Everyone has heard of the black market (at least in movies), but what is the gray market? Unlike the black market, the gray market is not technically illegal, but it is often unauthorized. Instead it’s a kind of loophole, as it involves distributing items in a way that the original manufacturer would not have wanted.

Let’s use cell phones as an example. An individual or private company buys a bunch of BlackBerrys at retail, wholesale, or discounted prices, and then resells the phones at a higher price. Usually, this new price is cheaper than what your local AT&T store will sell a BlackBerry for, so customers are more likely to spend their BlackBerry dollars there.