I am obviously naive, but I always thought there was a 'white' market - legitimate goods sold through retailers that you pay a standard price, and 'black market' - stolen goods that you get for a bargain down the pub.

So here goes.

I wish to upgrade my grouppo on my roadie - it's 55,000k old. So I price STI DA10 at a few stores just to get the feel of the market and the price varies from $1750 (AUD) to $2500. That sounds like a lot of variation to me for a standard set of items. So I chat to my bike store (and sponsor, of sorts) who says the cheap ones are 'grey market' products. He says certain bike stores ship products in from SE Asia, avoid paying duty and so on, and then sell them off to customers cheaper than Shimano Australia sells them to bikes stores. So as such, if you aren't going through the grey market you are forced to sell them at higher, uncompetitive prices to make a profit.

Grey market gear sound like a good deal for the consumer? Well maybe, unless you want a warranty claim, which Shimano Australia won't honour as the serial number on the item didn't go through them.

My question is: does this happen in other countries? What are bike store owner's opinions of this selling practice?