Nikon MC-36

[Mountaineye]

Dear knowledgable friends. Although these are so overpriced by Nikon as to be beyond what I can justify, there are a great number on Ebay. They are sold as genuine, coming from HK but usually turning over at about £45 compared with £100 more from authorised dealers. I bought one at this price and it 'appears' to be authentic. Common sense suggests that it isn't. Does anyone have any experience or would anyone like to suggest a way of telling real from fake. If anyone has a genuine item, a photo of the innards would be interesting.
The box looks spot on, the item looks pukka, the huge instruction manual appears right as well. The items functions exactly as you would expect. Nikon UK were spectacularly unhelpful as one might expect.
Anyone got anything to add?

 

[gramps]

Nikon UK were spectacularly unhelpful as one might expect.

I would expect - I get people contacting me about products I install, they have no intention of buying from me or contributing anything to my business, they just want to buy cheap to avoid me and then expect me to fill in the gaps free of charge for them

 

[Mountaineye]

Ouch, a little unfair I think. I used to work in the photographic retail trade many years ago and would get similarly grumpy when people came into our shop for advice knowing that we were Nikon specalists only to then go and buy at lower costs usually from Jacobs or Jessops. This however is slightly different I would suggest in my defence. Consider the context:This cable probably costs about £10 to manufacture plus a little shipping and packaging. It is sold in USA for £78 and in UK for anywhere between £129 and £150. So already we are being ripped off. I aksed Nikon if I could assume that buying through a legitimate source such as Amazon, I could be sure it would be genuine, they declined to comment. I asked them if there was any way in which I could be sure I was purchasing a genuine Nikon produce and they again declined to comment. It is immoral to perpetuate such a price differential between here and the states and also works against their own interests as it then perpetuates a trade in counterfeit goods. I'd pay £80 for a remote cable but refusing to provide me with the means of detirmining which is real and fake apart from paying way over the odds is nonsense. At every level of their business, Nikon don't really help themselves.

 

[gramps]

Ouch, a little unfair I think.

Sorry, not intending to be unfair but you are only looking at it from one direction ... yours.

I aksed Nikon if I could assume that buying through a legitimate source such as Amazon, I could be sure it would be genuine, they declined to comment.

Very wise, how can they be sure when Amazon also lists products from other sellers?

I asked them if there was any way in which I could be sure I was purchasing a genuine Nikon produce and they again declined to comment ... but refusing to provide me with the means of detirmining which is real and fake apart from paying way over the odds is nonsense.

I'm sure that Nikon would recommend using a registered Nikon professional dealer to be sure of authenticity. What you want them to do is to offer authenticity on a product outside of their distribution control - unrealistic I would say.

 

[Mountaineye]

OK, last instalment I promise as I suspect we're not going to agree. There are two strands to this. One is as you say of perspective. The perspective that pervades the best companies is a consumer oriented perspective, so yes I would hope that Nikon might try to look at things from a customer's point of view. Historically this has been a weak spot for Nikon, they produce some great products but have never ever been good at listening.
Secondly I can see no reason why any company would not even try to assist a customer in determining real from fake goods.
When I was in the trade, we tried to send customers away in a positive frame of mind and ready to spread positive opinions about us. We frequently sold high value goods to customers who felt we were the only people not trying to push them and prepared to listen to their stories and understand their needs.
Nikon don't know that I have been a loyal and frequent customer since the late 70's, I've spent tens of thousands of pounds with them. The point is that any customer, might turn out to be such.They are too busy defending their right to rip me off for over priced acessories than trying to develop good customer relation management. This is short sighted, the new world order is customer focused business and they are being left behind.

 

[gramps]

We'll agree to disagree then

On your final statement about them being left behind, I would point you to the panic to buy the new D800 and D4 even with the adverse comments about increases in price, glitches and shortages.

 

[strax]

Dear knowledgable friends. Although these are so overpriced by Nikon as to be beyond what I can justify, there are a great number on Ebay. They are sold as genuine, coming from HK but usually turning over at about £45 compared with £100 more from authorised dealers. I bought one at this price and it 'appears' to be authentic. Common sense suggests that it isn't. Does anyone have any experience or would anyone like to suggest a way of telling real from fake. If anyone has a genuine item, a photo of the innards would be interesting.
The box looks spot on, the item looks pukka, the huge instruction manual appears right as well. The items functions exactly as you would expect. Nikon UK were spectacularly unhelpful as one might expect.
Anyone got anything to add?

I bought a yongnou one which is an exact copy of the Nikon mc36. It only cost £24 delivered and works perfect. It even has the same problem as the mc36, it won't switch off!

 

[GIZTO29]

I have a SHOOT copy off Ebay, i think it was £17.99 and is identical. I use it for timelapse and also HDR Timelapse