5 replies to this topic

[Soulman]

I am new to Nikons-and have decided to jump in full-frame and buy a D750. Last SLR I bought was an Olympus OM-1 in 1976. So, would have already purchased a D750 bundle with 24-120 lens this weekend for $2296.95 if Adorama or B & H were shipping during Passover/Shabbatt! I need a camera by April 11th. Point is, Abes of Maine has this kit plus a bunch of accessories AND the 70-300 zoom for $2279. Nikon D750 Digital SLR Camera Body + Nikon AF-S NIKKOR Bundle DSLR750KIT45

Abes says they are not an authorized retailer for Nikon, so is this a "grey market" camera/bundle? If so, what are forum users experience with Abes or grey market cameras?

 

[Adam]

I thought Abe's was authorized, but if it says elsewhere that they're not, then the gear is by definition grey market.  Sometimes stores sell import models of the same gear for less.

 

According to their site :

• All Products include USA Manufacturer's Warranty unless otherwise stated

[Merco_61]

A retailer doesn't have to be authorized to sell Nikon. Why not send them a question as to whether the Nikon USA warranty is valid. They are reputable enough to be known on my side of the pond, so I wouldn't expect any shenanigans from them.

[TBonz]

As I recall, they've been around since you bought your Olympus.  I have no firm info, but I believe that back then they were gray market but have changed since.  I would certainly ask them the question on US Warranty before I ordered though!

[Soulman]

Thanks everybody for the feedback.

The Nikon website did not list Abe's as Authorized and I found that Abe's says in their FAQ's "Some notable manufacturer’s that we are NOT Authorized Dealer for include Canon, LG, Nikon, Panasonic, Tamron, Sigma, Samsung & Sony."

I check several more of Nikon's listed Dealers and found a good package at Beach Camera, even a little better deal than Adorama or B & H, same price $2296, and feeling the time pinch, I took it.

Abe's with the second lens for $20 less seems too good to be true.

Looking forward to getting my hands on what I anticipate will be a great camera.

I am sure I will have many more questions for you helpful members here!

[robproctor83]

Soulman, just FYI I had purchased a lens from Beach Camera on Amazon that they claimed was USA retail but it in fact was not. My purchase was for a Tamron 24-70 f2.8 g2, which they advertised as a USA model with next day shipping, same day shipping in some locations in fact. Anyways, first problem was that my order was not shipped on time, in fact they didn't even have the lens! It was a little after that first wave of lenses they released, essentially they were sold out everywhere and Beach Camera had it listed as available for shipping next day... So I bought it and did next day Prime shipping. Well, the next day rolls around and I don't get any notification of anything... Later in the afternoon I shot them an email asking if there was any status on my purchase, they opted to not respond but instead sent an automated email from Amazon stating my order had been postponed... To the same date as all the other retail outlets that sold this lens... Which was like a week or something away! I opted to keep the order and not cancel it as it was a bundle and included the Tamron Tap-In console which I thought might be useful.

 

So about a week later I get the order. The first thing I notice is that the box does not have the 6 year warranty, USA dealer sticker that signifies it's an actual USA product with a real warranty. However, Tamron states that not all USA authorized products will have that sticker, so I was still hopeful. The real was that the lens would not focus properly, it had extreme font and back focusing issues which I later realized is why they included the $50 Tap-In console with the kit. Needless to say even with my d850, Auto Fine tune and the Tap-In console (which is much much better than Nikons AFT I must admit) ultimately couldn't fix the problem. Even though The Tap-In console allows you to adjust the focus at different focal lengths it just wasn't enough... Or at least I couldn't figure it out.

 

Anyways, to cut the story short,the focusing issue made it useless and so I ended up returning it to Beach Camera. Thankfully they processed my refund without a single problem but their sheisty business had me worried. I also sort of came to the realization that they sold this item as a bundle in hopes that the user wouldn't be able to return all the misc garbage items that it came with. I meticulously repackaged each item and documented them one by one and I still almost accidentally sent the wrong stuff back. So yea, I had a bad experience with them. And from my other experiences if the deal seems to good to be true then it is. No one out there is wanting to sell you something for less than what it's worth. Sure, you might get lucky, but at that point your taking a gamble, so be prepared to lose if you take the bet.

 

Also just another FYI, reading this thread someone also purchased an item from that Abes site and found that it wasn't an offiical product and as such lost basically all the money they spent on that item. So I would not recommend buying important items there. Flickr: Discussing Grey Market? in Tamron Lens Users (USA)