bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Please visit http://www.usa.canon.com/graymarket to view this important announcement.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

edstubbs Loc: East Coast; 1st state, Delaware

Couldn't be a better time to share this message. I know I have been looking for deals during the holiday and these gray market products, usually at a lower price, may just be the deals I need to stay away from.

Thank you for sharing this and here's wishing you a joyous and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

There is a reason they cost less. When you compare prices among the leading retailers and they are the same then that is what you were going to pay. Graymarket items always come up short and most of the time it is in the warranty. Beware of any graymarket item.

Jim D

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

A grey market camera is exactly the same camera you buy here. If you take your camera to the UK it will be deemed a grey market item. Is yours suddenly any less of a camera because you bought it from an authorized dealer in a different country?

The camera I bought in the UK during my last holiday home is suddenly deemed a grey market camera when I arrive here, that is simply wrong. The only difference is in what the warranty value is in a different country. But to say a grey market camera comes up short is simply not true, as far as the camera goes, because they are identical, these are not counterfeit cameras, they all come from the same factory.

The acceptance of the warranty is of course a different matter. Very unfair to the customers that have purchased their products, while living in a different country.

Carl 383 Loc: Southampton UK

In the mid eighties I was living in America and bought a couple of Canon T90's, they had came with an American warranty but when I returned to the UK a couple of years later they were regarded as grey imports by Canon UK.
The only reason this is done is for protectionism, to protect the official importers higher profit margin from others who are willing to take a smaller cut. This keeps the official importer free to set a higher price, effectively putting a "tax" on all official imports, this "tax" going to the official importer. - Shades of the Boston tea party without the tea being thrown into the harbour. You may have thought you were getting rid of one tax king only to replace him with another - "king Canon"
Ben Franklin was right, you can't escape either death or taxes.

Grey market?
Just bigger profit margins due to protectionism and installing an unfounded fear of buying an inferior product.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

When I said that graymarket cameras come up short I was referring to the warranty not the quality of the camera. You make a very good point but bottom line is if you live in the USA and you want a warranty on your camera do not buy a graymarket camera.

Jim D