Just remember one very important thing regarding MAP, it ONLY applies to the minimum price a retailer can advertise an item for. It does NOT establish a minimum a retailer can SELL an item for. So if you see the 5D MkIII listed or advertised for $3,499 starting tomorrow, call them and just ask would you be willing to sell it for $2,999? If they say no, they can't do that because of Canon. Explain that no factory or distributor can legally set a minimum sell price, they can establish a minimum adverstised price in the United States. Big difference between the two.
True and false. It's true that a retailer can do that. However, if it's known to do something like that and if Canon is really strict about it, it's not that difficult for Canon to figure it out and then suspend the account of such retailer.
In golf business, this policy has been implemented for years. And I know a retailer that had their account suspended for one whole year because they're known to have phone orders at way below manufacturer's minimum price.
Misinformation!!!
bigvalueinc is not an authorized dealer! They will lie to your face that their products have Canon USA warranty. They don't! If you know about Canon warranty and complaint enough, they will give you extended warranty through Consumer Priority Service (CPS) for free.
This happens to a friend of mine who bought something from them and their product didn't have Canon USA warranty card.
Correct. If you go to the auction and click on the Canon USA Warranty in the description, it takes you to Canon USA's website. Here, you will enter the information for the product whether its a lens or body and Canon will give you an ESTIMATE for the repair.
To be more specific, from knowing Canon's customer service in the past, Canon USA provided warranty service even for a product from unauthorized dealers if customer can provide a valid receipt from any USA retailer. This is for courtesy. However, the last time I talked to Canon, they told me that this was not guaranteed as this policy might change anytime soon. And I highly suspect that Canon will now strictly implement warranty support for authorized dealers only, especially when the price gap is getting wider between gray market and USA products.
Basically, one should think about this deal as "new with no warranty".
