Thank you privatebydesign and unfocused for posting this. Now I understand what's going on. I will proceed to contact Gordon at CPW and see what happens.No risk. CPW doesn't sell anything. He acts as a middleman for Canon dealers who are willing to offer discounted prices.
Canon requires all dealers to follow MAP pricing (Not MSRP). MAP means Minimum Advertised Price. Under MAP dealers cannot advertise a price below MSRP, but there is no restriction on them accepting a lower price. When you contact CPW to express an interest in buying a product at the discounted street price, you will receive a response from Gordon at CPW that has the contact information for dealers willing to sell at the street price (often he has several dealers with different deals). You then contact the dealer and they send you an invoice at the street price.
Essentially, it's an internet equivalent of walking into a dealership and asking the dealer if they can "do better" than the MSRP. Canon does not prohibit dealers from accepting less than MSRP, they just don't want dealers advertising a product for less than MSRP.
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