How do i know if a nikon camera is gray market?

also for lenses? because im looking into second hand items|||Gray market goods are unauthorized imports. It's not wise to purchase gray market because most manufacturer warranties are region-specific. The user interface and charger may also be different.





Indications of gray market goods:


- Missing warranty card or 3rd party warranty service replacement


- Product branding (ex. Canon brands their P%26amp;S cameras with the PowerShot name for the Americas and the IXUS name for Europe)


- Missing, incorrect, or 3rd party charger/battery


- Missing manuals or manuals for a different language


- Default UI language is uncommon in the region


- Missing, illegible, damaged, or suspicious serial numbers





If you're buying second hand it won't really matter. Most manufacturer warranties do not carry over with the product after a switch of ownership. Also, buying used goods on eBay or any place on the internet (international auctions, classifieds, forums, etc.) obviously increases the chance of receiving goods from other countries.|||use a trustworthy site|||Gray market normally doesn't matter for used gear.





Gray market means that genuine Nikon (or any other brand) products were legally sold outside of their intended market. In other words, these are 100% legitimate items, which underwent the usual quality control, but weren't imported by the official distributor.





The up side for the customer is that they are a little bit cheaper.


The down side for the customer is that they don't have the usual one-year warranty for repairs.


Many completely reputable stores offer you a choice. And they are upfront about the difference. On the other hand, many fraudulent stores try to pass off gray market items as official imports, and the customer only finds out later that they were scammed out of a warranty.





If gray market items are sold on the used market after the warranty has already expired, the distinction doesn't matter anymore - they are the exact same products.





If you absolutely, positively want to know if a specific product is/ was a gray import, you'll have to do some Google searching based on serial numbers.