Grey Market versus American warrenties

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 10:00am

anyone know if this is true?


"Typically there are relatively few differences between U.S. and Grey Market goods. The most noticeable difference is price and warranty service. Generally, import products are less expensive. The U.S. warranted item’s price covers the American importer’s operating expenses, including warranty service, their sales staff, websites, advertising, and all their overhead expenses. The price of the import products covers none of this since the Import product was brought into the U.S.A. by someone other than the manufacturer’s licensed importer. With some products there are differences. For example, Canon Uses the name PowerShot in the U.S.A. for their digital camera’s but uses the name IXUS/IXY elsewhere however the product itself is identical. It’s also important to know that during the manufacturing and assembly process there’s no distinction. U.S.A. and import items are all made simultaneously from the same raw materials and components, and are assembled by the same workers on the same assembly line. The U.S./Import distinction isn’t even applied until the assembly process is completed. There is no quality or performance difference whatsoever. At times; kit contents on U.S./Imported items may also vary. Please check the “item includes” tab on the product page you are purchasing to see what type of warranty and what the kit contents include for the product you are purchasing."


in this case the store does give their own 1yr warrenty along with the grey market one.....and the camer is $100 less than with an American warrenty...(it's Broadway Photo in ny)

[Elphaba]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 8:36pm

I'll assume no one knows...

[KrissySim]

Posted: 11/26/08 at 9:04pm

I don't know too much about this, but it is true that the hardware is often the same. DVD players from one country that are zone-locked can be unlocked and used in other zones if the locking is done with software. I assume this is true with blu-ray players, but they may be harder to unlock. I've heard that the industry has fought back by having zone-specific components built in, making unlocking impossible unless surgery is performed on the unit.

For cameras and other things locking and unlocking isn't an issue. But no, I don't know much about this.

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 11/27/08 at 8:10pm

I bought a grey market lens a couple of summers ago in Bangkok and got the warranty from the store. The lens itself I assume is identical to a US manufactured lens. It works perfectly and I saved some money. Fortunately I never had to use the warranty, so I don't know how store warranties work. I guess this is a judgment call.