Grey Market Discount....what's enough?

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filterxg

Senior Member
I'm in the market for a D5200 body only and there is a huge range in price.

The most reputable shops like B&H, Adorama, and Amazon list it around $700. They all come with a bunch of low value accessories, which indicates that Nikon is enforcing that price point and not allowing much discounting.

Then there is a group that are all likely grey market around $600. They include 42nd photo (which may or may not be grey, but have sold some grey and is very defensive on what they are selling) and ebay (which admits it is grey market).

Then there is another group of very shady stores around $500. These all have reputations for hard selling extended warranties, and up selling junk in general. Think AJrichies & Primotronix. I take it for granted that these are all grey market.

Anyway what kind of discount would it take for you to consider grey market, 10%, 15%, 25%?

I believe everything has it's price, but as my experience is very limited I have no clue what a manufacturer's warranty is worth. How much do out of warranty repairs cost? How likely are cameras to break in the warranty period?
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Grey market usually does not include the Nikon USA warranty. Some retailers like BH will include their own 1 year warranty. Nikon lenses with USA warranty include a five year warranty. Personally, my threshold would be about $400, over that I would buy USA over "grey" or "imports". Repairs can range up to the cost of the lens. I would not buy from any shady stores. I only buy online lenses from BH and have never been disappointed. As far as bodies I buy from my local dealer so I can test it out first and it is Nikon USA.
 
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Steve B

Senior Member
I never buy grey market camera gear, especially bodies, lenses, or flashes. All of my Nikon gear I have bought from the local camera shop, Best Buy, or B&H. I always make sure the lenses include the 5 year US warranty. Some of my Olympus gear has come from other sources but that was just because of the difficulty of finding certain lenses through normal channels.
 
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filterxg

Senior Member
I guess from my point of view there are two ways I can look at it.

The first is if an average out of warranty repair costs $200 (I've got no clue if that's right), then it should be $200 * likelyhood of needing repair during the warranty period. I'd imagine this would mean that anything more than $20 or so would means I'd come out ahead. It's a gamble for sure, but a relatively safe one for somebody who doesn't make money off photography.

The second is more the gut reaction where I'd say the "peace of mind" is worth another say another 15% (again no clue, but seems about right). So for a $700 camera that's $105. That's seems about right, but again I'm not sure if I have enough information to judge.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Another issue is even getting someone to work on the import versions. From what I've read in other places, Nikon authorized service centers won't work on anything but USA Nikon equipment.

Fortunately, I've not had to test this.

And now, I've probably jinxed myself.
:p
 
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filterxg

Senior Member
Whiskeyman said:
Another issue is even getting someone to work on the import versions. From what I've read in other places, Nikon authorized service centers won't work on anything but USA Nikon equipment.

Fortunately, I've not had to test this.

And now, I've probably jinxed myself.
:p
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. I'll have to contact the service centers here in Atlanta and ask their policies.

Thanks!
 
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filterxg

Senior Member
Just want to follow up. Local shop said if they can fix it in house there would be no difference. Problem is when the fix is beyond their scope and they would send it off.
 
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