Seriously, why don't Nikon just take pre-orders directly ???

SixteenBit ,

Its called the distribution channel. All sales-driven box-shifting industries work like that, whether cars or computers. If you are selling widgets, then there's a channel.

Manufactuer -> In-country wholesale distributor -> Reseller

If you sell a lot of a manufactuer's product then you become a "gold", "preferred", whatever partner, and you cut out the middle man thus :

Manufacturer -> Reseller

That's just how it works.