# Canon Australia to close their online store to support retailers



## Canon Rumors Guy (Sep 6, 2020)

> I’ve always found it odd that Canon forces retailers into MAP (Minimum advertised price) pricing and then competes directly against those retailers with their eStores. It’s nice to see Canon Australia making this move.
> *From Canon Australia:*
> This notice is to inform you that Canon Australia will be ceasing the operation of its direct to consumer marketplace – Canon Store – for the foreseeable future, effective from 30 September 2020.
> The Canon Store was launched in 2011 as an ecommerce platform designed to expand online shopping options for local consumers. Fast forward to 2020, the unprecedented challenges currently facing the Australian market has seen Canon Australia re-examine the best way to help consumers access our products, services and support. As a result, we are proudly streamlining our efforts in supporting local retailers to drive competition in the local market and bring you the best value product offers, promotions, services and experiences possible.
> ...


*

Continue reading...*


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## spomeniks (Sep 6, 2020)

Makes so much sense - I’m Australian but now living in USA. The price always being at RRP meant that there was no point buying from them directly. It’ll be a healthy re-allocation of resources for sure.


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## David - Sydney (Sep 6, 2020)

Minimum advertised price is not the same as recommended retail price. Australian consumer law says that OEMs can't dictate the price that their resellers can sell at. The local resellers have always had pricing that is lower than Canon's online store so there was no real competition going on. It was an alternative channel that (I believe) was setup in the distant past when their resellers weren't really setup for online ordering but of course that is long gone history now. Not a great loss... that said =>

The Canon Collective in Australia has also been disbanded. Instagram account closing down and full time staff retrenched. A large number of upset people in the Canon Collective community and expressed stridently in the facebook page. That page will continue. The collective initiative was setup about a decade ago and appears to be the only example globally and there was about 7 staff across 3 Australian states that had workshops (a couple of hours through to one day through to multiple days and international trips). The key benefit was the access to lenses and bodies to play with during the workshop and sometimes access to venues/opportunities that would not normally be possible. I went on a couple of them and the staff were very knowledgeable and lead to a lot of sales of new gear.
https://www.canon.com.au/collective
https://www.canon.com.au/collective/collective-ambassadors

Some of the retrenched staff have setup their own company and facebook page called "photographers collective"
for new workshops and is brand neutral. They have been very successful so far with 1800 members. No access to gear though. I wish them well.


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## David - Sydney (Sep 6, 2020)

https://www.canon.com.au/collective/closure-announcement
*Canon Collective events to end after almost a decade of helping photographers take their skills to the next level*

_17 August 2020_

It’s with great regret that we announce that the Canon Collective program will discontinue in its current format.

As you can appreciate, the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has made running our Canon Collective events incredibly difficult. This has in turn affected the long-term viability and sustainability of the events program. As a result, Canon will discontinue Collective events, with key dates for each state below:

• Victoria: All activities have ceased in adherence with current Victorian restrictions
 • Western Australia: All activities have ceased due to current State border closures
 • ACT, Tasmania, Northern Territory: All activities will cease immediately
 • South Australia: All activities will cease by 30 August 2020
 • New South Wales: All activities will cease by 31 October 2020
 • Queensland: All activities will cease by 31 October 2020
 • International: All activities will cease immediately

We’ll be contacting ticketholders to arrange refunds for affected events. Those with tickets for our partner tours and events will be contacted directly via the tour operator, who will advise of the options available.

Canon Australia will keep the Canon Collective Facebook Group open and we encourage you to use this space to continue collaborating and to take your photography to the next level. We’ll be phasing out the @canoncollectiveofficial Instagram channel by 31 October 2020.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send us an email at [email protected]

In the meantime, if you’re looking to stay up to date with the latest news, tips and tricks, and to get more out of your gear, we encourage you to follow Canon Australia on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and to sign up to receive Canon’s InFocus newsletter.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the years. We're proud to have played a central role in helping you develop your photography skills. We look forward to staying connected and inspiring you in new ways, so watch this space.

For more information see our FAQs here.
Canon Australia


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## hamish (Sep 7, 2020)

David - Sydney said:


> t’s with great regret that we announce that the Canon Collective program will discontinue in its current format.



A couple of years ago I went on a three month overseas trip including a month in Africa with a week's safari, and two months in Europe. I took a basic Canon 200D DSLR and 18-135 lens as that fit the cheap and light requirements. Took some ok shots, but not mind-blowing. Since coming back I've been slowly getting more gear and improving skills. Following our release from lockdown in Melbourne, I was really looking forward to going to some of the Canon Collective workshops to continue building skills as well as experimenting with new gear that I can't afford to buy outright. It will be sorely missed by me at least.


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## goldenhusky (Sep 7, 2020)

Was Canon Australia selling refurbs? If so from now on do they send those refurbs to authorized dealers as well?


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## David - Sydney (Sep 7, 2020)

goldenhusky said:


> Was Canon Australia selling refurbs? If so from now on do they send those refurbs to authorized dealers as well?


I haven't seen refurbs available in Australia. We don't really have a xx day satisfaction / return policy from our resellers which is where I think the US source most of their refurnished stock.
I wish they did though!


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## Chris.Chapterten (Sep 7, 2020)

David - Sydney said:


> I haven't seen refurbs available in Australia. We don't really have a xx day satisfaction / return policy from our resellers which is where I think the US source most of their refurnished stock.
> I wish they did though!


Sunstudios is owned by Canon Australia and they were selling EOS R refurbs on Ebay not that long ago. I bought my EOS R from them for $1600 and it only had 70 shutter accuations!


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## David - Sydney (Sep 7, 2020)

Chris.Chapterten said:


> Sunstudios is owned by Canon Australia and they were selling EOS R refurbs on Ebay not that long ago. I bought my EOS R from them for $1600 and it only had 70 shutter accuations!


That's a good price! Full 5 year local warranty? 
Do you need to be on a mailing list from Sunstudios or ?
I wonder where they are sourcing the returned equipment from...


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## Chris.Chapterten (Sep 7, 2020)

David - Sydney said:


> That's a good price! Full 5 year local warranty?
> Do you need to be on a mailing list from Sunstudios or ?
> I wonder where they are sourcing the returned equipment from...


It was too good to pass up the offer! And yes that included the full 5 year local warranty. From memory they had at least 12 refurbed EOS R available on Ebay at the time... all sold in the space of month or so. No mailing list unfortunately, I just follow them on Ebay. 

You could always send them an email and ask to be notified of refurb stock, but they tend to be a bit unresponsive via email unfortunately.


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## David - Sydney (Sep 7, 2020)

For Australian members... Digidirect has a 15% off sale and this includes pre-orders for the RF 100-500mm! 
AUD700 off!
Glad I cancelled my initial pre-order


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## samh004 (Sep 7, 2020)

Glad to see the store shut to be honest, prices were always ridiculous compared to any number of retailers. and I found the site clunky a lot of the time.


David - Sydney said:


> For Australian members... Digidirect has a 15% off sale and this includes pre-orders for the RF 100-500mm!
> AUD700 off!
> Glad I cancelled my initial pre-order


Aren’t they grey market?

Great price, if only I could justify it


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## David - Sydney (Sep 7, 2020)

samh004 said:


> Glad to see the store shut to be honest, prices were always ridiculous compared to any number of retailers. and I found the site clunky a lot of the time.
> 
> Aren’t they grey market?
> 
> Great price, if only I could justify it


I was looking for something longer than my rf 70-200 as the extenders don’t work. The rf100-500mm was ridiculously priced but now it is closer to a ef 100-400mm plus 1.4x extender with a bit of a premium. With almost no ef100-400mm available second hand or at a reasonable price it looks like a best option although it will hurt the hip pocket!
8mm to 500mm should cover most situations


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## jvillain (Sep 7, 2020)

Maybe they can close the Canada store as well. No one ever buys there due toi the insane prices and the fact that they never do deals on useful stuff like they do in the US and UK. If they close the Canada store maybe we will finally be able to order from Canon US and get in on the deals. You have never been able to buy refurbed any thing in Canada for example. So when CR posts great deals on refurbed lenses for example the only effect it has is to piss me off because I know Canon will never allow Canadians to buy them. NAFTA never worked the way it was supposed to.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 7, 2020)

I like having the online store, I get a ~10% Employee discount there thru my old employeer (I'm retired). It applies to new and refurb.


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## Roo (Sep 8, 2020)

David - Sydney said:


> Minimum advertised price is not the same as recommended retail price. Australian consumer law says that OEMs can't dictate the price that their resellers can sell at. The local resellers have always had pricing that is lower than Canon's online store so there was no real competition going on. It was an alternative channel that (I believe) was setup in the distant past when their resellers weren't really setup for online ordering but of course that is long gone history now. Not a great loss... that said =>
> 
> The Canon Collective in Australia has also been disbanded. Instagram account closing down and full time staff retrenched. A large number of upset people in the Canon Collective community and expressed stridently in the facebook page. That page will continue. The collective initiative was setup about a decade ago and appears to be the only example globally and there was about 7 staff across 3 Australian states that had workshops (a couple of hours through to one day through to multiple days and international trips). The key benefit was the access to lenses and bodies to play with during the workshop and sometimes access to venues/opportunities that would not normally be possible. I went on a couple of them and the staff were very knowledgeable and lead to a lot of sales of new gear.
> https://www.canon.com.au/collective
> ...




Canon set up the online store about 4-5 years ago but not sure of the exact reason - it was certainly quicker than ordering from the retailers at the time and there was a wider range of product and Canon specific merchandise available as well as enabling them to sell refurbs and damaged box goods. Even though Canon has always had a "no compete" pricing policy, Collective members could register a code and get discounts on all gear purchased which was sometimes very beneficial as there were additional discounts for purchasing multiple items. I personally got a bigger discount on my 5Div and 24-70 when it was launched than I could have got at a retailer. The Collective discount ended in 2018 but there was still a CPS member discount.

Having been involved with Collective since the early days, it was a very sad day to see the end of the program announced and devastating for those made redundant. It was a great initiative that Canon had implemented and it achieved far more than what can be shown as numbers on a profit and loss statement. It skilled up a lot of people new to photography, helped launch a number of careers and saved at least a couple of lives of those struggling with life issues. I learned a lot, made a lot of friends, and even got a few jobs on the back of the program, as well as helping organise a few activities for them over the years. A lot of people purchased gear on the back of trying it out at events but it was only anecdotal unless it was purchased through the store using the Collective code in the time it was available. 

Early on, most events were free and you had access to the best gear and some great instructional photographers in the ambassadors, such as Jay Collier, Greg Sullavan, Steve Huddy etc. Where else could you have gone and be handed 1Dx Mk2s, with the appropriate lenses, and shot international tennis, the Easter Pro surfing at Bells or A-League football from the sidelines. If there was a style of photography that you liked it was covered - street, landscape, wildlife, portraiture, macro, flash, sport, concerts, aerials from balloons/helicopters, architecture with tilt shift lenses etc. Unfortunately as it got more popular, and the original architect of the Collective left, it lost it's way a little when more events were done on weekdays than after hours or weekends and the events got increasingly expensive (birds of prey - $49 to $199) as they tried to recoup costs. In the end they had a restructure with the business and consumer sales lines being merged and I guess it didn't make sense for the new head to continue with the program especially as a number of sales reps were made redundant as well.


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## AlanF (Sep 8, 2020)

jvillain said:


> Maybe they can close the Canada store as well. No one ever buys there due toi the insane prices and the fact that they never do deals on useful stuff like they do in the US and UK. If they close the Canada store maybe we will finally be able to order from Canon US and get in on the deals. You have never been able to buy refurbed any thing in Canada for example. So when CR posts great deals on refurbed lenses for example the only effect it has is to piss me off because I know Canon will never allow Canadians to buy them. NAFTA never worked the way it was supposed to.


I’ve never seen Canon refurbished sales in the UK. Have I been missing out?


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