Originally posted by Caat Is this just a US policy change? I am not sure this practice is legal in the EU is it?
It isn't legal in the EU. However, it is legal to not ship to certain dealers w/o ever explaining why. It's not legal if it is in a contract. So, if a dealer is too important to be ignored, he cannot be forced to sell at any given price in EU. Exceptions exist like for bookstores or pharmacies.
Many dealers may still give you a discount on a deal with many items, officially listing the locked price items at their full price but discounting other items heavily. Or there may be a batch of discounted items, e.g., from customer returns, which however are new in box.
As for Nikon pricing in the US, I loked up one example:
MSRP for the Nikkor 70-200/2.8 GII is $2,399.95
B&H price is $2,396.95 with a free $66.69 value filter pack. So, this is 3% discount.
B&H offers many Nikon lenses from import, often cheaper. But not this lens, imported is same price.
Lowest price in Germany is 1873€ or (excl. tax) $2090 which is a 13% discount over the US MSRP.