Jun 21
The grey market holds a lot of attraction for a number of people looking for tech products. In many cases, it provides people with products that have not been officially released in their countries (consider the iPad) and in others, allows them to buy a product at a much lower rate - a grey market iPhone 3GS for instance comes for around Rs 28,000 as compared to its prim and proper counterpart, which costs in the vicinity of Rs 35,000. However, making a purchase from the grey market comes with its own set of pitfalls, some of which can be significant. Here’s a look at five of the biggest ones.
- No assurance of authenticity: No matter how well you know the dealer from whom you have bought the product, you have virtually no way of knowing that what you have got is a genuine, first-hand article. There is a chance that you might end up with a second-hand product that has been repackaged.
- Absence of warranty and support: Products purchased from the grey market are not covered by official warranty and support. So the Lord help you if something goes wrong with it - you will have to head right back to the grey market to get it repaired, without any assurance whatsoever that things will be fine.
- No updates: In the case of many grey market products, software updates are simply not possible. You therefore run the risk of not getting the latest improvements the company might have made to a product. Many people using pirated versions of Windows have been unable to install the special packages Microsoft released for the software.
- Limited functionality: A number of products will work only with limited functionality if you purchase them from “unofficial” sources. For example, those who have purchased their PS3 from the grey market might have trouble playing games online.
- No receipt: A grey market purchase being not strictly legal, you are unlikely to get a proper receipt for your product, which effectively prevents you from showing it in your accounts, when you head to the taxman to show your revenues and expenses.
