Anywhere to get a good deal on Rosetta Stone?

[Mickey Fliers]

Yep. My DS asked for Rosetta Stone for Christmas. That and a Wes Welker jersey...so at least is a semi-normal 14 yo boy. HA!

Anyway, anyone know where I might get a good deal on Rosetta stone? I am not thrilled with forking over the $500, but he has been asking for it for awhile. We are thinking about it, but knowing whether or not I could get a deal would help make the decision. Thanks!

 

[Marionnette]

Yep. My DS asked for Rosetta Stone for Christmas. That and a Wes Welker jersey...so at least is a semi-normal 14 yo boy. HA!

Anyway, anyone know where I might get a good deal on Rosetta stone? I am not thrilled with forking over the $500, but he has been asking for it for awhile. We are thinking about it, but knowing whether or not I could get a deal would help make the decision. Thanks!

Rosetta Stone is very protective of their product sales. You pretty much have to buy it from an authorized seller and pay their asking price. Once in a while, you might be able to get some sort of "incentive" to purchase from one seller rather than another. Like an Amazon.com credit or an upgraded headset from Best Buy. But you're going to pay the $500 or very close to it.

And beware of random ebay sellers that offer the product at steep discounts. They are either counterfeit or used sets. Resale of used Rosetta Stone is not permitted under their terms of use.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I've heard great things about BBC's language programs and I'm pretty sure they're free! *Here's* a link for ya.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Can you not get it through a military connection? We have been offered the set several times free through the army stuff.

 

[eliza61]

I've heard great things about BBC's language programs and I'm pretty sure they're free! *Here's* a link for ya.

BBC language program is great. I used it as a supplementary tool.

Op, also check out the Berlitz line of language cds. I thought they were a lot better than Rosetta stone.

 

[LSchrow]

not OP, but thanks so much for the link!!!
i have wanted to try to learn a different language, but the price of rosetta stone is just too steep for a self-indulgence that might not even work.
i've a mental block when it comes to foreign languages. i can pick up on most subject matter: math, sciences, english, etc easily and quickly, but introduce a foreign language and i listen to the melody of the words without any comprehension of their meaning

i'm soooooooo excited to try the BBC program

 

[scrapquitler]

Yep. My DS asked for Rosetta Stone for Christmas. That and a Wes Welker jersey...so at least is a semi-normal 14 yo boy. HA!

Anyway, anyone know where I might get a good deal on Rosetta stone? I am not thrilled with forking over the $500, but he has been asking for it for awhile. We are thinking about it, but knowing whether or not I could get a deal would help make the decision. Thanks!

Check with your public library first. Ours has some copies of Rosetta stone that you can borrow to try it out before you spend the $$$$$ to buy it.

Any 'deal' you get is likely to be counterfeit. Don't buy on Ebay.

 

[girli565]

My Costco has a few languages available of Rosetta Stone. I believe they were under the normal $500 asking price. Maybe check it out.

 

[thomas998]

Rosetta Stone is very protective of their product sales. You pretty much have to buy it from an authorized seller and pay their asking price. Once in a while, you might be able to get some sort of "incentive" to purchase from one seller rather than another. Like an Amazon.com credit or an upgraded headset from Best Buy. But you're going to pay the $500 or very close to it.

And beware of random ebay sellers that offer the product at steep discounts. They are either counterfeit or used sets. Resale of used Rosetta Stone is not permitted under their terms of use.

Buy it off ebay. It doesn't matter what the company claims is permitted under the terms of use. When someone buys a product they can resell it no matter what the company that produced it claims, federal anti-trust laws trump what the company wants... The only way a company can actually keep you from reselling something like this is if they only lease it to you and never actually sell it to you.

But frankly I wouldn't waste my money on it, there are other methods for learning a language out there, Rosetta Stone is just the one that markets their product the most, but it isn't really any better than several others out there. Also depends on the language he is wanting to learn, some languages aren't really suitable for self learning and really need some actual personal instruction beyond trying to copy what you hear on a computer.

 

[Marionnette]

Buy it off ebay. It doesn't matter what the company claims is permitted under the terms of use. When someone buys a product they can resell it no matter what the company that produced it claims, federal anti-trust laws trump what the company wants... The only way a company can actually keep you from reselling something like this is if they only lease it to you and never actually sell it to you.

There is at least one member of the disboards who has had a negative experience with Rosetta Stone and ebay. Rosetta Stone regularly polices ebay for resellers and gets their listings NARU'd. They have even been known to take legal action against the reseller.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Good luck! You could also try Craigslist. My 14 year old also asked for Rosetta Stone for Christmas! She asked back in August though, and we got a used set on Craigslist for $50. I know, RS doesn't "allow" resale, but wanted to share that option with you if you are so inclined. The set we got was in excellent shape and our dd enjoys it!

 

[dansamy]

FSI Language is free.

Tell Me More is cheaper than RS.

 

[SandrA9810]

There is a first sale doctrine. If you have a physical copy of the product, you are legally allowed to resell it under that law. While Rosetta Stone tries to prohibit the first sale doctrine with it's EULA (the user license agreement that's a mile long, and you have to accept before installing).

But after thorough search of the internet, Rosetta Stone has not won a legal action against the first sale doctrine.

In the end, they're a bigger PITA than they're worth. And there's an extensive list of similar and/or better products out there. My suggestion is to search homeschooling sites. They're most active in looking for good quality home instructions for kids. There's also several of them that look for products that they can resell after use, to help keep the cost of homeschool materials down. Text books and instructions are a major expense (look at the average college kid), but it's nice to recoup that money with a resell to move onto the next course.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Thanks all for the advice. I will def be checking out those other sites. I also heard from a friend today that she didn't really think the Rosetta Stone was worth it.

I did look into getting it through the military...but evidently the Navy isn't on board yet.

 

[kirrrby]

Do you have a NEX/AAFES/MCX anywhere near you? We saw the Rosetta Stone at the Little Creek/Fort Story NEX last weekend for 399. Plus, there's no tax. They have the single levels for about 180 also. But it makes more sense to get the full lessons instead of each one by itself. Also if you're worried about forking the money outright the Military star card has 0% interest for 12 months right now.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you homeschool there are cheaper RS options, BUT they are more limited in scope. They don't have the full program or all the languages, as far as I can tell by talking to the reps at the homeschool convention.

 

[scrapquitler]

There is at least one member of the disboards who has had a negative experience with Rosetta Stone and ebay. Rosetta Stone regularly polices ebay for resellers and gets their listings NARU'd. They have even been known to take legal action against the reseller.

I definitely would be VERY careful with Ebay. I wouldn't want to get caught up in a possible fraud investigation. I understand that Rosetta Stone is VERY agressive about these things.


(And I'm glad someone else mentioned the prior negative experience...I've been wondering how that turned out....)

 

[thomas998]

There is at least one member of the disboards who has had a negative experience with Rosetta Stone and ebay. Rosetta Stone regularly polices ebay for resellers and gets their listings NARU'd. They have even been known to take legal action against the reseller.

They have no legal leg to stand on. And if I'm trying to buy something from someone on Ebay I could careless about what someone might do to the seller. I suspect at some point Rosetta Stone will go after the wrong reseller and they wont quietly roll over, they will fight back and Rosetta Stone will be the loser.