With second hand kit - does it matter where it was bought?

For second hand does it matter what country it was bought from?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 23.3%

  • No

    Votes: 23 76.7%
  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
JohnN

JohnN

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Hi,

I've seen in a few for sale threads people asking where an item was sourced - my thoughts are that warranties are not transferable so does it matter other than for the buyer to offer a lower price to try and balance out the loss to the seller.

Am I missing something?

I've added a poll with a simple yes or no to keep it simple.

I'm really curious about this.
 
Are you talking about the camera body, lenses, or other photography equipment ?
 
I buy quite a few s/h bits for my Sony cameras. Of course, I can source relatively inexpensive and high quality Minolta lenses, most of my lenses are Minolta. They can be nearly 30yr old. It wouldn't be realistic to expect any sort of provenance, I just want to see the current condition, and as the quality is very good, breakdowns are rare( and not too expensive ). With newer kit it might be of interest and affect the price.
 
fracster said:
I wonder if this will descend into a grey import/tax argument?..............:naughty:
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It could do but I'm hoping not - the question really isn't about the morality of tax evasion as once its second hand warranty is out of the window (unless they act as a go between - which could the be deemed as fraudulent? No idea) then its just paid for service or repair.
 
dinners said:
Are you talking about the camera body, lenses, or other photography equipment ?
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I guess bodies and lenses mostly - I've not seen this mentioned for other items - I guess quite often they're large or heavy (flashes excluded) so people presume they were bought here.
 
I`m going to hazard a guess that some people won`t buy secondhand stuff that was originally bought on the grey market, on principle.
 
Yeah, could be - from what I've seen they just offer a lower price and still take it but yes, I guess there will be some.
 
Interestingly I have sold a couple of lenses to MBP lately and they have started asking from where the item was purchased. I'm guessing that has something to do with import tax/VAT. One was from Ebay and they even asked for the sellers username.
 
For me, buying second hand if originally sourced from abroad & out of warranty would be fine, especially if I was buying from a UK 'togger who has used the item & described it accurately.
 
Mike.P said:
Interestingly I have sold a couple of lenses to MBP lately and they have started asking from where the item was purchased. I'm guessing that has something to do with import tax/VAT. One was from Ebay and they even asked for the sellers username.
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Funnily enough I sent a lens to them yesterday & they asked where it was originally bought & when.

I've mentioned this before on here & not sure the reason is solely tax related/implications/legal re the trader & re-selling, but maybe more that potential purchasers expect to pay less because the original importer paid less?
 
I would always prefer UK or EURO sourced, nothing to do with the tax, but some manufacturers won't work on grey equipment even outside warranty and paid for.
 
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OldCarlos said:
Funnily enough I sent a lens to them yesterday & they asked where it was originally bought & when.

I've mentioned this before on here & not sure the reason is solely tax related/implications/legal re the trader & re-selling, but maybe more that potential purchasers expect to pay less because the original importer paid less?
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Another point I was going to mention, future resale on grey can also be more problematic than UK/Euro stock.
 
Mike.P said:
Interestingly I have sold a couple of lenses to MBP lately and they have started asking from where the item was purchased. I'm guessing that has something to do with import tax/VAT. One was from Ebay and they even asked for the sellers username.
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That could be to try and rule out stolen goods?
 
OldCarlos said:
For me, buying second hand if originally sourced from abroad & out of warranty would be fine, especially if I was buying from a UK 'togger who has used the item & described it accurately.
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This.
 
Mike.P said:
Interestingly I have sold a couple of lenses to MBP lately and they have started asking from where the item was purchased. I'm guessing that has something to do with import tax/VAT. One was from Ebay and they even asked for the sellers username.
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Same here, When I sold my D700 to them they asked for the details and I told them it was bought from the forum and they wanted the guys Username and link to the thread even though they won't be able to see it.
 
Surely a secondhand out of warranty price should be judged on condition rather than where it was bought or for how much, can't see how the original purchase price has any bearing on the used value.

Myself and a few others on here benefited from an Amazon misprice a year or so ago, does that mean if I wanted to sell it would be worth less than one bought at full whack?
 
Same here, When I sold my D700 to them they asked for the details and I told them it was bought from the forum and they wanted the guys Username and link to the thread even though they won't be able to see it
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You don't know that they haven't got a username on here, in fact my guess would be that they probably have. If so and they read this, where is my postage money for the tripod I sent back with sand in the leg locks and no tools supplied?
 
Sometimes a non-UK model can share a consumer-facing product name/number that's the same as a UK model but has a different set of features - it's going back twenty-odd years but Sony used to do this a lot with camcorders where the Singapore model had the firmware adjusted to increase the digital zoom range. But I don't know of anyone doing this currently.

It's as much a provenance thing as anything else..
  • Suppose A bought a camera from Ebay, if it had a fault they'd be straight back to Ebay/Paypal to return the item and most people are aware that Ebay generally finds in favour of the buyer.
  • B buys the same model camera but from a classified advert on TP. If there's a fault he's p'ing in the wind, so if MPB see he's trying to sell it on within a couple of weeksof buying it they're going to have a really good look at it before accepting it.
And there's the grey import vs. manufacturer service costs, or even the manufacturer accepting it for service - regardless of warranty status. Do you want to take a risk that Canikon might decide to not accept any grey import items regardless of warranty status?
 
ST4 said:
A nikon D800 is a Nikon D800 whether bought in France, Hong Kong, UK. Does it really matter?
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Yes, it does to Nikon.

What does owning a "Grey Market" Nikon product mean to you?

Nikon European offices cannot provide any technical support or warranty service for Grey Market product, additionally they may not perform any fee-based repair work on Grey Market products.

Contact the reseller or importer of your Grey Market products for warranty and service information as well as software updates and downloads.
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https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5409/~/what-does-grey-market-product-mean?
 
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Some warranties are transferable (which was handy on something I bought 2nd hand here then sold on which then developed a fault!) so that could be a reason to make sure it was UK (or at least European) sourced since some companies won't touch greys. However, if the price was right and the warranty was out, it wouldn't really matter to me. Having said that, most of the second hand stuff I buy is from shops (in the flesh) so I a) can inspect and test it before forking out and b) get some warranty on the goods.
 
Hypothetically your working Ie in hong kong or america or on vacation and a month later your contract or vacation ends for what ever reason, and you had bought a camera or lens and had used them is this then a grey import??
Mike
 
I guess as far as Nikon is concerned then yes - would be an interesting PR exercise.
 
wouldn't matter to me so long as it's in good nick with no issues. Used is used as far as I'm concerned.
 
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fracster said:
I`m going to hazard a guess that some people won`t buy secondhand stuff that was originally bought on the grey market, on principle.
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It's not so much won't buy, but more for how much. Why should someone who has paid grey market prices expect the same amount of money for a product that has been UK sourced?
 
Why should someone who has paid grey market prices expect the same amount of money for a product that has been UK sourced?
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If you take that line, why should someone who bought their gear in a sale expect as much as another person who paid a premium price when the item was first launched
 
DemiLion said:
It's not so much won't buy, but more for how much. Why should someone who has paid grey market prices expect the same amount of money for a product that has been UK sourced?
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That's not really the problem. It's why should Canikon UK or Canikon Europe pay the warranty costs on an item that they didn't receive the warranty payment for at the point of sale. It's not the manufacturer that provides the warranty, it's the distributor - and it's paid for by an insurance premium built in to the sales price.
 
Alastair said:
That's not really the problem. It's why should Canikon UK or Canikon Europe pay the warranty costs on an item that they didn't receive the warranty payment for at the point of sale. It's not the manufacturer that provides the warranty, it's the distributor - and it's paid for by an insurance premium built in to the sales price.
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As far as I'm aware the warranty for camera bodies is only valid if they have been bought within the EU. Lenses on the other hand have a global validity.
 
tijuana taxi said:
If you take that line, why should someone who bought their gear in a sale expect as much as another person who paid a premium price when the item was first launched
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Because the early adopter's premium is just that. A premium on the price to get hold of shiny kit first.

Although not recently, I've seen people on here try to offload grey imports at UK based second hand prices which is more than they paid for them originally.
The UK price for a 5DIII is around £2,300 so a fair used price would be around £1750-£1800 (condition dependant); which is what one on here was up for recently.
Is it fair that someone who has evaded paying VAT and sourced the camera at around £1900 should charge the same? Bearing in mind that VAT would still legally be due on the body?
 
with most of the second hand threads on here you nearly always see, "warranty is not transferable but happy to act as a go between if needed". you can't say fairer than that, so if a warranty is your issue, buy new. hope that helps mike.
 
This all comes down to the usual rules of selling and buying as in both parties being satisfied with the deal

If those terms are met what does anything else matter?
 
Another photographer told me that neither Sigma or Tamron's U.K repair centre's will repair grey import equipment even if you are willing to pay. Not sure if this is true or not though. I would of thought as long as you were paying there would be no issues.
 
dinorock said:
with most of the second hand threads on here you nearly always see, "warranty is not transferable but happy to act as a go between if needed". you can't say fairer than that, so if a warranty is your issue, buy new. hope that helps mike.
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Thats another thing I've seen and wondered about - wouldn't that be fraud?
 
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I don't think it make much different, except on the price I would expect a better price on grey import due to them usually costing less in the first place.
The thing that's get me most is the add that say "I can get this for it on e.bay" so why don't they put it on e.bay in the first place :(
 
MDB2 said:
Hypothetically your working Ie in hong kong or america or on vacation and a month later your contract or vacation ends for what ever reason, and you had bought a camera or lens and had used them is this then a grey import??
Mike
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Nikon are quite plain in their policy, you get to return it to Hong Kong or America:

Does owning a "Grey Market" Nikon product mean I don't have a warranty?

Nikon Europe offer a warranty service system for products which are sold via it's own distribution channels.

If you own a Grey Market product it will have to be returned to the reseller or importer for warranty service. Refer to your reseller for service contact information.

Updated 11/04/2014
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DemiLion said:
As far as I'm aware the warranty for camera bodies is only valid if they have been bought within the EU. Lenses on the other hand have a global validity.
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Didn't that change a few years ago? Canon have a Euro warranty for all items and it seems so do Nikon now.
 
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JohnN said:
Thats another thing I've seen and wondered about - wouldn't that be fraud?
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as far as nikon is concerned i suppose as long as it comes back from the original purchaser they would fix it "who's to know" answer to your question, yep.
 
Mike.P said:
Interestingly I have sold a couple of lenses to MBP lately and they have started asking from where the item was purchased. I'm guessing that has something to do with import tax/VAT. One was from Ebay and they even asked for the sellers username.
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I tried to sell to mpb and they asked for invoice etc.

An item was bought 2nd hand from here about 3 years ago and they wouldn't touch it as I didn't have the original receipt stating where it came from. I believe this is their way of trying to stop people selling grey imports to them. It does mean that you can only mainly sell them items you have bought new unless you were given the original receipt from the 2nd hand seller
 
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