Shop Canon Direct!!!

[Roy G. Biv]

Any reasonable person would think that shopping direct would save you money.
First image: Email from Canon
Second: Canon Price
Third: B&H Price

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t251/pmolan/canon.jpg

[Roy G. Biv]

To add insult to injury... I tried to go through with the checkout from Canon. $7.00 Shipping, $140 Tax.

B&H : No Tax, No Shipping.

[borism]

That is pretty common practice, is intended to protect the relationship with the retailers
If they are cheaper, no retailer would be interested on carrying the brand as the customers would.. well , buy direct ;)

[Lani Kai]

Shopping direct is never, ever cheaper. Have you ever been to the Apple Store?
When you shop direct from a manufacturer, they are able to sell at retail and not wholesale. This means they make much, much more money. If you want to support Canon's bottom line, by all means go for it.
I'm not that loyal of a Canon customer.

[400dabuser]

Shopping direct is never, ever cheaper. Have you ever been to the Apple Store?
When you shop direct from a manufacturer, they are able to sell at retail and not wholesale. This means they make much, much more money. If you want to support Canon's bottom line, by all means go for it.
I'm not that loyal of a Canon customer.

That is pretty common practice, is intended to protect the relationship with the retailers
If they are cheaper, no retailer would be interested on carrying the brand as the customers would.. well , buy direct ;)


It begs the question as to why some people ever buy direct???

[tzalman]

Good Lord! Just a little more than a year ago that was $1,500.

[HappySnapper90]

Good Lord! Just a little more than a year ago that was $1,500.

It's the devaluation of the USD. And I haven't seen than lens cheaper than $1700 from reputable resellers.

[bric-a-brac]

there are good times for buying direct from canon... namely if you work for a retailer with an employee purchase program!

it was the only thing that made staying at ritz camera worthwhile while I was finishing college. I don't believe I got wholesale price, but definitely close enough. Don't military personnel get similar buying options from canon direct?

[irishman]

I bought my 70-200 2.8 IS for $1460 in December of 2007. A pretty good investment compared to my stocks!

[Mark1]

Rarley are things cheaper from the manufacture. Keep in mind you are buying retail.... other stores are buying wholesale, at large volume levels.

[Mark1]

Don't military personnel get similar buying options from canon direct?


Not sure about direct. But the PX had some killer prices at times.

[Jeff Costantino]

Shopping direct is never, ever cheaper. Have you ever been to the Apple Store?
When you shop direct from a manufacturer, they are able to sell at retail and not wholesale. This means they make much, much more money. If you want to support Canon's bottom line, by all means go for it.
I'm not that loyal of a Canon customer.

Not a good Apple analogy. Apple requires that resellers all use the same prices. There is very little price difference because Apple controls it very strictly and you can lose your reseller authorization if you get caught discounting. Essentially there is no competition on Apple branded product pricing and they compete with 3rd party upgrades and accessories.

Canon probably sells direct at list because they're already selling to resellers who discount for a competitive advantage. If Canon never sells so much as a memory card direct, they are still shipping them by the crate to the resellers anyway.

[mikekelley]

Yeah...Apple stuff is generally the same price everywhere, +/- like 3 dollars on a laptop at the most.

[ssim]

There are deals to be had at Canon direct but rarely on cameras or lenses. They do dump excess inventory of printers and/or reconditioned items on there.

If I was a retailer I wouldn't want the manufacturer competing directly with me on price. I think that Canon has taken the righ approach on this and sticks close to their MSRP.