Well, I tried to save $200 on a lens and got burned. My 200-500 Nikon apparently was not US market, and now Nikon refuses to fix it. Seller claims up and down it was not broken when they sent it, despite not providing pics of the serial or stating it was not US market. To crack the barrel where it is, it would have to have happened with the lens extended out to 300mm+, and I had only taken it our a couple of times to take pictures of the moon and passing aircraft.

So now I either have to get into an eBay/PayPal mess of a fight, or, I can try to get it sent to a 3rd party who will still fix it. I'm looking at Midwest Camera Repair and was about to call them, but wanted to ask if there are some solid shops that can help me out as I'm not sure I'd win a dispute here on eBay.

From my understanding, eBay pretty much always sides with the buyer. I would just try that first.

Yeah. Sold you grey market, busted, and now “don’t know what you’re talking about”?

File a dispute.

ETA, this is why all my used gear is coming from somewhere like KEH or B&H

Agreed with both above. No issue with eBay's policy and get a refund. KEH and B&H are great. Nothing wrong with trying to save some $$, but you just have to be able to see the whole picture (warranty card, box) and I ask if it is grey market. Unknowna nd I dont bid.

Yeah, lesson learned. There is a Nikon approved shop up in IL that says they can do it whenever I get it back from Nikon.

And also yeah, back to KEH. Got my D500 and 70-200 from there, don't know why I felt the extra $200 in savings was worth it at the time but no more of that. I may have also told Nikon that they pretty well convinced me to go Sony when it's time to go full frame and mirrorless, which may end up being sooner than later.