Another company goes after gray market products. Good for them.
billnikon
Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
I DO NOT buy new gear, so I couldn't care less if what I own is grey market or not. I can't afford to buy new. In the last 50 years I have purchased 1 new camera (Fujifilm Finepix S7000 in 2004) and 1 new lens (Vivitar 85-205 zoom in 1970). I've owned Nikon, RB67, M645, C33, Speed, Crown and Century Graphic, Sony Alpha and SLT, Sony, Minolta, Tamron and Sigma lenses. All bought used from wherever I could find it cheap. What equipment I have works well for me.
Warranty means nothing to me. If a piece of gear breaks, I'll replace it for less than the repair price. I'm not taking sales away from legitimate, authorized sellers of photo equipment, since I would never be buying from them anyway. That's just how I feel about the subject of grey market equipment. Your opinion may differ.
There are many good reasons to avoid gray market and buy from reputable approved US retailers 'but taking money from those that work here in the USA is not one of them. The real jobs are in designing and manufacturing the products and very little (if any) of that occurs in the US. Some of or best known retailers sell gray market products right alongside the US Warranty products.
Sigma is a Japanese company based in Fukushima Japan. Absolutely no Sigma products are manufactured in the USA. Sigma Corporation of America based in Ronkonkoma NY is a subsidiary of Sigma Corporation. They manufacturer nothing. They market Sigma products made in Japan. These so called grey market products are all manufactured in the exact same factory by the exact same people to the exact same specifications as the products marketed by Sigma Corporation of America. The only difference is Sigma Corporation, the parent company of Sigma Corporation of America, sells their products to anyone anywhere and Sigma Corporation of America dictates if you reside in the USA you must buy from them at an inflated cost. So, if someone doesn't pay the significant fee Sigma Corporation of America tacks onto the cost of the merchandise, they won't honor the warranty of the product that was made in Japan by their parent company. Sure sounds like a scam to me.
As far as I'm concerned "going after gray market sales" means one thing and one thing only, and that is "artificially manipulating prices to hurt US customers."
repleo wrote:
There are many good reasons to avoid gray market and buy from reputable approved US retailers 'but taking money from those that work here in the USA is not one of them. The real jobs are in designing and manufacturing the products and very little (if any) of that occurs in the US. Some of or best known retailers sell gray market products right alongside the US Warranty products.
We agree on part of the issue but, what may these many good reasons, be? I really can't think of any. When you buy a new car, do you have to pay for the base warranty? I can see paying for an optional extended warranty, but the base warranty?!
Take Nikon USA for example; until recently they refused to even repair for a fee any Nikon product that wasn't imported into the USA by Nikon USA. Like Sigma, absolutely none of their products are manufactured in the USA but you have to pay a Nikon imposed residency tax if you live in the USA. This is the reason I stopped buying Nikon products. At least Canon USA'S policy has always been (like Sigma), no warranty work on grey market products but they will service them for a fee. They're in business to make money.
MDI Mainer wrote:
As far as I'm concerned "going after gray market sales" means one thing and one thing only, and that is "artificially manipulating prices to hurt US customers."
That's not the case at all. Sigma, like many other companies, is charging extra for their warranty. You don't pay in advance for the warranty then there is no warranty.
What I found interesting about the Sigma web link info is, they imply grey market products are different from non grey market products. I bought a Sigma 150-600 Sport zoom lens from a reputable Sigma retailer outside of the USA and it came in a Sigma box with a Sigma manual and a Sigma carrying case. Absolutely no difference from a Sigma lens I bought in the USA, except there was no USA warranty card in the box.
They are charging a repair fee in advance even though the lens does not need repairs, and probably won't in the "warranty" time frame.
Perhaps we should look at this as supporting the people who work for the US distribution of the product.
Leo_B
Loc: Houston suburb
I agree with most of what's been said. It's just a higher price due to location. Just like most medications that cost exponentially more in the U.S. than elsewhere in the world.
MDI Mainer wrote:
As far as I'm concerned "going after gray market sales" means one thing and one thing only, and that is "artificially manipulating prices to hurt US customers."
Why does grey market exist? I honestly believe it's because of price manipulation by the manufacturers. If their price was consistent around the world ( currency adjusted ), there would be no grey market. So they created the problem their addressing. I have no sympathy for them, or any company following this business practice. The warranty should be valid no matter where the product was sold. Just another way to squeeze the last dollar from Americans.
GGerard wrote:
Perhaps we should look at this as supporting the people who work for the US distribution of the product.
Except that's not what it's about. The problem is, they are forcing the consumer to buy a warranty. A warranty should be issued by the manufacturer. If the consumer wants to buy an extended warranty then so be it. Requiring someone to pay a fee for the privilege of purchasing a product, a fee for a service that will probably never be used, is kind of like extortion. If a company has to extort its customers to pay their employees then something is really, really wrong.
Your logic makes no sense. Product is made overseas. If pricing was consistent, we would buy it locally. Problem is created by Sigma. Just another reason the ever increasing quality of cell phone cameras looks better every day. Why would new photographers want to deal with this BS. At a time when camera sales are declining, it's short sighted to alienate potential buyers.
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
MDI Mainer wrote:
As far as I'm concerned "going after gray market sales" means one thing and one thing only, and that is "artificially manipulating prices to hurt US customers."
Price control is alive and well in the US. As for US jobs, none that matter in the larger scheme of things (minor retail and distribution, but very low numbers). I do not have any problem with grey market, as long as it is stated up front. If you buy grey, you know you might have problems with repairs and such, if the item ever fails. Most (nearly all) quality camera gear doesn't fail till long after any warranty would have expired (based on stated numerical percentages).
i dont know today , but back then Mercedes did same , if you bought a new MB in europe , not going thru a USA dealer , not only they would not honor warranty , they would not service the car at their dealers .
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