Talk:Grey market

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Contents 1 U.S. Spelling note 2 the grey market in photographic equipments 3 Is the grey market legal? 4 disambiguation 5 confusing sentence 6 History of Grey Market 7 Textbooks

[edit] U.S. Spelling note

I have re-inserted a note on U.S. spelling ("gray" vs. "grey"), as is common in Wiki articles featuring internationally variant spelling. Such a note was deleted in an earlier edit. If it's felt that such a note is not appropriate, let's talk about it here. Sharkford 18:27, 2004 Dec 3 (UTC)

I don't object to it, but I am not sure it's particularly necessary. Both "gray" and "grey" are commonly seen in American English, and at least in my experience people rarely even notice or care about the difference (unlike, say, color/colour, where "color" is clearly dominant and "colour" clearly appears non-American). --Delirium 21:32, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] the grey market in photographic equipments

i'm not really sure what the author of this section intended to say, but it is not written very well. there are grammar and spelling errors (some of which i've tried to correct) along with confusing syntax and poor word usage/choice. there's stuff in there that doesn't really make sense to me: parallel imports and the word defer (is it supposed to be differ?). i would rewrite it, but in order to do that you have to understand it first...

"Professional lenses like the Canon EF L series are requirements for one to be admitted into the Canon Professional Service, and grey sets are usually disqualified." WTF?! - Glueball 12:03, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I fixed up the language in the last sentence, at least it seemed obvious what needed to be done there. 2-25-06-23:55 PST

This entire article keeps switching between grey and gray. Spellings must be consistent whithin an article. Since grey is more common in the world, I am going to change every gray to grey in the article if no one objects.--God Ω War 06:12, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is the grey market legal?

Sony don't seem to think so: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6076354.stm

Is this a special case or is saying the grey market legal wrong? --Borb 12:09, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I suppose this boils down to definitions of what the "grey market" actually is. I would actually appreciate some clarification of this, as Lik-Sang (which recently shut down as a result of legal pressure from Sony) did not seem to be acting as a grey importer at all. To give two hypothetical examples:

Situation A: I go to the website of a Japanese games store and order a PS3, paying for it using my credit card. An employee of the store then boxes up the console and ships it to my home address in the UK. (This is basically what Lik-Sang did, except they were based in Hong Kong rather than Japan.)

Situation B: I fly to Japan and physically walk into that same games store, buy a PS3, and pay for it using the exact same credit card. I then walk to a post office, package up the console, and send it to my UK address (or, alternatively, fly back to the UK with my legitimately purchased console in my suitcase).

I personally find it hard to believe that Situation A would be considered illegal, given that Situation B plainly is not. 217.155.20.163 09:31, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

The English High Court explained why Lik-Sang's conduct was unlawful (not illegal) in its judgment in the case, which can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2006/2509.html. The main basis for the judgment was that Lik-Sang's website was focussed, at least in part, on the UK and so involved an offer to sell in the UK which infringed Sony's intellectual property rights (see in particular paras 23 and 27). Chris stothers 00:20, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

In the US federal courts have held gray/parallel as legal. There are disclosure laws by state.

[edit] disambiguation

My understanding of "grey market" was that it referred to goods which, although not illegal in themselves, are mainly of interest to persons engaging in illegal activities. For instance: books on how to make explosives or poisons ([www.paladinpress.com Paladin Press]), or the raw materials for making such. Paul Murray 05:36, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree - the term is ambiguous and so needs a disambiguation page. It can refer to parallel imports, second-hand goods, the market for older consumers, the market for pre-issued securities as well as the market which Paul describes. See also the talk on Parallel Import at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Parallel_import. Chris stothers 00:30, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

What? they are certainly not "mainly of interest to persons engaging in illegal activities." The gray market is several billions of dollars and growing of and is an arbitrage phenomena which is driven mostly by price fixing (MRP) pressure on makers by large retailers.72.75.6.102 18:35, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

For clarity - I agree with the suggestion that some people use/understand "grey market" to connote something illegal. Others use it to refer to entirely lawful parallel trade. It would be useful to have a disambiguation page.Chris stothers 00:43, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] confusing sentence

the second sentence of the page is confusing:

Used or pre-owned goods are just that: used.

If anyone has a different way of saying/wording whatever that means I think it would be benefitial to us all.

Drewlynde 02:40, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History of Grey Market

I'm here because I'm trying to find out about the history of the grey market and especially about the role of "grey marketeers" in the early modern period. They appear to have been the cause of great instability in markets and were regularly outlawed. Does anybody know any more on this? 82.198.140.23 09:55, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Textbooks

I have neither the drive nor the skill to add such a section, but the grey market is growing considerably for textbooks in the US. Quite often, here, companies release a copy of a textbook for $100 to $300, but also release the same exact book in other regions (India, China, etc) in softcover with a considerably smaller price tag ($25-$50). A quick Ebay search many major textbooks reveals a lot of softcover versions selling "new" for well under their retail price. The descriptions reveal that these books are from other regions. *botches a shooting star press* -- DomColosi (talk) 06:21, 30 March 2008 (UTC)