Price shopping consumers are squeezing every last dime out of the hardworking men in the middle because of high availability of Internet pricing.
Is it really beyond the control of manufacturers to keep branded product off the likes of Amazon, eBay, alibaba and aliexpress?
What about this approach?
Every camera would get a unique QR code and a unique root password, when manufactured. The root password would not be recorded anywhere except on the manufacturers servers.
Authorized dealers could download a mobile application that could scan the QR code and retrieves from the manufacturers servers the root password and displays it. Once unlocked the camera would be the same as any standard camera. Application would not allow more than a certain number of unlocks over a given time period, to prevent mass unlockings.
Manufacturer would buy units from any internet venues offering product below MAP. If they were delivered unlocked, the manufacturer would de-authorize the dealer whose code was used to unlocked it.
Authorized dealers would need resale certs. and credit terms to minimize sham accounts.
End-users receiving locked product would be directed by the manufacturer to a dealer who could charge a fee to unlock the camera.
Is anybody doing anything like this? Why not?