Why We Should Not Buy Grey Channel Mobile Phones?

A grey/parallel market is the trade of a product through distribution channels that are legal but unintended by the original manufacturer, as per Wikipedia definition. The trader or retailer actually goes for parallel ways to import smartphones in order to escape from taxes of a country. Buying grey market products is not illegal but it has some major cons which will be explained in this blog.

Read in Detail: Grey Products; a Serious Threat to Pakistani Mobile Market

Why We Should Not Buy Grey Channel Mobile Phones?

Reasons Why We Should Not Buy Grey Channel Mobile Phones?

Here are some of the reasons that will help our readers to convince that instead of saving 2 or 3 thousands we should not go for grey devices:

• Mobile phone can have technical issues
• As the phone has not reached on official channels hence it may have 3G/4G connectivity issue or may not work in other country because it is imported from other country so there is no network related surety
• The device can also be jail broken
• No official warranty; consumers get non-official shopkeeper’s own warranty which has no value
• No surety about mobile phone basic features too
• No surety either the phone is genuine or refurbished
• Grey channel phone can also be rooted

Why Retailers Go for Grey Channels?

• Phones are smuggled illegally and sold at very low price just to avoid taxes.
• Another advantage to those who deals in grey channel phones is that they can import and sell those devices too that are not officially released in Pakistan. This gives them attractive proposition, as customers can get new phones ahead of their official release date or get phones that would never usually be sold in Pakistan.
• They can even sell grey channel phones without seller’s warranty.
• They can also sell sub-standard mobile phones that may be very cheap but may not be safe.
• They can easily sell fake phones.
• The retailers can easily sell used, stolen or phones as new ones.

The grey channel imports are not only detrimental for the consumers and the distributors but is also causing major loss to the national exchequer. Thousands of cell phones enter the market every month through grey channels, escaping the taxation system. In a time when Pakistan’s economy is already in need of a major boost, these illegal activities are further hurting the country. Therefore it is the pressing need of time to take decisions to curb parallel imports of cell phones.

Although the reduced price is an important factor, but customers do not realize or probably ignore knowingly that with price, their reliability is also compromised

Customers are requested to buy mobile phones from shops and official online stores with official warranties and “PTA Approved” icon on the boxes. Here is a sample:

Here are Some of the Official Distributors of Smartphones Launched in Pakistan

S.NO.	Mobile Brands	Authorized Dealers
1.	Samsung	Airlink, M&P and GreenTech
2.	iPhone	FutureTech
3.	Xiamoi	SmartLink
4.	Motorola (Lenovo)	TechSirat, GreenTech
5.	Nokia (HMD Global)	Advance Telecom
6.	Huawei	Airlink, M&P
7.	OPPO	OPPO
8.	QMobile	Digicom
9.	GFive	GFive

Smart devices are quickly becoming the necessity of current techno-age and it is important to ensure that only high quality and safe are sold in the market. This is only possible when a proper mechanism is followed and all the products are imported through legalized way; which PTA is in the process to develop one such system soon.