Brooklyn-Camera Loc: Brooklyn, New York City

Canon has a list of USA authorized dealers on its web site, just check the name. Better safe than sorry. I believe SIGMA will repair a GRAY item but not under warranty, will charge the going rate. I could be wrong, lets see if we get some input from other UHH members. Anyone know about SIGMA?

WayneL Loc: Baltimore Md

If the seller says covered by their store warranty you can bet it's a Grey Market camera.

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

They seem to all be changing. I UHH member reported the other day that Tamron would not repair grey in addition a person who does repair said that Tamron would not even provide the parts for repair. If you buy grey you're likely going to regret it eventually. However, you can get repair if you send it to an authorized repair center at the country of origin.

bennydnut Loc: Phila, Pa.

or if you don't/can't find serial number on the product.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Serial numbers. Like VIN numbers of automobiles many are easy to identify for country of origin. Also the manufacturer should be able to identify their products.

Yes, the used market can present unique challenges. Here is a strange one. Many years ago I worked in a large membership department store. A customer brought in a HP pocket calculator claiming it was still under initial new warranty and was asking for an exchange or refund a few months after their supposed purchase. Even though they had a simple cash receipt (one with no serial number printed on it), we had a problem. The calculator was labelled "made in USA" yet we knew that this model of HP was made only in Japan. Was it grey market? Not necessarily. It turned out the customer after denying a warranty claim by us, admitted that they were from South America somewhere (I for get now, Argentina, Brazil, or similar) and purchased it there. Why would a foreign made product be marked "made in USA"? At the time, years ago, I did a little research. I found that the Latin American country in question had an old WWII feud with Japan still and would not buy Japanese products. So HP would lie to sell them and mark them "made in USA" even though they like any other of this model calculator were "made in Japan". Bottom line being, they obviously did not buy the item at our store in California. But they might still might have a valid manufacturer's warranty if the item was factory authorized for the country it came from.

APB Loc: UK

The grey market equipment is half price, made in the same factories and can be insured against any damage for which you may need to return it to a recognised dealer.

stan0301 Loc: Colorado

Nikon could not do a better job of shooting itself in the foot then by not servicing Nikon--eBay has more Nikon than all the photo stores put together (what few of them are left)--and the fact that a lens has resale value is an integral part of why to buy Nikon--and what does Nikon do?--tries to destroy that aspect of a len's value
Stan