Many other sites were posting a “last chance” deal, the 5D Mark III body-only for $2999 at B&H (now expired) or Amazon, claiming that prices were going up this week. We don’t think they told you the whole story.
The reason why prices are going up is so they can come down again: we’re suspecting a new Instant Rebate to start on EOS 5D Mark III and EOS 6D really soon, by the end of the week. We don’t know at this time if the Instant Rebate comes with an enforced MAP (where retailers are forced to sell at a certain price). But our guess is we’ll see the price on both bodies float down for the holiday season. Last night’s BuyDig 6D + PIXMA PRO-100 for $1499 deal is another sign of the new instant rebate and prices to expect.
We’re also seeing activity at the Canon Direct Store: They’ve posted a landing page with a timer counting down to “Pre-Black Friday Deals Starting November 24th”. We’re seeing a lot of refurbished items get restocked, and the pattern is this happens before a big sale or deal, so we’d be surprised if we don’t see a refurbished sale within the next week or two. As usual, browse the refurb stock tracker and set notifications for items you’re interested in.
Nick Pacione
Holy Tom Christensen
I’ve never followed the price wars before… it looks as though it is common for the prices to hit their lowest right before xmas (looking at the history of the 5d mark ii as a example.) Is this what others have experienced?
I’m hoping to get a 5d mark iii soon and wondering if I need to act sooner rather than later even though my finances would prefer me waiting until January.
5D Mark III is a special case — a lot of deals have done snap-sales of the body in the past for one day, in October or November. In 2012 it was Adorama via eBay and in 2013 it was Amazon (@ $2699).
There’ll probably be a prolonged period of lower prices through December/January (last year was ~$2800-$2900) but the snap sales are the best deals that we’ve seen.
How long does it typically take recently-released items to show up in Canon’s refurb store? I’m eagerly awaiting refurbished versions of the 70D and the EF-S 55-250mm IS STM.
Hi Martin, it depends on the item. Here’s one example, the T5i and SL1 were announced in March of this year. It showed up in the refurbished store by October.
Exciting
Just curious if anything has been heard about the 600ex going on rebate again or if it is really just focusing on the bodies?
Thanks–
There’s currently an instant rebate ($50) on the 600EX-RT. It expires on November 30th, but our prediction is it’ll get extended (or replaced with another similar rebate).
seems the 5d markiii price went down slightly. no sale on refurb i see, but can we still expect a rebate to start soon?
Yeah, went down in price slightly… If you don’t take into account that it had been $2999 off and on at several stores lately 🙁 I’m new to canon, is this a normal thing for them to do?