Would buy photo equipment from Singapore (Canon,Nikon,...) in large quantities.Can anybody recommend a dealer?

Question

I fully agree to the 2 answers I have got, even if they are not what I expected. Each customer needs to be informed of what he/she is buying. Only: I do not live in USA and in my country oficial distributors profit from their position, so that their prices are +10/+25% higher than in any EU country, and even more than in USA. Comparison is done regarding official products. So, one may need some true arguments for negotiation, and the best would be to have some alternatives. I hope this clears some things.

Answer 1

I haven't had any problems with the things I have ordered from outside the US, but I would only buy things I knew I could live without if they were to break. As a professional photographer, I would never buy my "pro gear" from anyone but a dealer, including the lenses, camera bodies, and anything else I'd use for my career.

I also worked for Wolf Camera and they always warned us about grey market products (which is what they are from other countries). They don't have the strict standards that they keep in the US factories. The glass in the lenses can have imperfections and they can be more lenient on aligning the lenses. If your buying in large quantities and planning to sell them, PLEASE be honest with the people you're selling to! There's nothing worse than being deceived into buying a lesser quality product without knowing it!

Answer 2

Shana_Banana may have worked in a camera store but she is misinformed about the "gray market". Camera manufacturers have licensed importers in each country - such as NikonUSA or CanonUSA, etc. These licensed importers pay a higher price, usually, due to currency fluctuations. Another importer may find a cheaper price in Singapore or Hong Kong or Taiwan. They buy the genuine Nikon or Sony or Canon cameras there and then import them to the USA. They then sell them at a lower cost since they paid less than the official USA importer. This is perfectly legal but somewhat unethical. Why? Because the cameras do NOT have a USA warranty. The warranty is only good in the original country of purchase. If Jane Consumer buys one of these cameras and it needs service, it will have to be sent back to where it was originally purchased. If the seller didn't inform Jane of this then she has, in effect, been defrauded.

Canon released the same camera with 3 different names as a way of combating the "gray market".

USA - Canon Rebel Digital XT
Japan - Canon EOS KISS n Digital
Elsewhere - Canon EOS 350D

So, Chrisi, if that is what you are planning on doing at least tell your buyers that the camera does NOT have a USA warranty.