hammond

Nikon WILL repair a grey market camera body IF they have the parts for it: they changed their policy a couple years ago and I recently called their support staff to confirm. They will also repair grey market lenses and stated that the issue with not having the exact parts for camera bodies is more common than with lenses.

FotoHog Loc: on Cloud 9

Recently my approximately 3 year old D810 along with my 28-300 Nikkor lens was stolen out of the car while we were having breakfast in a roadside restaurant.

My home insurance covered the loss with a 5% annual depreciation rate which gave me the opportunity to upgrade to a D850 and same lens - (both brand new) - for a $1400 difference. Since I had my eye on the D850 for a while I was not too unhappy with the outcome.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I bought my first Nikon camera in Spain in 1963. I still have it. When I returned to the US the "Apollo film advance" was very popular and indeed relieved the pressure on the finger when advancing the film. I asked Nikon Service to replace the film advance lever and they refused. They did not accept the fact that I bought the camera from an approved Nikon dealer in Europe. A few months later they contacted me and asked me to send the camera for replacement. This was in the late 60's or very early 70's.

Today their level of tolerance is much narrow although at times and for reasons not clear to me they go ahead and repair gray market, such was the case with a point and shoot camera that one of my sons sent to them. Nikon did not even asked for a receipt and the camera was repaired and sent back for free.

Something that concerns me is factory recalls. If the camera came with a defect they as a rule will not repair gray market. Access to parts in approved repair stations can be difficult if the camera or lens is not a genuine import. I will admit that the majority of cameras after the initial warranty period is over, usually one year, they do not fail that easily, at least that has been my experience. It is impossible to deny that the used market value for a gray lens or camera is considerably lower than for a genuine product.

I guess it all comes down to how comfortable a person feels with gray market and if the gray market product was bought from someone like Adorama or B&H both of which have excellent reputation.
I bought a gray market lens many years ago and it never gave me a headache but to have a good peace of mind I would not do that today.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Believe me, we have no monopoly on that capability! We just tend to talk about it more then most others.

rebride

A cautionary tale -

https://petapixel.com/2015/08/14/i-bought-a-fake-nikon-dslr-my-experience-with-gray-market-imports/

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Much of what you wrote is simply incorrect or misinformed. And some of what you stated is actually unrelated to gray market vs USA warranted "official" items.

First and possibly most concerning.... Home owners (or renters) insurance protects against monetary losses from damage, theft or loss of the item. That type of insurance DOES NOT protect against equipment failure in any way, which is what "gray market" and warranties are all about. Second, depending upon the policy, there typically IS a deductible of some sort. Maybe not on your policy, though you probably pay more as a result. This varies widely. Further, most insurance policies have a dollar cap on the total value of photo gear covered by the policy and any amount beyond that is uninsured unless you purchase a "rider" from them that increases the ceiling. Last time I checked my homeowner policy, it was a $2000 cap on camera gear. This didn't matter to me because - very important for some photographers and videographers - home owner or renter insurance DOES NOT cover gear that's used professionally. It ONLY covers gear used in a hobby or amateur manner. Separate photo gear insurance is available to cover gear being used professionally... But it's an added expense. And it still has nothing to do with warranty covered equipment faults or failures.

Warranty, when it's provided, covers equipment failure during a set time frame of ownership. Most warranty doesn't cover loss or theft and in many cases even specifically excludes losses from damage. There have been some exceptions... "Drops and spills" coverage offered by manufacturers as an added benefit and encouragement to purchase their products. This is not typical and goes well beyond most manufacturers warranty.

In other words, in most cases....

If your lens' autofocus suddenly stops working, the repair or replacement would be covered by warranty.

But if you drop your lens and break it... or if it's stolen... this type of loss would be covered by insurance.

Some credit cards provide additional limited warranty and/or insurance on gear purchased through them. But this is usually only offered through higher interest, higher cost cards and has many restrictions and limitations that need to be carefully considered. Also, some retailers offer a "store warranty" on gray market or used gear, where repair or replacement of a failed item (NOT a stolen, damaged or lost item) is at their discretion. Repairs under either a credit card warranty or a store warranty would usually be done by a repairer of their choosing, who may or may not have the "factory training and tools" for the job and who may or may not have access to replacement parts, if needed. Personally I'd have a little more faith in a reputable camera store's repairer than in one selected by a credit card company. After all, a well established camera store is likely to have prior knowledge of specialized repairers. There also may be no time frame for these warranty repairs, so it might be a long wait for something to be done, without the gear in your kit the entire time.

Now let's take a look at the specific examples you cited... two Nikon lenses.

First, B&H doesn't offer either of those lenses under any sort of gray market program. They only sell Nikon USA imported and warranted copies of the Nikkor 200-500mm. The same is true of Adorama and Amazon Direct. Neither offer a gray market version of the 200-500mm, either. The discounted copies of that lens I could find at those three sources were either used items or "refurbished". (I always wonder, "Refurbished by whom?" and "How is this any different from used?").

I did find what appears to be a gray market Nikkor 200-500mm available from Abes of Maine.... $150 savings off the approx. $1200 price of a USA warranted lens at all those other sources. No warranty, it appears. They'll gladly sell you a third party "Extended warranty" on the gray market item... for $149. Now you've spent the same you would have buying a USA warranted item elsewhere (5 year warranty on Nikon lenses, provided the purchase is registered). Knowing the horrible reputation of Abes, I'd steer well clear of that questionable "bargain".

The Nikkor 300mm PF is a little different matter. While neither B&H nor Adorama offer gray market versions of it, I did find Amazon Global UK is offering it for about $125 off the usual $2000 selling price of that lens. There is a notation that "manufacturers warranty may not apply" in the Amazon listing. There are also shipping costs (not eligible for "Prime") and import duties collected, totaling $65. This reduces the actual discount to about $60. There's no relief from sales taxes either way.

Nikkor 300mm PF gray market appears to be much more heavily discounted at Abes of Maine. They're offering it in a "Black Friday Sale" for about $450 off the $2000 price. While they don't anything about warranty clearly anywhere on the website, I bet that's gray market. And with Abes' reputation for "bait and switch" and other shady sales tactics, I doubt you'd ever actually be able to buy even a gray market version for that price. They would call you with some reason that cheap version is a problem and offer you a "better" alternative much closer to the usual list price of the item. In fact, I'd be a little surprised if the 300mm PF is even available at Abes.... It's on back-order at B&H and Adorama.

Abes offers "extended warranties", like others do... But at a much higher price. For the Nikkor 300mm PF Abes' most basic 2-year extended warranty costs $225 (on top of NO "store" or "manufacturer" warranty). They also offer an enhanced 2-year plan which adds "drops and spills" damage, for $275. Compare to an Amazon 2-year extended warranty (in addition to the manufacturer warranty) that costs $43. In other words, with Abes for additional $225/$275 you get two years warranty. Or, with Amazon for added $43 you get a total of up to seven years warranty... 2 years plus the 5 year manufacturer warranty.

With Nikon gear, specifically, problems with gray market is compounded by some Nikon USA policies. First, their factory service department will not work on gray market items, even outside of warranty. They simply refuse to do any work on them. You'll have to take the gear elsewhere to get any work done on it. However, that may be difficult or impossible because Nikon USA also has a policy of not selling most repair parts outside their own very limited "official/authorized" repair network. (With other manufacturers, different policies might make gray market less of a concern. For example, Canon USA will repair a gray market item, although it will be at the customer's expense. They also freely sell replacement parts to anyone who wishes to buy them.)

EDIT: Nikon loosened their gray market repair policy a bit, several years ago. Select camera models can be serviced and repaired by the third party repairers within their "certified" network (although still apparently not by the actual Nikon USA repair facilities). With one example of a current DSLR, this gave option of six repair facilities within the U.S. who would work on that camera model even if gray market, at the customers expense. Whether this would apply to lenses or not, or how widely it applies to camera models, is still a question. The only way you can find out is by going to the Nikon website and entering the specific info on what you need repaired. They'll then tell you if and where you might be able to get work done on it.

Finally, another topic you bring up is "right of return", which is pretty standard among camera retailers and is unrelated to warranties. This grew out of the catalog and mail order sales of the past and has been carried over into the online sales era. Basically most stores doing business by mail have fairly liberal return policies that say you have 14 to 30 days to return an item for refund or exchange, for any reason. You can send it back to the store if it's faulty.... or if it's not what you expected.... or even if you just have buyer's remorse. Amazon Direct, B&H and Adorama all have 30-day return policies with some reasonable limitations. Abes has a 14-day policy and charges a "restocking fee".

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Or you can buy from Costco and get up to a 5 year warranty. Arguably one of the best warranty deals offered.

FotoHog Loc: on Cloud 9

WHEW . . . so many words!

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I buy grey market equipment; the warantees have long-expired (if I had them), but my cameras and lenses still function.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I am a member of Nikon Professional Services. Besides that, buying a gray market still gives you a Nikon one warranty on the body and 5 years on select lenses. The catch is you must send it to the country of origin to receive Nikon Authorized service. NO PROBLEM. You just will not get Nikon authorized service or repair in the good old USA. If that is not problem, then your golden.
And remember, yes, if you buy gray market you can try to get it fixed at many good camera repair shops. BUT, and that is a big ugly BUT, they may not have the part to fix it, most of these NON-Nikon Authorized repair shops rely on BONE CAMERA'S, bone camera's are camera's beyond repair that these shops cannibalize for working parts, if they have the part to fix your Nikon, then again your golden, if not, sorry charlie, try another shop. Nikon does NOT sell parts to any camera repair shop.
So, bottom line, yes, you can get a DEAL getting a Grey Market. But like the old advertisement goes, "you can pay me now, or, you can PAY ME LATER. Your money, your choice.

papo76522

You're not wrong... There's no homeowners insurance that will cover a claim for an item that just stopped working!

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

In general, this is undoubtedly the worst and most inaccurate and opinionated thread I've seen regarding grey market products. I am not an expert, but I don't pretend to be one either.

FotoHog Loc: on Cloud 9

As a member of the Nikon Professional Services, you will be able to tell us exactly WHY Nikon refuses to service a Nikon product simply because it is a so called gray market item and must be shipped for repair to the country where it was purchased. It does not make any sense to me whatsoever. But I will tell you what it does for me, which is that it tarnishes NIKON'S image and only puts a negative perception on their product. I suspect I am not alone in that. There has to be a greedy profit angle behind that scheme which in the end does not serve the company very well. Be that as it may, refusing to service or repair their OWN product, even if the customer is willing to pay for it, is a very bad idea.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

You have formed an opinion based on your extremely limited knowledge. It is not Nikon's image that is tarnished.

jefflane

Nikon US will not repair grey market high end cameras. They will not send parts to unauthorized repair shops. If they find out that an authorized shop repaired a forbidden grey market item, they de-authorize the shop. The Nikon rep I recently talked to said that you can send it to be repaired in japan but you may need a translator to set it up.

I can not speak to their attitude about recalls.