Grey Market & International Gear: Should you Buy It?

Will buying grey market save you money? Often, yes, but your camera manufacturer probably won't repair it if it breaks. My advice: buy cheap stuff grey market when it's a good value. Don't buy expensive grey market gear. Before buying used, ask the seller whether it's grey market.

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[JohnDennery]

This was a very reasonable way to look at this. I’d definitely put a huge shame on Nikon (or anyone) for refusing to service any of their products anywhere in the world!

[OldFellaDave]

I bought my D7200 grey market, saved half the price of the camera body. The company I bought from does have 2 years local warranty via a number of repairers here in Australia that they have negotiated with. So if I have issues I send to them locally and not back to the retailer in Hong Kong - not that I have any issues at all so far!

The way I see it is - if Corporations can outsource our manufacturing jobs to cheap Asian countries then I can just as morally, and happily, outsource my purchasing to those countries as well. It's funny how it's only a problem when we, the average bloke, can come out ontop and have a win ;)

[smokey]

Canon have a policy against grey market equipment however they have serviced my equipment everytime no questions asked. They even covered a warranty repair on a grey market lens for me. This may not be true for everyone but I haven't had any issues with Canon thus far.

[noranoskyle]

I live in the East. Always buy grey camera equipment. I save 50%. And yes it's the same quality. The only issue is with the warranty. If it breaks there is no guarantee it will be repaired with 100% genuine parts. With the US there is that guarantee. If you take good care of your equipment you will be fine but if you are very clumsy get the warranty or if you work your equipment 24/7. Hope this helps.

[DavekayBSC]

Tony - it's actually very easy to tell where most modern Nikon AF "G" series lenses came from. Us models will usually have a serial number that looks like If you're looking at something like an 85mm F1.4G and it doesn't have the "US" in the serial number, it's an international market lens. Nikon also has US specific warranty cards.

[shotsofredmist]

Grey markets here in Taiwan, costs 30-50% less and have a 1 yr warranty. Bought a brand new Panasonic G7 body for $500 and it's all good.

[peterlewis]

I recently bought a new grey market Olympus 45mm lens off eBay for $203 which was almost half price ($399.00 US$). It was shipped from South Korea and promptly arrived 11 days in an Olympus box intended for sale in Japan. It works fine and I couldn't be happier with it. It was clearly advertised as having an "international warranty" which realistically meant no warranty. The seller had a good 99.8 eBay rating and I thought the risk was worth it. All the camera makers strictly control their prices so if you see an amazing deal it's probably grey market.

[brianandtarryn]

Very sound advice.

My wife and I were visiting South Africa a while ago. While there, Canon released their 7D Mk II, which we were very tempted to buy in South Africa as the price was about the same as it would have been in Canada.

The South African store assured me that the camera would be covered by the Canon warranty any where in the world.
I thought I'd better make sure before buying, so I sent an e-mail off to the camera store I usually deal with in Canada. They responded that they were not sure about the "International warranty" but would get back to me after conferring with Canon Canada.

Two days later, I got an email stating that not only would the "international warranty" not be honoured in Canada, but Canon across North America would not even service the camera.

[ExploreThroughMe]

My friend he purchased a gray market Sony camera A7Rii that was imported from Japan as he verified the Sony serial label on the bottom of camera. He saved $700 versus the US version for the same exact camera. He was taking a risk for the first year as there's no warranty on the camera but the camera was factory new with zero actuations. It's like buying a used camera that has no warranty but it’s a new camera. He called Sony and they told my friend they repair all gray/international cameras and US cameras as they have the same exact specs. Sony is one of the few companies that will repair international and US cameras while other camera manufacturers like Nikon refuse to repair a gray/international camera in the USA. If someone decide to buy a gray/international camera and lens make sure the manufacturer will repair them in your home country.

[nerwin]

You also can send the lens or body to the country it was packaged for and Nikon will service it there. You didn't mentioned that Tony!

This is a good PSA because a lot of people confuse grey market with black market.

[FlyingCowRabbit]

I bought grey market Canon gear which was faulty after one month of usage. I got it fixed by Canon which set me back about £100 (I was given warranty by the grey market sellers, but they did not keep to their word), which was not too bad. The camera and gear works perfectly now.

[gregagnew]

I bought a grey market A7rii from B&H last week because the USA version has been out of stock everywhere. I kept it for a few days but exchanged it for the USA version once I saw they were back in stock. I don't notice any differences between the two other than the grey market camera would always remind me that I was in NTSC mode every time I turned the camera on, which was kind of annoying.

[thisistimmy]

If you buy a grey market item from BH they will honour the warranty as if it were not grey market. So you just have to send it in to them instead if you need repairs. You can also purchase Square Space warranty. A lot of sellers on eBay do give you some kind of warranty on grey market items too.

[felixgrner]

Thanks for the video, this seems to be a real pain in the US. Luckily here in Germany on top of the warranty you have the "Gewährleistung" which means the seller has to guarantee that the product works for a certain time and has to repair or exchange it if it doesn't.

[MikeRidesEU]

Hi Tony, i worked for Nikon technical support. We would service the lens from all over the world as long as it come with the yellow warranty paper, but not the bodies (only body sold in Europe).

[عبدالله_محمد_الغامدي]

Online retailers here (Saudi Arabia) sell cameras and lenses cheaper than Amazon or B&H $100-300 or more, and they offer 2 year warranty.

[artmaltman]

I have heard that Nikon is more of a stickler than Sony or Canon on refusing to take money to repair a gray market item. It is very disappointing that even providing a serial number does not enable them to determine in advance.

[vhc]

This is valuable info and should probably be periodically updated for the public? I should have viewed this video a few months earlier...I made a mistake ordering a GH5 (for a great deal) from a New York Camera Co. They did not advertise the GH5 as an international model and the only reason the company agreed to an RMA was Paypal forced the issue (based on one of my emails requesting the Panasonic USA Warranty from the seller prior to shipping). I did end up eating the return postage & insurance, but it was a valuable lesson.

[mchloe]

Thank you so much for that awesome video, I understand everything, I am going to Hong Kong in a month, and I had planned to buy a camera there, but I was hesitating :)

[andrewohone]

My Nikon D5600 failed after 5 weeks. Shutter started making grinding noises and "image not saved" error message. I took it back to the shop where I bought it and they just swapped me for a brand new sealed unit. They price matched at the original purchase and are a nikon partner. It really demonstrates the benefit of using the high street. This wouldn't have happened online or with gray and I would have been without a camera for weeks.