Nikon Rebates, signs of discontinuation? /new models?/Poor sales?

There is hefty $300 rebate on the 17-35 AFS. Why? As rebates are the

messengers that products are being replaced or discontinued or that

sales are so bad on the product they need pumping up, I wonder if any

one knows of an impeding replacement for the 17-35 is in the works at

Nikon? I understand that one motivator for buying this lens is for

wideangle use on digital cameras because the small size of the

digital sensors. When Nikon goes full frame digital quo vadis the 17-

35?

PS: Rebates work against the consumer in as much as he/she must pay

full sales taxes on the core item, would it not be more fair to the

user to lower the sale price of the item and save the buyer the tax?

It has been my observation that Nikon offers rebates several months after I buy a lens. I'm not sure what happened this year, I haven't bought one recently. For as long as I've been paying attention Nikon has offered rebates around the end of the year and there is no correlation between rebates and items being discontinued. If you buy online there most often is no sales tax, if you buy locally you're out of luck. In Florida there is no VAT and sales tax is 6%, hardly enough to worry about the tax on $300.

Soft economy. Times are tough. People need more reason to buy a new lens.

Rebates are a longstanding marketing tool for Nikon and other camera manufacturers. They allow Nikon to adjust prices in response to market conditions without having to constantly move dealer prices up and down.

 

Rebates are not harbingers of product discontinuations and the 17-35 AFS is a desireable lens for us film-based Nikon users as well. Although I'd guess that the widespread use of full frame sensors will slow down 14mm AFD sales. Not sure what you mean about "fair". A sales tax of 5% on $300 equates to a measly $15 compared to a net rebate of $285.

Leica have rebates quite a bit, I've noticed from reading many of the ads in various photo magazines. I always thought it was to encourage people to spend money on products that perhaps arn't selling as well as they should. Though, I could be wrong...

I've a friend in marketing and she told me that when any rebate or promotion is offered that requires the consumer to do something...mail in info, save box tops, etc...the return rate for the promotion is anticipated at 50%, it also does vary with the product, targeted audience and offer....My thought would be the placard in the store is the draw for shoppers who are debting or just tr*lling for equipment to purchase....Warren

Nikon cannot lower the retail price without causing grief for retailers who have purchased the equipment at a higher price. It's a lot easier to offer rebates to lower the price, as it does not affect the retailers books. Also, Nikon has a history of using rebates to adjust for the fluctuating Yen-to-Dollar rate.

 

This is a great lens. It flares a bit but that's only to be expected with such large pieces of glass. An absolute gem otherwise.

A pure marketing tool to drive sale in a soft economy, however, there are plenty of new lenses coming out next year.

 

Lenses are the cash-cow for all the major houses, the can easily afford a hefty rebate and still have a good profit margin.

I thought the rebate on the 17-35 was $200.

 

Did they raise it again?

I have the rebate form in my hand. The rebate for the 17-35 AF-S was $100 and is now doubled to $200 through the end of 2002.

 

As it has already been pointed out, Nikon uses rebates to adjust for currency fluctations. As far as I can tell Nikon lenses are in high demand and quite a few of them are out of stock in the major mail-order houses. Unfortunately for us, most Nikon lenses are still more expensive than the competition. :-(

I bought the 80-200 2.8 AFS with a $200 rebate than a few weeks later they discontinued that lens. I think they are getting rid of everything in order to sell everyone on their new G series lenses.

 

And besides, another Bush has screwed up economy to the point that people are hesitant to buy any new lens that retails over $1000.

To add fuel to the fire, the U.S. price on the D2H has been dropped to $1995...

The interesting thing is that when prices go up, people complain. But when prices go down, they also complain, perhaps even louder.

 

This thread started two years ago back in 2002. The 17-35mm/f2.8 AF-S is still very much in production and currently there is a $200 rebate for it in the US.