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I want to buy a new (or refurbished) DSLR from the US and get it here to India, because DSLRs are a good $200 cheaper in the US — around 10,000 rupees, not a small amount. I will not be able to utilize the warranty since I'll be using the camera over here; it's just going to be wasted, so I don't need it.

I believe buying it in the gray market is cheaper, and also serves my no-warranty-needed deal.

So my questions are:

  • Are there reputed sites that sell gray market cameras and lenses?
  • Is there anything else besides the warranty that I can give up to save a few extra bucks?
  • How about choosing the best deal using Google Products Search and buying from there?
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Most grey market sellers are robbers. The will never sell you the camera, unless you agree to pay exorbitant prices for the accessories that should be included anyways.

BH Photo is a reputable stored based in New York that ships internationally. They label some of their products 'Imported' and give a small discount for that. Those count as grey market, I think.

If you're lucky enough the warranty will be valid for you. That depends on the company. I once got a warranty card that said 'Export warranty, not valid in the country where purchased' (something like that).

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    \$\begingroup\$ B&H's "imported" gear is gray market, yes. \$\endgroup\$
    – Reid
    Commented Nov 4, 2010 at 0:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ I use B&H and buy their none-US warranty versions, because I'm also not in the US. Would Cannon (CPS) give me hassle if I had a warranty issue and I wasn't in the US? Don't know, it's never happened. I travel professionally to shoot though, and I would take a very dim view if they gave me trouble when their gear broke in some foreign place. People travel. I think the B&H stuff comes with an "international warranty", probably more use than the US version to me at least. B&H are excellent and can ship quicker than local pro shops. \$\endgroup\$
    – philw
    Commented Nov 4, 2010 at 14:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ both Canon and Nikon have policies in place to refuse servicing any device outside the country the warranty was issued in. That means that a Nikon US issued warranty is no good outside the US. A Canon Europe warranty is no good outside Europe. Grey market imports are usually from Japan or SEA, so won't likely be honoured in either the US or Europe. \$\endgroup\$
    – jwenting
    Commented Apr 27, 2011 at 7:43
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I don't know if this is specifically Grey market, but FredMiranda forums sell a lot of new and used gear at pretty nice prices. I have had very good luck with them thus far. The biggest difficulty is probably going to be getting stuff shipped there.

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