MAP, or Minimum Advertised Price, is a policy that some companies have to try and control the level of discounting taking place in the free market. In some markets, like the camera market, fraudulent pricing practices on the part of unscrupulous mail order dealers has created a major problem for manufacturers. A quick search of the Internet for any particular camera will turn up a half dozen or so dealers that are advertising the camera for below dealer cost. Of course the consumer does not know that these prices are below cost. To the consumer this looks like a bargain, rather than the fraud that it is. To combat this problem, some companies have instituted a tough new MAP policy for its authorized dealers that forbids them from advertising, even on a web page, any prices below the MAP prices that they set. Of course, price fixing is against the law in the United States, and a dealer can sell the product for any price he or she chooses. However, if a dealer choses to break the MAP price, he forfeits his "promotional" money which is issued quarterly. Without the quarterly bonus money, your cost becomes too high to be able to afford to break MAP. Thus, it is impossible for an authorized dealer to break MAP and make money. What is allowed is to negotiate a "private" deal with a customer. This means that if you call, or email us, we will quote you a better price than the MAP.

"Grey Market" dealers of course do not have these constraints. "Grey Market" products are imported from another country without going through the authorized import channels. By looking at where the dollar is strong at any particular moment, it is often possible to import stock at a lower cost than buying it though the factory importer. The disadvantage of this is that you do not get a valid US warranty when you buy a "grey market" camera. Olympus and Canon, for example, can tell which cameras they imported to the US by the warranty. If they get one in for repair that they did not import, they will not fix it under warranty. At The Best Things, we sell only US warranted products, purchased through directly through the manufacter or their authorized importer.

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