you are left having to foot the bill yourself. It's basically up to you whether you think the risk is worth it or not, and how large the difference is between grey import and UK import - build quality is very good, if not fantastic for most consumer DSLR manufacturers, but there are inevitably going to be duds and a certain percentage of problems that develop during usage.
 
I live in Singapore and spend much of my time traveling Asia Pacific. Frankly speaking this part of the world is more expensive than the UK for most things electronic especially cameras. The grass is always greener and I look forward to visiting the UK do I can buy Nikon stuff...

The best price I managed for a D700 Body recently was at Edinburgh Airport flying domestically.

If it's grey, cheap and comes from Asia it's a fake/copy out of China...
 
jacob12_1993 said:
The most obvious sign is normally the plug, then you need to check that you will recieve a UK warranty because nikon doesn't honour overseas warrantys in the Uk
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Just curious. Will Nikon repair the camera at your cost? I used to live in SA and most photographic equipment is very expensive there, so a lot of people were tempted by grey imports. Quite legal and stores stock them, but the law requires the store to display a notice stating that the goods are grey imports and who holds the warranty. Not sure if that's the same in the UK. Nikon SA wouldn't touch grey imports under any circumstances, Canon wouldn't honour the warranty - as a rule - but had no problems with repairs and servicing as an "out of warranty" item.
 
I have a grey import Canon 60D that I got from DigitalRev...the only difference is the plug, as has been mentioned, and my user manual was photocopied. But I'm not too bothered...I can take the risk of breakage for the lower price.
 
If you're after a Nikon camera, look on this page: http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/where_to_buy/where_to_buy.page

(http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/s...0&lidsub4=0&sParamValueLbl=&sParamValue=&dcr=)
FAQ: I live in the UK, but my camera is not covered by warranty within the European region, can I still send it to Nikon UK for repair? ...Yes, but repairs will be chargeable.
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(this is not the case outside the EU)

The price difference often isn't that great and the best bet is to check the seller is part of the official dealer network.
 
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