Nikon Refurbished Sale

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Member's gallery
Carmel Nikon said:
This is the first time I've seen the Plena available as a refurb (for $1800), and also the Z 28-400mm zoom (for $1100). Good pricing if you've been waiting for one of these!
Click to expand...
Things are slow with unit sales is the drum beat message i am hearing a lot of.
The 24-120 is tight on supply but can be obtained with a Z6III as a special package indicating the need to market and drive camera sales more.

Only an assumption.
 
Member's gallery
I went and pulled the trigger on a 600 pf new with the 500 dollar discount and 0% for 2 years. A couple of days after the lens was delivered got an email from Nikon about the refurb at 3700 so an additional 600 in savings plus the 0% deal. Argh! Is there a difference between new and refurb? Is it worth an additional 600 dollars. i have never bought used or refurb..
 
Member's gallery
Coolbob said:
New Nikon gear comes in a snazzy gold or black box. Refurbished Nikon gear comes in a plain brown box.
Click to expand...
In the USA, new Nikon cameras and lenses have a 1 year warranty. Refurbished products have a 90 day warranty. Over the years I have acquired refurbished cameras and lenses from Nikon USA. I have never had a problem or complaint.
 
Member's gallery
JAJohnson said:
In the USA, new Nikon cameras and lenses have a 1 year warranty. Refurbished products have a 90 day warranty. Over the years I have acquired refurbished cameras and lenses from Nikon USA. I have never had a problem or complaint.
Click to expand...
Same here. Nikon has to distinguish new vs refurb, so a white box vs retail packaging and a difference in warranty periods allow them to justify the reduced price without undermining their new product pricing. Basic marketing logic.

There is a minor but non-zero risk that a refurb is not in the same "factory new" shape as a new product. Speculation here has been most refurb are 'demo' units that are offered for sale after demo use is over while the product is in pretty much new shape, and a minority of refurb might be consumer returns. A few folks have commented in this forum about poor experiences with refurb, so it's not risk free. Most people have had a great experience however - me included. As with buying used, you take a bit of a risk in exchange for the savings, though with the 90 day warranty, there is more protection than buying private party used. Some like the refurb route, others do not - it depends on the value proposition to you.

Good luck with your decision!
 
Member's gallery
As to the 90 warranty on Nikon refurbished, I discovered my credit card extends the warranty to one year, even on refurbished, as long as the item came with a warranty. You have to send a copy of the sales receipt to the credit card company.

The refurbished 600 TC was on sale for $11,160. That is a savings of $4,341 or 28%. Even if your state has a 5% sales tax, it is a savings of $3,782 or 24% over buying a new one from a camera store that pays the state tax. That seemed to be worth the risk, and missing out on the gold box.
 
Member's gallery
Thanks for the info!
I bought a 24-70 f4 from Nikon refurbished that had a small internal chip on the front element. It may have been tested and found insignificant but would you accept a lens with a chip in the front element?

Everything else has been fine.

Darn Aphole computers, you have to check every word, carefully!
 
Member's gallery
Mal Paso said:
Thanks for the info!
I bought a 24-70 f4 from Nikon refurbished that had a small internal chip on the front element. It may have been tested and found insignificant but would you accept a lens with a chip in the front element?

Everything else has been fine.

Darn Aphole computers, you have to check every word, carefully!
Click to expand...
I’d have returned the lens and asked for a replacement.
 
Member's gallery
JAJohnson said:
I’d have returned the lens and asked for a replacement.
Click to expand...
Nikon gave me a refund and had the call tag to me by the end of the phone call. They couldn't exchange it as the price had gone up from my sale price. Their Sale Price was $700 but I found an almost new one for under $500. Their loss. LOL

I just looked over the Refurbished offerings and found nothing of interest. I pretty much have all the F Glass I'm ever going to buy. LOL
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
I just received my 400 f4.5 S from this sale and there isn't a mark on it. Other than the packaging and warranty it's indistinguishable from new. This has been my experience with Nikon refurbished products. I have to say, however, that the packaging, while adequate to protect the product during transit, was pretty rough. Nikon refurbs used to come in a labeled white box. This looked like they used whatever they had lying around the office.
Now that NikonUSA has eliminated the 5 year warranty on new lenses I don't mind the shorter warranty so much. It forces me to go out and shoot to ensure everything is up to snuff.
 
Member's gallery
To report back on my refurbished lens: the 600 TC arrived in a plain brown box, loosely taped, with not one but two disclaimers on the outside saying it was a refurbished product with a 90 day warranty. Inside was the lens bag wrapped in bubble wrap. The lens bag looks new. Inside the bag, the lens was wrapped in plastic. The lens itself also looked new--I could not find any blemishes. The strap did not appear to have ever been removed from its plastic wrap. There is one, very hard to see, tiny hole, or dot, after the serial number. The lens performed as expected in the backyard. It does appear Nikon is trying to make a statement with the way the outer box appears, along with not including a gold box.
It occurs to me that if someone returned a lens for repair, Nikon would normally repair it and send that same lens back to the customer. In what circumstance would Nikon send the customer a new lens, but then repair the old lens and sell it as refurbished? Maybe if the needed parts weren't available? Someone posted that most of these lenses are demos or loaners and that makes more sense to me. I guess they trash the gold boxes to make sure you know its refurbished.
 
Member's gallery
Gov said:
To report back on my refurbished lens: the 600 TC arrived in a plain brown box, loosely taped, with not one but two disclaimers on the outside saying it was a refurbished product with a 90 day warranty. Inside was the lens bag wrapped in bubble wrap. The lens bag looks new. Inside the bag, the lens was wrapped in plastic. The lens itself also looked new--I could not find any blemishes. The strap did not appear to have ever been removed from its plastic wrap. There is one, very hard to see, tiny hole, or dot, after the serial number. The lens performed as expected in the backyard. It does appear Nikon is trying to make a statement with the way the outer box appears, along with not including a gold box.
It occurs to me that if someone returned a lens for repair, Nikon would normally repair it and send that same lens back to the customer. In what circumstance would Nikon send the customer a new lens, but then repair the old lens and sell it as refurbished? Maybe if the needed parts weren't available? Someone posted that most of these lenses are demos or loaners and that makes more sense to me. I guess they trash the gold boxes to make sure you know its refurbished.
Click to expand...
The dot before and after the serial number is to indicate that the product was sold by Nkon as refurbished. Each refurbished product is certified by Nikon to meet the same specifications as a new product.

Some refurbished products were loaned to Ambassadors or Nikon personnel for test purposes prior to release. Some are were purchased and returned for refund or credit.
 
Member's gallery
Well that didn't take long - less than a month and it's back again. Email says it is only two days this time (so Thurs-Fri Oct 3-4). Not as many exciting offerings this time around (don't look for the Plena to show up again). But if they have what you need, now is a good time to grab it.
 
Member's gallery
Good eye! This is a bit unusual - it's not the late-in-month timing Nikon usually has, and it's mostly F-mount lenses (just a quarter of the 48 or so offered are Z-mount). Feels like another shot at clearing out old inventory that isn't being manufactured anymore (or is being phased out soon).

They do feature increasingly good deals on the F-mount exotic telephoto lenses, for those resisting Z-mount's gravitational pull... :)
 
Member's gallery
I just got off the phone with Adorama about the Nikon refurbished Z50 that I've had for a year and just sent them for purchase. To me, it looked perfect so I rated it as "excellent plus"; however they informed me that it has a deep tripod plate circular groove or "scratch" on it. They reduced the offer price by $27 rating it "excellent". They sent a picture, and I see what they mean. Since I have never used it with a tripod, I assume the previous owner must have severely over tightened the tripod plate, and I realize now that I should have examined the camera more closely when it arrived from the Nikon refurbished program. It hasn't affected the usability of the camera, but it's a reminder to me to examine a future refurb purchase closely during the return period. If I had seen that originally, I would have returned the camera since it could indicate a less-than-careful owner. So I hope my experience might help others contemplating a Nikon "refurb" purchase. Again, the camera worked fine as far as I could tell. See the attached pictures with the circular imprint around the tripod hole.
 

Attachments

  • image002.jpg
    image002.jpg
    541.8 KB · Views: 28
  • image003.jpg
    image003.jpg
    566.7 KB · Views: 28
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top