Canon RAISED Prices...

When I read about it on Photography-on-the.net, a lot of them were saying that it was just a change to retailers being able to openly advertise a lower price (Think "Add to Cart to See Price" on amazon, b&h, etc)

Guess that won't be the case :((
 
Canon did not raise prices.

They have limited the abilityof stores to advertise lower prices.

Although this is not a goodthing for users, it is less draconian than the practices already in place fromNikon, Sony, and Pentax:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/104204-Minimum-Advertised-Price-Concerns?p=850353&viewfull=1#post850353
"MAP (Min Advertized Price) has been a fact of life in our industry for a decade or more. What we're seeing today are new components:

- Much stricter enforcement with more strict limitations on how to convey an item's real selling price to customers when that price is below MAP, and in particular restrictions on how this information can be conveyed on a retailer's web site. This is coupled with more strict enforcement and more draconian penalties to a retailer who violates the restrictions.
- Unilateral pricing which sets the minimum SELLING (not advertized) price. This has been legal since the US Supreme Court's decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. Once again -- strict enforcement and draconian penalties to the retailer who flouts these rules. This was adopter first (as far as I recall) by Sony USA and is now also employed by Samsung, LG, Nikon USA, Pentax USA and others.
- Sales restrictions include limiting which items a retailer may sell online or geographical limitations, like Nikon USA prohibiting authorized retailers from sending any digital slr body to an address outside the USA.

Years ago I attended a retailer's roundtable in northern NJ. I was the only rep from a big store with a substantial mail order and online presence. Everyone else was the owner of a smaller regional or local mom-n-pop store doing business primarily from brick-n-mortar stores. They all LOVED MAP and wanted higher MAP values so they could charge customers those MAP prices without the customer asking them to match our lower selling price.

Now, it's my PERSONAL opinion US distributors are bending to international pressure. After all, I doubt anyone from Nikon/Canada (to pick one brand at random) or anyone working for a Canadian retailer wants to compete with us. After all, if they make no profit on the sale but are expected to support the owner afterwards, it's lose-lose for them. Further, I think these restrictions are the distributors' way to shore up their authorized retailer network. If B&H and one or two other super-retailers are all that's left in a few years, I think Nikon, Canon, et al fear we'll be the dog and they'll be the tail and we'll be able to do whatever we want with impunity. Once again this is my PERSONAL opinion.

How does this affect you? In theory it broadens your choice of where to buy by making our price the same as the tiny store on Main Street. In reality it means we cannot offer a lower price even when we'd otherwise be willing and able to do so. Of course that tiny Main St store may be able to offer the camera they stock and the few lenses at the same price but in terms of breadth or depth of products and brands, they still can't touch us and in terms of the professional advice (uncolored by commissions since we don't employ them) I believe we remain at the pinnacle of our industry. YMMV."
 
If you go by the prices at BH, this policy made the 5D3 jump up $300 in body-only fashion ($2999 to $3299), $400 for the 24-105 kit (I think it was $3699, now $4099)
 
I think they will have to go down again. The above that I quoted was from Henry at B&H, which is why I reposted it. He said on another board that they can do better prices if you call or email, but so far that is not true! Sucks big time. (Sorry about my text - "enter" key for new line does not work here?? Weird.) Cheers, Michael
 
This has been in place with Sony for years, companies do this to protect its dealer network. If you want something Sony and new, you can't get good deals unless its a discontinued model. Best Buy is getting killed by essentially being the showroom for Amazon, B&H and others. Its not good for the industry as a whole if the worlds largest electronics retailer goes under - and Best Buy is struggling right now. Charging tax on internet sales will help, uniform pricing will also help.

It must be worse for the small, local shops that can never hope to compete with Best Buy, Amazon and B&H. I was at a shop awhile back and the owner was grumbling about how customers are shopping for cameras and lenses without buying, only to later show up looking for a bag to fit the camera they bought online, and then didn't even buy the bag. Sucks for consumers as it will end price competition - so its a tradeoff. One area that will benefit is used gear. Higher prices for new will mean higher prices for used. Buy now before the new pricing kicks in.

I'm an avid mountain biker and with high end bike parts some companies have a fixed pricing model, so the big online retailers offer "free" extras since everyone is selling stuff for the same price. I think that might become the norm with cameras as retailers look for a competitive edge. Buy camera body X and get a $300 B&H credit on your next pruchase or something like that.
 
Indeed, other firms do this "control of price competition to protect dealer network" thing. But it's not as bad for, say, Sony, as it is for Canon, because, right now, it is Canon that has set stupidly high prices for most of its products. The 5D3 would be a hot seller at $3000, but, at $500 more than the D800, the only photogs buying it are those who have already invested loads of money on Canon lenses.
 
Samuel H said:
Indeed, other firms do this "control of price competition to protect dealer network" thing. But it's not as bad for, say, Sony, as it is for Canon, because, right now, it is Canon that has set stupidly high prices for most of its products. The 5D3 would be a hot seller at $3000, but, at $500 more than the D800, the only photogs buying it are those who have already invested loads of money on Canon lenses.
Click to expand...

Too bad for canon (And me, as I'm considering the 5d3), then.
Let's just hope my local dealer has a better price... 3499 is a tad much. 3000 made a lot of sense.
 
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