gray market

noun

a market operating within the law but charging prices substantially below list prices or those fixed by an official agency.

Origin of gray market

First recorded in 1930–35; gray¹ (in the sense “indeterminate or intermediate in character” + market

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

The problem isn’t that gray market goods won’t work, it’s that if something goes wrong, you won’t have a manufacturers’ warranty or support to fall back on.
How to buy tech online without getting ripped off | Harry Guinness | November 7, 2021 | Popular-Science
While he said he will continue to submit bugs despite a higher payout on the gray market, other researchers probably won’t.
Apple pays hackers six figures to find bugs in its software. Then it sits on their findings. | Reed Albergotti | September 9, 2021 | Washington Post
They’re not as popular in places where there are more thriving gray markets for trading and buying weapons because of more lax regulations on exchange.
Politics Report: Ghost Guns Exploding | Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts | June 12, 2021 | Voice of San Diego
Chris Barrett has made bank on the gray market selling pizza laced with THC.
Meet the Pizza Pusha | Grub Street Staff | January 21, 2021 | Eater
In general, more women than men are employed in the informal economy or so-called gray markets—outdoor stalls and bazaars that are often unlicensed and unregulated but that provide an income for millions.
The Coronavirus Pandemic's Outsized Effect on Women's Mental Health Around the World | Jeffrey Kluger | September 24, 2020 | Time

Then the gift card is shopped online in a gray market to collect cold currency.
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks | M.L. Nestel | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Last year, as I began to conceive a novel, set in shadowy Istanbul, about the sale of a gray market antiquity worth millions.
Writing a Novel: Even Making It Up Requires Research | Ridley Pearson | July 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
If the burgeoning gray market in political money is to be countered, a few things need to happen.
The Answer to the McCutcheon Decision Is More Big Money in Politics | Jonathan Rauch | April 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

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