THE GREY MARKET

Many products for sale today come with a world wide warranty. Buy it in Hong Kong and it will be repaired here, or anywhere.

Cameras used to sell this way, but no longer... which has lead to the Grey Market.

How does Grey Market work?

A US vendor purchases equipment from a vendor overseas, without a warranty. It's sold here as Grey Market, no warranty or support from the manufacturer.

Some speculate this is a nice arrangement for manufacturers, who sell products without having to back them up.

Items that aren't likely to give problems, such as lenses, might be worth buying Grey Market. Unfortunatley, digital cameras are full of delicate electronics, in a plastic case usually. They can be expensive to repair, so a warranty is worth having.

Many Grey Market vendors offer extended warranties but I've found they cost so much it's better to buy a model with the full manufacturer's US warrenty.

There is no way of telling how good these Grey Market warranties are. The New York area dealers are the ones selling Grey Market mostly, and judging from the misleading information most of them provide, I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a warranty from them.