Interesting Inside Baseball on Nikon Instant Rebates
Thom’s got a nice article about Nikon’s current instant rebate policy and how its complexity is making it harder to compare prices between retailers. Also interesting (to me anyway), that it appears that Nikon takes 60+ days to give the rebated money back to the retailer- thus effectively costing the retailer interest during that period. If you’ve checked the (US) interest rates lately, you’ll see how this is not a really good thing for our retailers.
Surprisingly, I’ve heard from a lot of dealers. I can tell you that they don’t like this new Nikon rebate program. They pay for stuff up front, sell it to you for a discount imposed by Nikon, apparently have to participate in an advertising program to get the rebates, then have to file absolutely pristine paperwork to get their share of the rebate back (they don’t get US$300) in 60 days or more. Essentially, NikonUSA is getting a loan from your dealer, and at good terms. Given the economy at the moment, putting monetary pressure on dealers is not a smart thing for a manufacturer to do. The manufacturer just might find they have fewer dealers and lower volume when all is said and done.