Purchasing a Camera / Lens from Amazon.de ( Germany )

Irishman

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I am just shopping around at the moment, looking at the Nikon D750 and lens or two, as Amazon UK don't have the D750 in stock, I thought I would look at Amazon.de and they have it in stock priced at €1999 ( Potential saving of approx. £150 on UK price ), was looking at the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8 also, £329.95 on Amazon UK but €346 on Amazon Germany.

Has anyone ever bought from Amazon Germany or France before, what's the story with warranty etc also?
 
I have bought from Amazon.de with no problems, but never anything where I would be concerned with warranty.

Not sure whether this would be looked upon as a grey import, or is that only when it comes from outside of the EU? Worth checking. I am sure someone more knowledgeable about grey imports will chip in.
 
Anything you buy in the EU is covered by an EU wide warranty.


Sent from my iPad using Talk Photography Forums
 
It's a grey import if it hasn't been imported to the UK by the official importer.
 
When I asked Nikon a few years back, I am pretty sure Lenses carried international warranty but bodies were local only - though cant remember if that was EU wide or UK only....
 
Harry 66 is absolutely correct...I checked than myself with Nikon UK/Ireland, seems strange, but true!...Lenses Yes!..Bodies No!
Let us know if that has changed in the last year or so....Good Luck.
 
I don't know how lenient the Nikon warranty is (and whether that is worth the additional cost of buying locally), but any goods purchased within the EU come with a 2-year guarantee as standard (though after 6 months the burden is on you to prove there was an issue with the item upon receipt). See here: http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/shopping-abroad/guarantees/index_en.htm

My experience as a seller on Amazon (both as a marketplace and a Fulfilled by Amazon seller) is that they will accept any return within 60 days for any reason, and customer services have said to me in the past that they will accept a return up to 5 years after a sale if the customer says the product is faulty without checking if it is faulty. Then again, I don't know if they'd be so quick to accept a return if it was them footing the bill for a faulty item compared to a 3rd party seller.
 
Tamron distrubutors for the UK are based in Germany, as long as the serial number is on the German database, the lens will qualify for the extended free 5 year.

This info is from the men in Tamron UK, as I spoke to them last week.

Phil
 
My experience as a seller on Amazon (both as a marketplace and a Fulfilled by Amazon seller) is that they will accept any return within 60 days for any reason, and customer services have said to me in the past that they will accept a return up to 5 years after a sale if the customer says the product is faulty without checking if it is faulty. Then again, I don't know if they'd be so quick to accept a return if it was them footing the bill for a faulty item compared to a 3rd party seller.
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My recent experience with a 1yr old SSD drive which I purchased direct from Amazon - suggests they have different rules for themselves. Despite emails and a phone call to the complaints department, they insisted I deal direct with Sandisk - which was actually a 3 week turnaround (I thought it was 2 but I checked my emails!)
 
Just talk to someone at Nikon UK, they say that if I but a camera from Germany, 'It would have a 1 year European warranty if it come with a European warranty card'.
 
Thanks for that clarification.. This why I decided the extra few Euro would be better spent on Amazon uk, as this would give me both the 2yr warranty and access to their repair centre in Co. Meath if required. Personally I think I would still go down that track again :nikon:
 
harry66 said:
My recent experience with a 1yr old SSD drive which I purchased direct from Amazon - suggests they have different rules for themselves. Despite emails and a phone call to the complaints department, they insisted I deal direct with Sandisk - which was actually a 3 week turnaround (I thought it was 2 but I checked my emails!)
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So I presume Amazon tried to pretend that they were covered by Luxembourgish law. I'd have had them in court.
 
hollis_f said:
So I presume Amazon tried to pretend that they were covered by Luxembourgish law. I'd have had them in court.
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It was surreal conversation I had on the phone, no matter what I said - long time customer, UK consumer law / rights, etc they just kept politely repeating that I would need to send it back to Sandisk, even offered to contact Sandisk on my behalf to arrange the return - like that was really going to speed things up - another cog in the wheel.

In the end I gave up and sent it off Sandisk and then when it became apparent it was going to take more than 10 days I just bought a new Samsung SSD and fitted that to the laptop. Sandisk eventually sent me a newer improved model as replacement which I just stuck on Ebay.
 
mortimerhill said:
It's a grey import if it hasn't been imported to the UK by the official importer.
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Nope, if it's been imported into the EU and had all import duties paid and conforms to the relative EU regulations, it's not a grey import.

Part of the EU membership allows you to purchase from anywhere in the EU - Nikon can't do anything about it. Also note that they say they offer a 1 year warranty but the EU minimum warranty period is 2 years for new products.
 
st599 said:
Nope, if it's been imported into the EU and had all import duties paid and conforms to the relative EU regulations, it's not a grey import.

Part of the EU membership allows you to purchase from anywhere in the EU - Nikon can't do anything about it. Also note that they say they offer a 1 year warranty but the EU minimum warranty period is 2 years for new products.
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Oops - fast fingers. I meant:

if it's been imported into the EU by Nikon's European partner and had...

So any retailer in the EU who've bought wholesale from Nikon Europe is not a grey importer. So you could buy a camera from Poland, a Lens from Germany and a flash from Spain - you'd have a 2 year warranty with each and Nikon would have to give you the same level of service (i.e. EU wide repairs) as a local in those countries.
 
I just tried buying a Canon 70-200 IS II lens and got the message:

"Dieser Artikel kann nicht an die ausgewählte Adresse versandt werden. Erfahren Sie mehr. Sie können entweder die Lieferadresse ändern oder den Artikel aus Ihrer Bestellung löschen."

meaning "This item can not be sent to the selected address. Learn more. You can either change the delivery address or delete the item from your order."

It's sold by Amazon themselves.

Boo!
 
Bought a tamron lens from amazon Germany. Registered fine for 5yr warranty
 
mortimerhill said:
It's a grey import if it hasn't been imported to the UK by the official importer.
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No it's not.

But you would be dealing with Amazon.de for any warranty claims.

Neil Pho said:
I wonder if it because their UK site doesn't have it for sale from them.
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It's often to do with sales territories. I wanted a couple of very specific brass gears sold by Konrad on Amazon.de but they refuse to ship them outside Germany. No bother, I just get them sent to family in Germany and collect on my next trip.


There's an older thread somewhere with experiences of using the non-UK Amazon websites. It can save you a lot of cash doing this.
 
If Amazon.de will not ship to the UK, try other .de online shops. There are plenty of reputable ones. Check out idealo.de to compare dealers and get the best prices. Amazon is often not the cheapest. Idealo.co.uk are good for that too.
 
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st599 said:
Nope, if it's been imported into the EU and had all import duties paid and conforms to the relative EU regulations, it's not a grey import.

Part of the EU membership allows you to purchase from anywhere in the EU - Nikon can't do anything about it. Also note that they say they offer a 1 year warranty but the EU minimum warranty period is 2 years for new products.
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It is a grey import. Learn your facts. The definition of a grey import is one that has not been imported by the official importer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_import_vehicle

It is quite possible for a grey import to have had all taxes paid.
 
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A warning has been given for this post
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MOD EDIT: Simon, the mod team can see the edit history of posts.
That being the case, have a point, and be more civil in future.
 
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mortimerhill said:
your(sic) a ******* idiot
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Argument ad hominem, the last resort of the beaten orator.

You're wrong. I've been part of many pan-EU tender processes and have used pan-EU warranties for equipment on many occasions.

Just to make sure this chap doesn't misinform people, you can legally purchase equipment anywhere in the EU and ship it to any other EU country. You are fully covered by an EU warranty. It is NOT a grey import.
 
st599 said:
Just to make sure this chap doesn't misinform people, you can legally purchase equipment anywhere in the EU and ship it to any other EU country. You are fully covered by an EU warranty. It is NOT a grey import.
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Most of what you say is correct, but the last bit is not necessarily correct depending on the circumstances.

If we're interested in accuracy: a grey import is an item market which has been traded through distribution channels that are legal but not intended by the original manufacturer.

If an item of photographic equipment is imported legally into the EU, it is perfectly legal to then import it into another EU country, but if it bypasses the manufacturer's intended distribution channel then it is by definition a grey import. Nothing wrong with that. Last week I bought a Nikon 400/2.8 lens from Foto Konijnenberg in the Netherlands. I bypassed the distribution channels operated by Nikon UK so it's a grey import. In other circumstances, different manufacturers might have pan-EU distribution channels so it wouldn't be a grey import. But either way it's perfectly legal.

The trouble is, when most people on Talk Photography - including @st599 it seems - talk about they grey market, they really mean the black market. I think we all know that the way certain retailers undercut mainstream UK prices by 20% is that they are importing equipment into the UK - or arranging things so that the buyer imports the equipment into the UK - without import duty and VAT bring paid. That's not a grey market, it's a black market, and it's illegal, but we all know it goes on.
 
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