[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BarryH_GEG:
It depends on how you feel about the warranty. No Exynos SGS3 is permitted by Samsung to be sold by anyone in the U.S. and it’s considered grey market and therefore has no warranty. Their strict and ask for a receipt from an authorized reseller and/or a credit card charge statement before doing any warranty work. There are no authorized resellers in the U.S. because Samsung doesn't sell unlocked devices here. Samsung U.S. will also not repair a phone purchased outside its country of intended sale so you'll have to ship it back at your expense to whatever country it came from for both warranty work and repairs you might pay for.

My former i9100 came from the UK and before I sold it I sent it to the UK to have its bezel replaced under warranty because it cracked. I enclosed my receipt from an authorized UK reseller and when they saw it was paid on a credit card they also asked for a copy of the statement. NewEgg, Amazon, Amazon Marketplace, and eBay sellers sometimes say the phone will come with a warranty. It doesn't and Samsung makes no exceptions.

Both Negri and Expansys-USA offer their customers support during the warranty period. If the phone needs service you ship it to them and they send it overseas to one of their affiliates who has it repaired at a Samsung service center. It still has no warranty; their skirting it somehow through their affiliates. But as long as your phone's repaired at no cost how the sausage is made is irrelevant.

SquareTrade also covers grey market phones. I strongly suggest people get a policy as a back stop to any warranty issues (denied claims) and to cover accidental damage. If the display alone on eBay is $250 you're probably looking at a $350 repair with labor if the screen replacement's done by Samsung should it break.

I always buy my imported devices from the UK. You know you're working with an authorized reseller, there are no warranty questions, and you'll also know the device you're receiving is a UK device. Both Negri and Expansys-USA frequently ship phones intended for sale in the Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Latin America. No big dealing if you're going to root and flash other ROMs; a big deal if you're not. They also ship carrier-branded phones that have been SIM unlocked.

To get a phone overnighted from Clove in the UK right now is $670 all-in. At Negri it's $645. You can decide whether the additional $25 is a worthwhile investment based on the above. Also, Clove has a service (http://www.clove.co.uk/smartphone-pre-shipping-testing-service) for 20 GBP ($31 USD) where they will pre-test your phone before it's shipped and make sure all the functions are working. With the display issues that pop-up on the SGS3 having a phone pre-screened can save you a lot of hassle and eliminate the possibility of having to do one or more exchanges. They'll also pay r/t shipping to and from the UK for the exchange if they missed anything in their testing. Handtec probably offers a similar service. I've purchased devices from both and they're incredibly easy to deal with.

Choosing which way to get a SGS3 is a lot like people's attitudes toward buying insurance. If you're one of those that think the odds are in your favor and you’ll end up fine, find the cheapest SGS3 and buy it. If you want the security of knowing no matter what happens that you're covered, some of the more expensive routes will give you piece of mind. As I said, I always buy my devices via the UK direct.

Good luck. ;)