I see all of these bodies in the buy & sell and even on craigslist with blank warranty cards. I know nikon does not transfer warranties, but should I be wary of sellers with blank cards. Obviously we mail it in, but when/if it comes time to send in your camera, are they going to ask for a proof of purchase at that point? I'd like to buy a brand spankin' new body, but obviously some deals come along that are pretty hard to pass up.
As far as I can tell mailing in your warranty card does little. At the time you need warranty work, you will need to supply proof of purchase regardless of whether you mailed in your card or not. Furthermore, mailing in the card is NOT required to get warranty work done.
If I remember correctly the page you fill out online and print for warranty service asks you to provide a copy of your original receipt. Those folks claiming unfilled warranty cards are just trying to get more cash. You don't get a warranty on second hand used equipment unless you're cheating.
Camera warranties are only 1 year anyway, though a shutter replacement is ~$300. I have no worries about buying a used body. The situation with lenses and their 5 yr warranty is worth thinking about though. I'm not a big fan of buying used VR/IS lenses after having two that needed fixing.
In my experience, all Nikon has required me to provide for them to perform work under warranty is proof of purchase (sales receipt). Nikon has never asked for a warranty card or why the sales receipt was under another name.
Nikon only honors the warranty to the original owner. Sending the warranty card means nothing if you cannot send a receipt of sale from an authorized Nikon dealer when the camera needs repair under warranty.
I have no digital camera that I ever bought new. They all work to factory specs.
I've never bought a new body, so I was only going off what I've seen posted in the buy & sell forums, hence the mention of the warranty card. I did go ahead and buy a D300s new from cameta. With the cashback from bing, figured it wouldn't be a bad choice. Terribly excited to have it in my hands!
NightOwl Cat wrote:
My D300s did not come with a warranty card, bought BNIB from AAFES.
The Nikon USA website says:
Digital SLR Camera Bodies and Coolpix Cameras
No registration or "warranty" card is included or needed with a Nikon D-SLR or Coolpix camera. Keep your original, dated proof of purchase from the Authorized Nikon Inc. dealer in case warranty service is ever needed. These products do include either a mail-in form or a paper with a web link to our registration page: http://www.nikonusa.com/registration
Yup, already registered online with Nikon, packing slip from AAFES (sorry Henry) tucked away.
henryp wrote:
The Nikon USA website says:
Digital SLR Camera Bodies and Coolpix Cameras
No registration or "warranty" card is included or needed with a Nikon D-SLR or Coolpix camera. Keep your original, dated proof of purchase from the Authorized Nikon Inc. dealer in case warranty service is ever needed. These products do include either a mail-in form or a paper with a web link to our registration page: http://www.nikonusa.com/registration
Jammy Straub wrote:
If I remember correctly the page you fill out online and print for warranty service asks you to provide a copy of your original receipt. Those folks claiming unfilled warranty cards are just trying to get more cash. You don't get a warranty on second hand used equipment unless you're cheating.
I always thought that the main reason that people mention the warranty cards is to just confirm that the importer was appropriate to your region = in the US you can PAY Nikon to service it. I wouldn't buy a lens w/o that. The serial number doesn't prove anything as MOST of the Nikon USA lenses don't start with "US" (until very recently and you can probably still find new ones on dealers shelves that don't).
