The reason you see only crappy listings is because the good deals get snapped up really fast. I know, as I've gotten a few of them, and I've just missed out on even more of them.
I have made decent money buying lenses through the local Craigslist listings and selling them here on the forums (just ask richardwong
).
Gastownphoto has decent deals on a few select items. Right now they have a sale on the Pentax OVF-1 viewfinder for the Pentax Q. $125! That slaughters any other price on the internet for that item. They also routinely get DA 35 2.4's for $190 including tax, which isn't bad.
London Drugs had some deals during Christmas last year that were maybe only $20 off similar pricings through other online stores. They only carry newer stuff though.
Wow, I didn't realize there were lots of Vancouverites here.