Judging from all the emails I've gotten lately about "what the heck is the price of a D700?", it seems that Nikon's latest maneuvers at the distribution level have confused a lot of people. Let's see if I can explain for NikonUSA's overtaxed marketing department once again...
Between now and November 22nd, NikonUSA has two DSLR instant rebates that dealers can take advantage of. The first is a straight US$300 off the D700 price. The second is US$300 off the D300 price when bought on the same invoice as an 18-200mm or 16-85mm lens. These are dealer programs, not user programs. The way these programs work is that the dealer fills out paper work (I think every month) with Nikon and gets a cash rebate back from Nikon on what they sold. That cash rebate is not US$300, but prorated at the dealer's usual discount. Thus, they share in the US$300 that you saved.
Coincident with this program, Nikon has started policing their policy that dealers and Internet sellers must adhere to MAP pricing (Manufacturer's Advertised Price, or sometimes Minimum Advertised Price). This is where most of the confusion is coming from: some places haven't complied with the MAP price requirement, while others have. For instance, B&H correctly advertises the US$2999 MAP for the D700 and a US$300 instant rebate, which should make the price US$2699. But when you add the D700 to your shopping cart, B&H applies an additional discount that they can't show in their advertising, and the price becomes US$2519. Amazon, on the other hand, is just advertising the price as US$2539 and doesn't mention anything about rebates (I'm sure the NikonUSA police will be having a talk with them ;~). Another thing that doesn't seem to make sense to some is that B&H used to advertise a lower price for the D700, then raised the advertised price. The previous price was lower than MAP, but higher than the current price if you put the camera in your shopping cart. This illustrates another thing that has happened: dealers are using Nikon's instant rebate program to grab back a small amount of margin. The bottom line is still the same: you can buy a D700 for less today than you could a couple of weeks ago.
But that's not all. I was surprised the other day when I bought a Coolpix P6000 from my local dealer. Actually, the salesperson was surprised, too (which says something about how effectively all these special deals and instant rebates are being communicated down the chain [not!]). Basically, I got a discount on the camera and an extended warranty and carrying case. What? The camera just launched! Well, it turns out that there are two things in play here. First, through Christmas, Nikon will have different instant rebates in effect for at least one model of camera (lowest Coolpix through D700) each week. Every week that rebate changes to another product, if I'm not mistaken (there may be some that repeat; I'm not privy to the actual list, only that a list exists and extends every Sunday through Christmas). Second, Nikon apparently has another instant rebate in effect for what is called a Deluxe Kit (extended warranty and case). The Deluxe Kit must be advertised for US$50 more than the bare camera, but the instant rebate is US$50 more, essentially making it free if the dealer passes that on completely.
As should be obvious now, some dealers are passing the instant rebates straight on while others are mixing them in with their discounted prices. Technically, the dealers should only be doing the former (or, as B&H does, advertise the correct program and then give you an additional discount on top of that when you actually commit to buy). But what's confusing you is that some dealers are doing the latter instead.
Meanwhile, just how hard is it to ship a ring of metal? The Coolpix P6000 is out, but I can't find the UR-E21 needed to mount auxiliary lenses anywhere here in the US (so much for doing a quick test of the camera with all its accessories). B&H doesn't even list it as an accessory, which usually means that NikonUSA hasn't yet officially put it in their order catalog. Meanwhile, the GP-1 and MCDC-2 remote cord announced with the D90 are also missing in action. The list of the Nikon MIA parts is actually quite long. And it isn't just parts. The D90 Body Only inventory appears to just now starting to move out of NikonUSA's warehouse. To me this indicates an organization that isn't, well, organized. Moreover, what a waste of marketing. It's one thing to hint at or tease a product or accessory, but another one to announce it and not ship it.