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does anyone knows any big shops doing black friday here in the uk??
How can there be another Rebel by March 2013?? The T4i just hit stores.
The 650d is available at less than 70% of it's release price in June and a similar price to the 600d at this time last year despite it's later release date so the price has dropped faster. It sounds as though they are still shipping plenty of units so that might indicate a new rebel release in the 'usual' February window. It is about time a new sensor emerged for APS-C especially given the release of the D5200 at a similar release price to the 650d at its release.
I can't help but feel Canon's move here is in response to both Beach and Adorama selling a lot of 5D Mark III's for a substantially less price than they normally do. This would quite likely led to lots of calls from Canadian (r)etailers bitching about how they are being undersold and can't do a thing about it.
It could also be that Canon (USA) is planning to reduce the cost of certain items to further selling more of them but this seems unlikely.
Be that as it may, I can't help but wonder if "MAP" applies to auction websites such as eBay and if it doesn't then there's a backdoor here that is still wide open.
MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) is part of the signed dealer agreement that the high-volume sellers have been ignoring. There have been some consistent offenders in MAP violation for years and it has put a lot of independent dealers out of business as a result.
For example, a small Mom & Pop shop gets the G15 the same day as the BIG retailers but Big & Huge blows 30 units out the door at $200 below MAP. Meanwhile, the Mom & Pop Store is just busy answering questions as to why people can find it else where for less, then that doesn't really mean every one is playing fair, does it?
Some one is violating legally binding terms of the dealership agreement and it isn't the Mom & Pop store. So, in order to give every one equal chance at a customer's business, manufacturers impose what is called a MAP, or Minimum Advertised Price. It's supposed to even the chances for customers to spread their hard earned dollar over the wealth of places from which to purchase gear. However, when some one likes to just open the semi trailer door and start a product toss at literally hundreds less than MAP, it makes a lot of people wonder why manufacturers tend to look the other way. It makes the smaller dealerships ask why the Big & Huge guys aren't being held to the same set of rules the little guys are.
Units, mojo. Units.
With diligence and repeatedly pointing this out to the Mfrs, it seems to be gaining ground that some thing is taking place and it needs to be dealt with.
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I look forward to the days of back door retailing to be over with. There's no need to maintain a monopoly on sales of any product. Or else we all should pretend its 1984 and there's only one retailer from which we buy our one type of camera. It's a free market system which has a set of rules for all to follow. It's a welcome endeavor seeing the Big & Huge guys having to play by the rules for a change.
Few things that must be pointed out:
1. Any restrictions regarding the resale price might constitute an antirtust violation and the liable companies - which would include both the producer and the retailers - might be liable for extremely large fines.
2. Any restriction regarding the minimum resale price hurts the consumer. Yes, there is a point where the lower price is reflected in the lower quality of service, but I'd gladly pay 2500 USD for a 5DMk iii and agree to be treated like sh*t... I'm buying the product, I'm not paying the extra hundreds of dollars for a smile and a hand shake.
3. The Mom&Pop Store has no guaranteed legal right to be in a market. They stay in business if they are good enough to convince me and a sufficient number of other people that the extra $$$ paid for the same product is worth the extra quality of service. They have to earn their place in the market by either competing on price or providing something that the Bog&Huge do not provide.
4. A free market is just that - a free market where only the strong and proficient survive. You fail to notice that the Big&Huge guys invest in the market; unlike the Mom & Pop Store which has a somewhat knowledgeable sales person and a stock of 5 units, B&H and Adorama have huge investments in the logistics part of the business.
In conclusion, Minimum Advertised Prices are, as far as I'm concerned, illegal from an antitrust perspective and bad for me as a consumer. I sure hope they go away as fast as possible. Furthermore, it should be noted that agreements violating the antitrust provisions are usually considered to be null and void - as such, it would be funny to see Canon actually attempt to enforce such a clause in court and exposing itself to the huge liability deriving from a breach of the antitrust provisions.