Rebate scam?

It seems like B+H and Adorama raised their camera prices before applying the rebates. Adorama has the "normal" price of the 5D at $2199 and the kit at $2899. Amazon has'nt applied the rebate prices yet and has the same items at $2019 and $2599. Could there be some price gouging going on here?

B&H had the same retail prices yesterday morning, I did not see any prices marked up before the rebates

I know I looked at buying a 5D kit a month ago and it was $2749, surely it didn't go up $150 in a month.

GrendelZ wrote in post #5549071
I know I looked at buying a 5D kit a month ago and it was $2749, surely it didn't go up $150 in a month.

Ah, It seems canon raised most of their prices, check out this link
https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=5381245&p​ostcount=4

Yes, I bought my 100-400 for $1310 two weeks ago, and now it's $1410 at Amazon. Too bad. I'm glad I didn't wait. Those rebates are really hard for me. It takes forever to come back to me.

Looks like prices went up about $150 on the sites with the rebate so far.

It is sad they do this, but it's really not a scam, just a way to get your money and maybe give it back. I wonder how many people who purchase actually send in the rebate. Looks like instant rebates for US. This is better, but yes, they raised the prices to compensate. That's awful.

It's an instant rebate; no need to send anything in.

GrendelZ wrote in post #5548977
It seems like B+H and Adorama raised their camera prices before applying the rebates. Adorama has the "normal" price of the 5D at $2199 and the kit at $2899. Amazon has'nt applied the rebate prices yet and has the same items at $2019 and $2599. Could there be some price gouging going on here?

No, those were B&H and Adorama's prices before the rebate started. Canoga had the kit for $2749 as late as last night, but now their "normal" price is $2849 making their rebated price $2549. Now that's fishy. It'll probably maintain it as one of the lowest priced kits out there, but it's still disappointing to see them jack the price to squeeze more profit out of the rebate.

And Amazon's $2599 most likely already has the rebate applied. If not, with rebate that would be an amazing deal.

Looks like Amazon has jumped on the scumbag bandwagon. 40d is listed at 1099 AFTER the instant rebate. So I guess retailers think the rebate is for THEM, not the CONSUMER. Can we vote with our wallets? I say boycott this unethical crap.

I think some of you are jumping the gun. The rebate started today. Most of these on-line stores do not have people working on Sundays to change their website. I bet that they are changed tomorrow (Monday).

There was a post last week where an Adorama salesperson suggested to one customer who wanted to buy a camera, that he wait until today to order it, due to the rebates. That doesn't sound like a store trying to pull a fast one.

Its obvious that most sites are not showing the rebates yet. I'm sure this will settle out in the next day or so. Meanwhile, the world will not come to and end.

Taken directly fom Amazon's description page on the 40d:

"Instant Rebate: Purchase this product from Amazon.com and save instantly. Price includes manufacturer's instant rebate." No ambiguity there whatsoever. They are TAKING THE ENTIRE REBATE. Guess I'll forget about the 40d until I find a retailer with some ethics.

That is how it works in pretty much every market sector. Rebates come around at the same time that price increases happen. This makes it "easier" on the consumer to take the price increase. It is not the retailers trying to steal your money.
They get told from Canon that the prices are increasing, so they raise their prices. Canon offers a rebate to soften that price increase for a bit so that people don't complain that the prices went up.

You know those $1500 rebates on heating and air conditioning equipment? Hate to tell you, but they just overprice the system by $1750 and then you feel lucky to get that $1500 rebate.

But I thought only lens prices were going up- not bodies. And an increase of $200?? Oh well.

Bladedog34 wrote in post #5551082
But I thought only lens prices were going up- not bodies. And an increase of $200?? Oh well.

Exactly. Camera body prices did NOT go up when lens and accessory prices did. If camera body prices had gone up, we would've seen that on May 1st, but we didn't. We're talking an overnight price increase right as they apply the rebate--both Canoga and Amazon had 5D kits priced in the $2700-$2750 range last night, and suddenly overnight their prices jump to $2850 and $2900 respectively. This is just retailers looking to profit by redirecting rebates into their own coffers, plain and simple.