form Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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I'm burnt out on buying used lenses since I had 2 out of 3 of the last ones arrive defective. No more for me for a while. The one that wasn't defective was also the only one that came with and arrived in the original box and packaging.
I personally received an email from Nikon USA once after purchasing a defective 70-200 on this forum and having to pay the full costs ($600+) for repairs and sending it in to them...the email stating that they absolutely refuse to service any grey market lenses. Not having the papers verifying authenticity of the lens, this caused another delay in service...until I asked them to check if it was a Canadian lens, which it thankfully was, and then they were willing to service the lens.
All this goes to say...don't buy grey market Nikon unless you intend to be out 100% of the value when it breaks, or else try your luck with the one authorized repair center in the USA. So far, my experience with Nikon repair service has been adequate. Not as fast as Canon CPS, but they seem to fix stuff most of the time.
As for buying used...I didn't have quite as bad luck with Canon as I've had with Nikon for used lenses, but I definitely didn't have perfect luck with Canon either.
However...if you have even the SLIGHTEST hint of some kind of abnormal behavior with a lens you purchase used (or new, for that matter, but especially used), SEND IT BACK TO THE SELLER. If it strangely doesn't activate autofocus first time every so often but nothing else seems wrong, SEND IT BACK TO THE SELLER. If you hear any weird noises, or see any image quality quirks on one end or another of zoom, or if one side of the image doesn't seem as sharp as the other, or if anything seems to have a jittery IQ trait anywhere in the frame, or if the AF or zoom just feel strange when turning, SEND IT BACK TO THE SELLER. Do not wait for it to become a bigger problem (which it might) or for you to discover the true meaning of these ominous signs, because then you'll have to foot the expensive bill.
And, just for reference, it doesn't matter how many positive reviews the seller has on FM - sometimes they send you a bad or dying lens. Sometimes they get damaged en route from jarring/etc. Sometimes the lens is just really old and due to die. Don't buy OLD lenses either.
This ends the $612.50 lesson, given here for $0.02.
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