What is the difference? (Page 2): This is almost correct. In fact, if you look at the B&H site you will often see two version of the same model lens or camera, one marked USA and the...

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

bsprague wrote:

Maybe, maybe not. If I understand it right, if yo... (show quote)

This is almost correct. In fact, if you look at the B&H site you will often see two version of the same model lens or camera, one marked USA and the other Grey market.

The latter term is used for product that is imported to the US directly by B&H or some other distributor rather than "officially" imported by the designated US marketing arm of Nikon or Canon. Thus the grey market items are covered by the world wide warranty, but typically not the US warranty (specifically to dissuade buyers from 'cheating' the US marketing division).

Aldebaran Loc: Florida

That's my conundrum: Buy cheap and expect the best or a little higher and sleep well.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Aldebaran wrote:

Very often I see the same item description and photo with a $200-300 difference in price on Amazon. The strange thing is they come out one after the other so you can see the difference. They are both supposedly new. What is the difference? Is it the warranty? "Fulfilled by Amazon" makes a difference? And sometimes there is a $150 difference for the same item if you buy on amazon or buy from the other two main Known camera stores. Are we paying for dealer names?

I see the same thing on ebay all the time. There will be a series of D40's, for example, with prices in the $100 range. And then there will be a D40 with a Buy it Now price of $500. There's no way they will sell at that price, so I'm thinking they just want the listing for some reason.

twowindsbear

Why oh why don't you ask Amazon????????

twowindsbear

Why oh why don't you ask Amazon????????

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

twowindsbear wrote:

Why oh why don't you ask Amazon????????

Because what would you expect Amazon's answer to be"Oh, yes, we do use proprietary pricing optimization software to maximize what we feel we can sell a give item for at any moment, taking into account time of day, type of computer being used to shop (Mac users often get higher prices due to the assumption that they can more easily afford them) and whether you've already put the item in your shopping cart and then exited without buying"??

Or to put it more plainly, because Amazon ain't gonna tell mere civilians how their secret pricing sauce works. Just like Google won't reveal how it determines what results you will get for a particular search, which will differ from mine or anyone else's, based on what searches you have done in the past. These are core secrets of their business models.

alf85 Loc: Northumberland, UK.

Aldebaran wrote:

Very often I see the same item description and photo with a $200-300 difference in price on Amazon. The strange thing is they come out one after the other so you can see the difference. They are both supposedly new. What is the difference? Is it the warranty? "Fulfilled by Amazon" makes a difference? And sometimes there is a $150 difference for the same item if you buy on amazon or buy from the other two main Known camera stores. Are we paying for dealer names?

The difference is greed.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Please remember that for the most part camera equipment (bodies, lens, tripods) are price protected. The manufacture sets the lowest or exact price that the equipment may sold for. Reputable dealers observe those rules or they won't be authorized dealers for long. Odorama, B&H, Amazon are all authorized. I've also found that, at least, these three never fail to price match themselves on items purchased and later reduced within the return period. Authorized dealer do sell 'grey market,' but will tell you and explain the risk. With eBay, read the fine print. Obviously, forums (like UH) that have classified sections are pure caveat emptor.

Crwiwy Loc: Devon UK

Aldebaran wrote:

Very often I see the same item description and photo with a $200-300 difference in price on Amazon. The strange thing is they come out one after the other so you can see the difference. They are both supposedly new. What is the difference? Is it the warranty? "Fulfilled by Amazon" makes a difference? And sometimes there is a $150 difference for the same item if you buy on amazon or buy from the other two main Known camera stores. Are we paying for dealer names?

You will probably fine that the cheaper ones are 'Grey' imports from HongKong.
For example the Tamron 18 - 270 lens generally goes for £350 but several companies are advertising it for £250 or less. These are from abroad and many do well with them - but remember that the guarantee will generally only be what the company offers and will NOT be covered by the manufacturer - in this case Tamron.

In a recent post - some were happy with the lower price companies - others were not! The choice is whether it is worth the risk to save £100?
I see second user lens on EBay which are as expensive or more so than 3 companies I found selling 'Grey imports'. The Ebay lens would have no guarantee while the companies are offering 1 year. So perhaps it is worth the risk?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Two other things to bear in mind.

1.) The merchandise may be stolen.

2.) It may not come with items included by the manufacturer or conventional dealer, online or bricks and mortar. By time you add in the missing items or spec out the name brands, your price is back to the legitimate merchant.

Caveat emptor. Or, in other words, a sucker is born every minute. Being the cheapskate I am, I stick to the familiar names such as B&H, Adorama and Samy's.

Pentony Loc: Earth Traveller

f8lee wrote:

One more thing to remember is that Amazon is const... (show quote)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

flashgordonbrown Loc: Silverdale, WA

Steve_m wrote:

Thats free enterprise. Pricing is wide open. If you go on CNET.COM there is a vendor reputation which sometimes correlates with pricing. But not necessarily. A friend of mine bought a Point & Shoot camera from a lesser known vendor and the camera menu was in Russian language. Watch out!

The Russian language is only one of the options in the main menu of ANY name brand camera. I once had a salesman at one of the bait & switch dealers tell me that the reason that the (gray market)version of the camera was so cheap was that the menu was in Chinese! You choose the language that you want to use when setting up the camera. The only difference between "authorized" and "gray market" is that the authorized US distributor most likely won't honor the warranty, and occasionally the packaging is slightly different. I have bought a lot of photo gear over the last 55 years, and a good share of it has been 'gray market'. I've never had to deal with a warranty issue-in fact, my latest 'gray market' camera was damaged by me in an ill advised cleaning, and Sony fixed it for free, even though I told them that I damaged it and that I had purchased it from Hong Kong. Most times the savings are worth it.

flashgordonbrown

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

When you buy from a company which does not have a U.S. address, like in Hong Kong, the trade is not covered by the U.S. Governments fraud protection law, import laws, but, are only protected by import taxes. Warranty claims, return policies, and fraud is not protected. I'm shopping now for a Yongnuo flash, I am careful not to buy from a Chinese vendor.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Aldebaran wrote:

Very often I see the same item description and photo with a $200-300 difference in price on Amazon. The strange thing is they come out one after the other so you can see the difference. They are both supposedly new. What is the difference? Is it the warranty? "Fulfilled by Amazon" makes a difference? And sometimes there is a $150 difference for the same item if you buy on amazon or buy from the other two main Known camera stores. Are we paying for dealer names?

My opinion: Just like in the physical stores you have to shop around. For instance I recently bought a Canon t3i and I love it by the way.

I'd been watching the prices for some time. B&H $599,
Amazon $599. Then one day I checked... the same for B&H but Amazon $515... I scarfed it up.

It's just like shopping around at different stores. If you're planning a major purchase, watch the prices day after day.
Some times you can come upon a deal like this.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

jerryc41 wrote:

I see the same thing on ebay all the time. There will be a series of D40's, for example, with prices in the $100 range. And then there will be a D40 with a Buy it Now price of $500. There's no way they will sell at that price, so I'm thinking they just want the listing for some reason.

I found out that tactic is used when they would otherwise end the listing early, but don't want to pay the listing fee to eBay. You don't sell, you don't pay. End early and you pay.