To buy grey or not to buy grey, that is the question?
Discussion
Ok, I am in a bit of a predicament on whether or not to purchase my next camera/lens from a grey import outlet or buy from Nikon UK, there are savings of around £450 to be had, which on paper look good but I really want to know what the pro's/con's are and if people have gone the "grey import" route and if they have had any issues with registering said items?
Any feedback is welcome
Tony
Any feedback is welcome
Tony
So... 'sometimes' you get import tax charged on grey. This depends on what is said on the outside of the package as to what is inside.
If you buy from a retail outlet in the UK and there is a problem, you can get it sorted in a day or so. Not so with grey.
Grey imports have the manufacturers warranty, but not a retailers warranty (that is worth the screen it is printed on).
Grey takes a lot longer to arrive.
If you are VAT registered you don't get the VAT back.
You are not helping the UK economy.
Other than that... go for it.
If you buy from a retail outlet in the UK and there is a problem, you can get it sorted in a day or so. Not so with grey.
Grey imports have the manufacturers warranty, but not a retailers warranty (that is worth the screen it is printed on).
Grey takes a lot longer to arrive.
If you are VAT registered you don't get the VAT back.
You are not helping the UK economy.
Other than that... go for it.
I've commented previously, but do your own research: IIRC camera bodies have warranties which are local to the country/region but you may find that lenses and other accessories may be worldwide - so "grey" makes a difference on the former but maybe not the latter.
(Talking of "grey" - if you really want peace of mind (and are willing to pay a premium) Grays of Westminster can do warranties up to 5 years on new kit subject to joining the Nikon Owners)
(Talking of "grey" - if you really want peace of mind (and are willing to pay a premium) Grays of Westminster can do warranties up to 5 years on new kit subject to joining the Nikon Owners)
I should add that I have bought from HK with no problem... but there can be downsides to grey.. I know they WOULD say this but:
http://www.wexphotographic.com/?/aboutus/no-grey-i...
http://www.wexphotographic.com/?/aboutus/no-grey-i...
As said above, I think that only camera bodies (and perhaps flash units, IIRC) have regional warranty.
I bought a D750 from Panamoz last year and registered it on the Nikon Europe website without a problem. There is an issue with some D750 bodies that involves a recall to Nikon and from what I've seen on the Talk Photography forum, Nikon UK will accept all bodies that are potentially affected, no matter where or how they were purchased.
'Official' manufacturer warranty might be a problem, but Panamoz included their own version, so I'm not particularly concerned. This is my fourth Nikon DSLR and none have had any issues (famous last words
)
I bought a D750 from Panamoz last year and registered it on the Nikon Europe website without a problem. There is an issue with some D750 bodies that involves a recall to Nikon and from what I've seen on the Talk Photography forum, Nikon UK will accept all bodies that are potentially affected, no matter where or how they were purchased.
'Official' manufacturer warranty might be a problem, but Panamoz included their own version, so I'm not particularly concerned. This is my fourth Nikon DSLR and none have had any issues (famous last words
)iiyama said:
peter tdci said:
This is my fourth Nikon DSLR and none have had any issues (famous last words )
Wish I could say the same. pretty pi$$ed of with Nikon UK at the moment and it's left me with a bit of a dilemma. )
....that kinda illustrates the dilemma - like most modern tech there's both a chance and a manufacturing tolerance level which means just occasionally you find an issue. What's the discount worth compared to having to own the risk?
(Or.... "Do you feel lucky, Punk?)"
Personally I find I "risk manage" different purchases in life in different ways, depending on how miserable I will be when it goes wrong.
K12beano said:
iiyama said:
peter tdci said:
This is my fourth Nikon DSLR and none have had any issues (famous last words )
Wish I could say the same. pretty pi$$ed of with Nikon UK at the moment and it's left me with a bit of a dilemma. )....that kinda illustrates the dilemma - like most modern tech there's both a chance and a manufacturing tolerance level which means just occasionally you find an issue. What's the discount worth compared to having to own the risk?
(Or.... "Do you feel lucky, Punk?)"
Personally I find I "risk manage" different purchases in life in different ways, depending on how miserable I will be when it goes wrong.
All my Nikon gear is Grey. Can't say I've ever had a problem with it so can't comment on the warranty side of things. Both models with a US serial number, bought in Dubai. As coincidence would have it I now live in the US so I get a slightly better price if I choose to sell, but I'd have no problem doing it again.
GetCarter said:
So... 'sometimes' you get import tax charged on grey. This depends on what is said on the outside of the package as to what is inside.
If you buy from a retail outlet in the UK and there is a problem, you can get it sorted in a day or so. Not so with grey.
Grey imports have the manufacturers warranty, but not a retailers warranty (that is worth the screen it is printed on).
Grey takes a lot longer to arrive.
If you are VAT registered you don't get the VAT back.
You are not helping the UK economy.
Other than that... go for it.
You can buy Grey imports from a UK company like HDEW (no affiliation but have bought a lens from them). If you buy from a retail outlet in the UK and there is a problem, you can get it sorted in a day or so. Not so with grey.
Grey imports have the manufacturers warranty, but not a retailers warranty (that is worth the screen it is printed on).
Grey takes a lot longer to arrive.
If you are VAT registered you don't get the VAT back.
You are not helping the UK economy.
Other than that... go for it.
Couple of things you said on warranty are not quite accurate. Nikon bodies come with a regional not worldwide warranty so if you buy a grey import Nikon UK will not honour it...lenses however do have an International Warranty so you are covered. HDEW offer their own warranty on bodies( 3 years IIRC) and are UK based and it gets repaired at a Nikon approved repair centre.
For the lenses the key issue is that you have to have a receipt in your name from a recognised camera retailer...NOT someone flogging gear out of his bedroom on eBay. So if you buy a lens from an individual whether they are in HK or Milton Keynes you are not covered.
I read up on it a lot when I bought my 70-200 from HDEW. Went to the trouble of speaking to Fixation who confirmed all of the above and what was required by them to perform a repair under warranty.
Personally I wouldn't buy a grey import body from overseas and didn't when I bought my D750 despite it being significantly cheaper from the HK based grey retailers. Mine came from Greys of Westminster.
O/T I used Grays for many years until they totally pissed me off. I put an order in for a new D3 when it was just a rumour so I could be at the front of the queue. When it was announced I confirmed my order and when it came out I phoned to pay... only to be told that I had been bumped to near the back of the queue as they were giving preference to people that subscribed to their magazine! I was told I would have to wait probably 8 - 10 months. I asked why they hadn't told me this and they said it was a loyalty thing... so my 20 years of buying from them meant for nothing!
To make it worse, I'd only just unsubscribed to the mag as they had f
ked me about regarding the use of some of my photos in said mag.
Grrrr.
To make it worse, I'd only just unsubscribed to the mag as they had f
ked me about regarding the use of some of my photos in said mag.Grrrr.
Just bought D750 from HDEW
they were the cheapest i could find and a uk company with a uk physical shop
very nice people to talk to.
arrived on time.
also came with a vat invoice as i can reclaim the vat.
3 year insurance co backed warranty
compared to buying from amazon etc, i effectively got the 24/120 lens for free
only minor negative was the user manual was a photocopy but i bought one from eBay for £11
may be a way for you to get the next model up for a lower than the model you were looking at price?
they were the cheapest i could find and a uk company with a uk physical shop
very nice people to talk to.
arrived on time.
also came with a vat invoice as i can reclaim the vat.
3 year insurance co backed warranty
compared to buying from amazon etc, i effectively got the 24/120 lens for free
only minor negative was the user manual was a photocopy but i bought one from eBay for £11
may be a way for you to get the next model up for a lower than the model you were looking at price?
All the users manuals are free online - so if you don't want (to buy) a physical version that's an option. Although, it seems odd that the original document is a "photocopy"?
Also, I would recommend you register each item online with Nikon. Does make things really easy and slick when you need to get something serviced in the future, it's free to do and, of course, you have an online record of the items and serial numbers - should anything go missing. Plus, it's reassurance if buying secondhand that it's not registered to someone else ....
(I was staggered to find I had 16 items with the last addition!!
)
Also, I would recommend you register each item online with Nikon. Does make things really easy and slick when you need to get something serviced in the future, it's free to do and, of course, you have an online record of the items and serial numbers - should anything go missing. Plus, it's reassurance if buying secondhand that it's not registered to someone else ....
(I was staggered to find I had 16 items with the last addition!!
)Bah. I bought a canon nifty fifty from a grey. I'm pretty sure its original, but its never been right - just wont focus (even man). Its the cheaper one, so not really anything I can do about it. I have compared with a friends same model. His is fine, so its defo a prob with mine. Returned? dropped? I guess I'll never know. Wish I'd bought a proper one now :-(
Cheib said:
Nikon have an App for user manuals which is very handy.
Indeed they do, although I didn't get on with it when it first got released - mine are all on Dropbox or Lapdog desktop...However, I have to say that if you were to need, say, manuals for two different bodies and two different speedlight models it's all a helluva a lot of material - whether pdf or paper - to wade through ...
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