What is Grey market???

[seaweaver]

What in the world?
I know Yamnar from the marine industry...a big name/ old name.
Now I see this Best used tractors.com....and flip...they are talking about me buying CONTAINERS of tractors...a or b grade
And What is the deal w/ them being all re-cons??? WHAT are the japs doing to wear out so many tractors that there is a huge market to refurb and ship them here by the container? What is the chain that put so many in the hands of the VC for refurb?
Thanks
cw

 

[clemsonfor]

What in the world?
I know Yamnar from the marine industry...a big name/ old name.
Now I see this Best used tractors.com....and flip...they are talking about me buying CONTAINERS of tractors...a or b grade
And What is the deal w/ them being all re-cons??? WHAT are the japs doing to wear out so many tractors that there is a huge market to refurb and ship them here by the container? What is the chain that put so many in the hands of the VC for refurb?
Thanks
cw

The japs have tax incentives to buy new tractors, it makes used ones not a good deal. They are worn out cause many are 30 years old you see here, well not really worn out but old and rusty. Many refurbs may just need a seat paint and a few other minor things others a total rebuild or parts swap. There is a free market and vietnam can buy anything they want , they buy the C D grade tractors were told and then rubuild them or piece them into one unit, and sell then in the US cause they can do all that and ship them here cheaper than we can buy a 25-30 year old JD or ford.

The japanese usually use them to till rice patties, basically mucky mud when wet and soft moist dirt when dry. There is not much wear on them and they only do it for short perods twice or so a year. I have heard that may farms in the 20 acre size have tractors and there still are many that size or there were in the 70's when they bought these current yanmars. The super small ones use big walk behind tillers.

 

[Thomas]

Also find some models (more so w/older models) less saftey devices..ROPS,swtiches.

 

[seaweaver]

Thanks, It kinda caught me by surprise to see container loads being sold...
who would do that w/o inspecting each one? Is the container such a deal it does not matter how many bad ones make it in?
cw

 

[clemsonfor]

You buy "b" grade tractors. In the description they give it means say all seats need replacing less than XXX hours no transmissions problems. I made this up but im sure there specs that allow a tractor to make it in the container, if you have a blown up one im sure they will make good on it. But i think you get like 10 tractors in a container dissasembled with the 3pt arms off the tires off, and there stacked in there. Based on what these older YM models have sold for, with those who purchase the container having to put a new seat on all flid changers some new seals and maybe paint and still turn a profit i think they are no more than a couple thousand per unit mabe half that, but with customs fees shipping etc i can easily see having 20-30 K tied up in one container before any refurbishing costs.

 

[neucam]

I think Kubota is best known for the term grey market, Kubota built tractors for a Zennoh cooperative in Japan, they were leased for many years by small farmers then finally imported to other countries including the US. Kubota thought they were infriging on there sales so they banned them from the US around 1997 or so. Many models were a carbon copy of american models but had Japanese labels some places, not really a big deal. Kubota said the tractors did not have ROPS and PTO shields, but US imported Kubotas did not have that either. My local dealer has 2 or 3 used US Kubotas without these safety measures, so it is a funny issue.

 

[Arkie Jim]

I think Kubota is best known for the term grey market, Kubota built tractors for a Zennoh cooperative in Japan, they were leased for many years by small farmers then finally imported to other countries including the US. Kubota thought they were infriging on there sales so they banned them from the US around 1997 or so. Many models were a carbon copy of american models but had Japanese labels some places, not really a big deal. Kubota said the tractors did not have ROPS and PTO shields, but US imported Kubotas did not have that either. My local dealer has 2 or 3 used US Kubotas without these safety measures, so it is a funny issue.

My Satoh Buck is Japanese made but is not a grey market tractor. The term grey market is where they go around dealers and are sold by private sellers. They are not US equipped or regulated for safety or to fit our implements. All 540 PTO implements will fit my tractor.
Parts is hard to find for grey market tractors unless you find a bootlegger and there is many of those.
My tractor has all of the manuals plus I can order any parts on line that I need.
The understanding I have of grey market tractors is that in Japan they are made for the rice fields only and require no other implements so will the US imported tractor implemets fix the grey market ones--I have been told they will not work due to not being converted for US use. Like German cars did not have safety glass, so they had to be converted to US specs.
The internet sites can be located to tell you by serial number if it is a grey market tractor.

A surprise that will puzzle many Americans when you make the statement that I buy John Deere American Made---You want to bet. Yanmar has been connected to John Deere from the beginning--they were partners---Yanmar has been making the engines for John Deere from creation---Yanmar is the creator and designer of the Diesel engine and all John Deere products use them. Many other companies use the Yanmar engines also.

 

[/pine]

The term "Gray Market" usually means they were not manufactured to be sold in the United States....

Not all of the Vietnamese "reconditioned" tractors are necessarily "gray market" machines....

There are model number charts for Kubota and Yanmar available on the net that show which model #s were intended to be sold in the US ....

 

[clemsonfor]

My Satoh Buck is Japanese made but is not a grey market tractor. The term grey market is where they go around dealers and are sold by private sellers. They are not US equipped or regulated for safety or to fit our implements. All 540 PTO implements will fit my tractor.
Parts is hard to find for grey market tractors unless you find a bootlegger and there is many of those.
My tractor has all of the manuals plus I can order any parts on line that I need.
The understanding I have of grey market tractors is that in Japan they are made for the rice fields only and require no other implements so will the US imported tractor implemets fix the grey market ones--I have been told they will not work due to not being converted for US use. Like German cars did not have safety glass, so they had to be converted to US specs.
The internet sites can be located to tell you by serial number if it is a grey market tractor.

A surprise that will puzzle many Americans when you make the statement that I buy John Deere American Made---You want to bet. Yanmar has been connected to John Deere from the beginning--they were partners---Yanmar has been making the engines for John Deere from creation---Yanmar is the creator and designer of the Diesel engine and all John Deere products use them. Many other companies use the Yanmar engines also.

Not all JD tractors have a yanmar engine in them. All the large Ag tractors will have an actual JD deisel in them whith a JD plate on the engine. The 20 , 30 and 40 series tractors and maybe the 50 series will have Yanmar deisel engines in them back into the 80's i beleive. Some of the older JD's like the 850 and 970 etc are exact copies of yanmars , i mean the entire tractor, same ignition key, same seat same hydraulics same starter same fuel bowl etc. I m not really a JD expert but i know this or 99% of it is true.

That said i do own a Grey market Yanmar tractor. Grey Market is a term used if that tractor was not built to be sold in the US. A general rule of thumb is that they did not have pto shields and rops. That is not the only rule. If yanmar USA sold YM2000's outside it as used tractors (not that they would, they do not recognize they exist here due to lawsuits) they would still be grey's. My Made for the japanees market Ym2000 tractor will fit all Cat 1 implemts made here in the US without mods. Same lift arms same PTO gears etc. I just happen to have a 3 speed Pto instead of a 2 speed which the US yanmars had. I can still get availible parts from yanmar USA if i tell them the us model number for the tractor (ym240) and i can even get parts from JD for certain things on my tractor if i know what they come off of in the JD line up. That is if i wanted to. I can buy them offline from HOye tractor (a yanmar parts supplier) and pay less for the same part to fit my tractor than from yanmar USA or JD. Some of these parts , which may not be in production anymore yes are made in china or india by a parts suppleir, but others come in a yanmar bag and would be the same thing i would get from JD or Yanmar USA. Just adding something to the conversation.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Yanmar is the creator and designer of the Diesel engine...

Good ole Rudolph Yanmar! :laughing: