Gray Market Products!

May 14th, 2014

Gray Market Products, that just sounds like a bad product!

Today’s post is by Shelly Hayre; Project Manager at SafeSourcing.

Gray market is a collective system of unauthorized sales channels for a specific product or brand. The gray market is the middle grounds for white market, legally sold goods, and black market, illegally sold goods. The products in the gray market are not illegal to sell, however the channel is not an authorized distributor of these products.

When you are buying IT equipment sometimes buying used is the most cost-effective way for your company. If you avoid the gray market you will be buying directly from an authorized dealer of this brand. The product price will be determined by the manufacturer and is typically a percentage of the original new price. Since technology changes so often and IT equipment seems to depreciate quickly, you could find yourself paying high dollar for a used piece of equipment that is in the white market.

So what if you go through the gray market to obtain that piece of equipment? The supplier is not an authorized re-seller of the brand, but most suppliers are selling good quality and tested equipment. Some suppliers have stricter guidelines to testing used equipment than the manufacturer. The price tag will be the biggest difference with gray market products. The ironic piece to this is that some manufacturers sell their used equipment to the unauthorized sales channels due to overstock.

Difference? The main difference is who tests and handles the used equipment first, oh and of course the price tag. SafeSourcing has many authorized and unauthorized resellers of manufacturers’ equipment in our database. SafeSourcing’s supplier database includes reputable suppliers that can fit your needs as a company.

For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

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