Reports are saying that Canon has dropped its camera retail prices to match those offered by grey marketers such as Kogan, which buy from (usually) Asian distributors and then resell in Australia with no local manufacturer’s warranty.

Many people have taken the risk on this and I have counselled long and hard to discourage the practice as it has far bigger implications than just potentially buying a donkey unit.( I have documented reports of units arriving with the wrong power supplies, no power supplies, NTSC settings and not PAL, manuals in Chinese or worse).

But as I have said many times, the practice also affects the jobs of relatives, friends and neighbours; the tax man is dudded as dodgy invoices indicate incorrect pricing for import duty and GST purposes and of course, if it breaks down, then the major manufacturers have the right to refuse warranty and even repairs as overseas models many be built to different specifications than those brought in ‘properly’ for the Australian market. Spare parts may not be available nor service manuals for the service department folk. Under these circumstances, it is pointless to yell and even threaten these people just trying to do a job; and yes, I also have anecdotal evidence of this happening too.

I applaud Canon (and previously Nikon) for this action, but also lament that they may have also compromised their bottom line as the costs of doing business in Australia are much higher than in Asia or even the US.

It can only be hoped the public gets to understand the overall picture and starts supporting ‘local’. We all win in the long run.