YOU CAN SAVE MONEY SHOPPING ONLINE but can you be sure of what you’re ordering?

No doubt about it, the internet is cause of great civil disturbance. Someone, from every walk of life, will have nothing good to say about it.

I love it. A vast library of information at my fingertips 24/7 and a virtual shopping mall on my laptop… what’s not to like?

But it seems, on the Net, all is not always what it seems. Adults masquerade as children. Children masquerade as adults. And Canon and Nikon cameras are being imported surreptitiously.

These so-called grey imports, some say, are being quietly distributed from behind the bamboo curtains of a darkly lit cellar somewhere in downtown Beijing. Some say the equipment is manufactured from bits of old shrubbery.

Alleged manufacturer of grey market cameras hard at work somewhere in downtown Beijing, Queensland.

Leg-pulling aside, the established importers of these cameras are definitely bringing in the Real McCoys that originate from the official manufacturers’ production plants at various sites in Asia. None of those sites are located, as some would believe, in Australia, Hong Kong, or Singapore.

Make no mistake people, buying a direct import can be a real opportunity to save dollars. And, feeling justifiably threatened, bricks’n’mortar retailers will say whatever they can just to keep your business. Rest assured that whatever they say, matching the direct importer’s price won’t be among their offerings.

You’ll hear fear tactics, outright lies, and attempts to convince you that importers are here today, gone tomorrow… unlike their shop, and cockroaches, both of which have been built to withstand a nuclear holocaust.

The fear is that a “grey” camera is (a) a lookalike copy, (b) something that fell from the back of a truck, (c) a device which, when it inevitably malfunctions, will only be treated with derisive laughter, (d) one that does not, and will not ever, work.

These fears increase exponentially, if the item is available only on eBay.

Let’s investigate the term “grey” (US “gray”) as it applies to imports. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Photographic equipment
Generally regarded as legal in most countries, parallel imports make expensive photographic equipment attractive to savvy users. The grey market in photographic equipment is thriving in highly developed and heavily taxed states like Singapore, with dealers importing directly from lower taxed states and selling at a lower price, creating competition against a local authorised distributor. Grey sets, as colloquially called, are often comparable to authorised imports. Lenses or flash units of parallel imports often only differ by the warranty provided, and since the grey sets were manufactured for another state, photographic equipment manufacturers often offer local warranty, instead of international warranty, which will render grey sets ineligible for warranty claims with the manufacturer. Due to the nature of local warranties, importers of grey sets usually offer their own warranty schemes with reduced benefits or lasting a shorter period of time. Grey sets do not differ particularly from an authorised import. They look and function identically, apart from the manufacturer’s warranties having been voided.

For those hell-bent on fretting over defective purchases, there are a few options: (1) buy from a supplier who backs their goods with a local warranty (2) pursue Trade Practices with the item’s manufacturer, the gist of which promises reasonable use over reasonable time (3) extend your cover from the outset with a provider of warranties, such as Mack.

If you believe a genuine product from an independent importer buys only a can of worms, and that all will be good when you purchase from official sources, then Dorothy, may The Force be with you. And while you’re there, why not take up one of the attractive $200 money-back rebate schemes in which $200 of the $250 added to your bill comes back to you some time in the future?

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