Nikon Equivalent of "Gray Market".

In the Canon world of cameras and lenses you can guy USA or Gray Market. Of course the USA equipment is authorized by Canon and they recognize that equipment for warranty purposes.

If you buy Gray Market, the price may be cheaper, but you will have trouble when it comes to warranty work.

Is there the same situation in the Nikon world. If so, how do you recognize which is which.

I am not interested in buying any Nikon equipment, but I have a friend who is already invested in Nikon and she is looking at buying a 70-200 f2.8 VR II Lens for around $2000 when the B&H price is $2400. This lens advertises to come with a 3 year extended warranty, and it is new.

Any "land mines" here?

Grey market exist in just about every category of consumables. What it comes down to is an individual or enterprise importing something outside the typical channels of distribution and therefore bypassing the 'authorized dealers'. If you are in the US and buy a lens from Hong Kong on eBay you are the importer of a grey market product. The rules for warranty service varies from manufacturer to manufacturer for grey market items and those rules aren't subject to any kind of regulation. Local suppliers can do as they see fit. You may have trouble with warranty service or not but likely more often than not.

Your friend could get lucky and get a new unit that never requires warranty service but where is he left if there is an issue out of the box?

B&H usually clearly lists their items as being USA or imported. Yes Nikon is the same as Canon regarding Gray market. EXCEPT Nikon will NOT repair gray market items under ANY circumstances. Canon to this point in time has repaired gray market items for a fee.

Looks like the Lens comes with a 3 year warranty included from FRC.
So is probably a 3rd party warranty company. It is probably Gray market.

Is anyone familiar with FRC and their reputation?
I think it stands for Factory Repair Center.

guntoter wrote in post #17374182
Looks like the Lens comes with a 3 year warranty included from FRC.
So is probably a 3rd party warranty company. It is probably Gray market.

Is anyone familiar with FRC and their reputation?
I think it stands for Factory Repair Center.

Never heard of them. The problem is where are they going to get their parts from to repair your "grey market" camera or lens? Nikon won't sell them the parts to fix your camera unless it has a valid USA S/N so you'd end up sending your camera to them to send to a non-USA repair center overseas to fix and ship back. Sounds like a lot of delay and risk to save a few hundred bucks.

I'd just buy a mint 9+/10 used one with a USA serial number and then you're covered.

guntoter wrote in post #17374026
In the Canon world of cameras and lenses you can guy USA or Gray Market. Of course the USA equipment is authorized by Canon and they recognize that equipment for warranty purposes.

If you buy Gray Market, the price may be cheaper, but you will have trouble when it comes to warranty work.

Is there the same situation in the Nikon world. If so, how do you recognize which is which.

I am not interested in buying any Nikon equipment, but I have a friend who is already invested in Nikon and she is looking at buying a 70-200 f2.8 VR II Lens for around $2000 when the B&H price is $2400. This lens advertises to come with a 3 year extended warranty, and it is new.

Any "land mines" here?

Read this article by Thom Hogan:

http://www.bythom.com/​warranty.htm

Wilbur Su wrote in post #17395347
Read this article by Thom Hogan:

http://www.bythom.com/​warranty.htm

Thanks. I will pass along to my Nikon friend.