Dynamics5

What might be price differential between a U.S. vs international Canon camera in percentage terms?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The pricing is specific to the target local market. There's no way to say what the difference is to the US market pricing. If you want to risk buying a camera / lens with no warranty support, you have to decide how much a discount you should receive. Is 10% worth the risk? Is 25%?

Dynamics5

Wanted a general idea. Assume local market is Japan.

MDI Mainer

I my experience, albeit with Sony camera bodies and third party lenses, it's also specific to the particular model, based I assume to the relative popularity and date of introduction in the respective markets.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

If you register the warranty when you buy it (which is not legally required...), won't they honor warranty at any service center in the world? I have never needed warranty service on any camera or lens I bought. Even buying second hand on eBay I never needed more than to have a lens cleaned or routine shutter maintenance. Surely if you buy a new Canon camera 650D (same as Rebel series), made for Pacific markets, you can take it or send it anywhere for warranty service? Or must you stay home with it and not move elsewhere?

Bill_de Loc: US

Go to a Japanese web site and check prices. Then compare them to anywhere else.

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Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Sorry, I don't read Japanese...

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

A least Canon will work on it or sell parts to a shop - but at full retail. Nikon won't even touch a "gray market" camera.

Bill_de Loc: US

Google can translate for you.

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Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Didn't Nikon make it? They don't make gray market cameras. They may not market a model in the USA, but surely if somebody bought one elsewhere and travel here, they can get it serviced?

Bill_de Loc: US

Unless something changed, you have to show that you are visiting the U.S.

It may have been built by Nikon Corp.

But NikonUSA Inc. does business in the U.S. Cameras sold in the U.S. by anyone other than NikonUSA are not entitled to warranty nor repair service.

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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

"Gray market" has nothing to do with the camera model. It has to do with importing it outside the official contracted distribution channels* (some cameras do have different model numbers in different parts of the world, but are the same camera).


*One step from "Black Market" which would be smuggled in without paying import fees etc.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

Well, I have no personal experience or legal training on this, but I think the issue goes back to having authorized dealers or service centers. To protect the dealership agreements, long ago they did not allow sales by dealers in other regions to compete with each other or undersell each other. I believe such arrangements were long ago found illegal, and in any case, by mail or Internet, people can buy anywhere today and manufacturer warranties are valid anywhere. Of course, a store does not have to take defects for service or refund if they were sold elsewhere.

I think if I get a brand new defective product made by Nikon (gray market or whatever), I have a valid court case for compensation from Nikon, though some states are more consumer-protective than others. Dealer warranties and manufacturer warranties apply independently from each other--dealers can be here today and gone tomorrow, even in the USA.

My Canon camera has the model number of the Pacific market (different name from USA name and number), but it still came with a Canon warranty which I sent to Canon. The dealer warranty was just the 30-day eBay option to return for refund, so the dealer has little or no warranty service in the USA, and may not exist today. I have had no problem with the camera for 12 years.

MDI Mainer

I've found several of the big Asian merchants who deal world-wide have an English language version of their web site (as well as several European language versions as well).

As far as I'm concerned, in today's global economy, all these manufacturers' attempts to discourage buying international models is nothing more than an attempt -- increasingly unsuccessful -- at price fixing. When I last was looking, I could buy an international model of the Sony body I was looking at for $850 less than the US version. I refuse to accept that a US warranty is legitimately worth anything approaching that figure.

I also would add that the currency exchange rate in effect at the time of acquisition can significantly impact the value of an international purchase. You will typically be paying out US dollars, so especially if if the price is quoted in local currency, the impact can be favorable or unfavorable, depending on the strength of the dollar vis-à-vis the foreign currency. (Credit card companies are notorious for stiffing their customers on the exchange rate, though of course using a credit card is the easiest way to make an international purchase.)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

In the event you purchase a damaged, non-domestic Nikon product, you have no case at all. Nikon has suspended its international warranty policy. If the product comes with an international warranty it can be registered in the country of origin and serviced in that country. Warranty registration requires a valid receipt from the place of purchase, an authorized Nikon reseller.

https://petapixel.com/2021/01/08/nikon-officially-ends-international-warranties-for-lenses-and-accessories/

If you have any chance at receiving compensation, it would be with the retailer if the retailer misrepresented the product as domestic product. Nikon has distributor arrangements with key regional entities that handle such matters. You can still get your item serviced, but not in a country other than where it was purchased, and it would take quite a while to get it done.

Grey market has always been a problem, and Nikon has taken the most aggressive steps in the industry to ensure that their products are repaired correctly by Nikon-trained techs, with new Nikon OEM parts in the country in which they are purchased. Anyone buying Nikon products that bypass the regional distributors to save a few pennies do so at their own peril. Personally I would never buy a grey market product - the hassles are just not worth it.