Nikon cameras on Amazon?

My sister ordered a camera on Amazon from Nikon for $20, which we knew was weird because it's normally an almost $600 camera, but ordered it anyways. Later, they emailed her saying they had canceled the order due to technical glitches. Can they do that? Because that was the listed price of the camera at the time of purchase.

Yes they can. You don't really expect a $600 camera for $20, do you? People make mistakes.

Yes, they can.

You placed an order, they checked the details of that order before deciding whether to accept it and found a serious error with the price which would have cost them a lot to honour. The seller cancelled the order. The seller had no legal or moral duty to agree to the deal.

You clearly identified that there was an error and tried your luck, but your attempt to take advantage of an obvious mistake failed.

Some retailers will honor such mistakes, but they are not obliged to do so.

Amazon is not the stellar retailer they used to be, but I would not expect them to honor such an obvious mistake even when they were better.

The real problem though - in the US, Nikon enforces "universal pricing" (as do most camera manufacturers). If a dealer is caught selling a camera for a price other than what is set by Nikon (either too low or too high), they risk losing their dealership of that brand.

While Amazon is a large juggernaut in the retail business and they might very well be able to play hardball with Nikon, they certainly are not willing to risk their dealer status from such an obvious mistake.