Gray Market

[Guest asiapacpro]

There have been a number of DVX100A cameras offered at very low prices from dealers as well as on e-bay. I have heard that some of these vendors sell cameras that were intended for foreign markets at lower prices. They have been diverted for sale in the US. This may or may not be a bad thing but how do you know?

 

Does anyone know a way to check serial numbers to find out if a unit is for US export or is Gray Market?

 

Thanks

[Noah Kadner]

Best way to check is if the dealer is authorized. Go to this site and type in the dealer's zipcode:

 

http://b2b.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ch.jsp?cmpycd=3

 

If they don't come up they are dealing grey market. Also on the DVX100- any price below about $3,200 is more than likely grey market. There's no free lunch.

 

Noah

[Jan Crittenden]

There have been a number of DVX100A cameras offered at very low prices from dealers as well as on e-bay.  I have heard that some of these vendors sell cameras that were intended for foreign markets at lower prices.  They have been diverted for sale in the US.  This may or may not be a bad thing but how do you know?

 

Does anyone know a way to check serial numbers to find out if a unit is for US export or is Gray Market?

 

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

If the Unit has a copy of Magic Bullet for Editors then it is a US unit wil a US warranty. In general, any price under $3200 is suspect. What you don't want is to find out that you have no warranty once it is yours and you have a problem, and yes the service guys do check serial numbers before they commence the repair.

 

If you want to check a serial number you can send me a private message. Please include the serial number and model number as written on the underside of the viewfinder.

 

Best regards,

 

Jan

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I believe there have been rulings in the UK which prevent large international companies from getting away with this kind of chicanery - I mean, c'mon, it's all the same faceless Japanese conglomerate in the end!

 

Phil

[Jan Crittenden]

I believe there have been rulings in the UK which prevent large international companies from getting away with this kind of chicanery - I mean, c'mon, it's all the same faceless Japanese conglomerate in the end!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well Phil, here in the US there is no law that prohibits a person from becoming an importer of goods and making his profit on the exchange rate between the two countries. In fact there is a law that protects a persons right to do just that. The reality here is that while we do sell a lot of AG-DVX100s, however there is another large lot of them being imported from Japan(the DVX in Japan has English markings on it) and Canada. This does set up some confusion in the marketplace.

 

That said, the warranty is paid for with the profit that we make on the cameras, so in a way it really isn't all profit, it is really the difference between what we sell it for and what we paid for it from Japan. That difference is what also pays my salary. Point here is that if an additional 25% more are coming into the country than what we import, there is no reasonable way for us to support those without an international warranty, and at this time there is no such thing.

 

Add to that, the fact that the way many of the unauthorized product is sold is that the vendor posts a most unbelieveable price to entice the customer to call, gets his credit card number and then starts to walk him through all of the accessories that he will need. At about $4,000 they stop, and will ship the camera. Most of the accessories that have been sold are sub-par and in some cases totally unusable. Of course these vendors have a very poor rating, but some unwitting customers fall into it and find that it is virtually impossible to return the unusable stuff.

 

This is why I decided to add the Magic Bullet to the DVX, so that US customers can discern who is legit.

 

Anyhow back to the problem, Asia should follow Noah's advise and use our B2B page.

 

Hope this aids in understanding,

 

Jan

Edited December 15, 2004 by Jan Crittenden

[Shaun Dixon]

Hi,

 

Is the camera still considered gray market if it is advertised as having a U.S. Warranty?

 

Thanks,

Shaun

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Maybe, maybe not; you need to ask how the warranty will be supported. Quote Ms. Crittenden if need be.

 

If it's the slightest bit grey, though, good luck getting Panasonic to look after it for you; most setups like that (my experience is with software, but it's the same deal) will do absolutely anything they possibly can to get out of supporting you. It's an insurance claim - think of it like that - do insurance companies try to screw you? Of course they do, it's their job.

 

And frankly, all this "international warranty doesn't exist" really winds me up - it's all one company. Go research what the Panasonic zaibatsu in Japan gets up to in collusive agreements with people who aren't even part of the same company, and you'll realise that they're perfectly capable of doing this, if only they weren't making so much money out of the status quo. If they choose to internally structure themselves such that they can't deal with international warranty claims, that should be their problem, not yours, since you can't do anything about it - but of course you end up paying for their corporate inertia anyway.

 

Remember, these are the people who charge more for stuff in the UK because they know they can get away with it, and for no better reason.

 

Phil