Re: [Leica] Black Hole? Now grey market

[Hans-Peter.Lammerich@t-online.de]

Ultimatelly, all grey market stuff is from the manufacturer or from
"official" distributers! Basically all Leica products except the very
new and sought after ones are available "grey". National distributers
may trade excess stock in between them instead of returning the
merchandise to the manufacturer. And after the Euro/DM has dropped, with
US list prices remaining at the old levels, it was of course attractive
to buy from EU sources. Leica's "rebates" were created to compete with
the "grey" stuff, without reducing list prices, at the cost of US
dealers with stock paid at old prices.

But I would guess that the total volume of "grey" sales is more than
that. Possibly the "grey" market is an integral part of the
manufacturers' sales strategy. It offers the opportunity to sell below
list price without "loosing face". Catch those customers who are always
want to negotiate discounts, but without loosing those customers who are
willing to pay full, "official" prices.

Hans-Peter