Are stores that 'hard up'?

[gate_pourri]

I went to Best Buy today to purchase a charger for my camera. As I was walking though the camera section I only saw one charger that, although it had a ton of 'bells and whistles' was more expensive than I wanted to spend. A sales associate walked up to me and this is the conversation that we had:

Me: Do you have any other Canon chargers?
SA: No, this is all that we have.
Me: Hmm.. Okay, $45 is more than I want to spend. Thanks anyway.
SA: Well, how about $35? I can sell it to you for $35?
Me: You can do that?
SA: Yea. $35?
Me: Um... Okay.

He took me over to a small check out area in the camera section. The charger rang up as $45 and he pressed a few buttons (product price??) and entered $35.

I am really surprised that a 'big box' store such as Best Buy would negotiate like that. Did I just get a really nice sales associate or are stores that hard up for customers that they will drop the price 30% to get you to buy?

 

[debster812]

Here's the AV Industries dirty little secret. Most accessories are marked up anywhere from 45-50% from what they pay the vendors for them. So, even discounted $10, they were still making plenty of money on the charger.

I worked for a mid-sized, national AV Chain up until November of last year, and things like this were done to generate client goodwill. If we cut some slack, on a small, accessory purchase, where we still made tons of money, the hope was that the client would come back for larger, more substantial purchases.

That was the 'long' answer. The short answer, is yet, consumer spending is still down, and some lower sales are better than no sales, especially if they are still making an acceptable profit.

 

[NAB]

I have seen this before at Best Buy.

My son wanted a MP3 the guy asked him which one he was looking at and how much money he had to spend on it. Got it for that much, it was about $10. difference too. We were surprised too but this was like a year ago or more.

 

[RadioNate]

I think retailers like Best Buy are really hurting! People have turned to Wal-Mart and Target for electronics and digital download and the internet have really put a dent in small electronics, CDs and movies.

The practice isn't really new but most retailers don't voluntarily offer. At least they didn't! Many retailers have the ability to discount things that aren't on sale. Most of us just don't have the nerve to ask.

 

[MoniqueU]

But did he try and sell you the extended warranty that won't be honored if anything happens to your procut? I can't stand best buy they are sleezy IMHO.

 

[Kimberly]

But did he try and sell you the extended warranty that won't be honored if anything happens to your procut? I can't stand best buy they are sleezy IMHO.

Same here. I'm sorry to say I bought my PC there, but I had like 500-600 dollars in store credit/gift cards that I was almost obligated to do so. They tried to sell me everything and anything that I didn't need.

Between warranties and service plans... Just ridiculous. Just give me my fricken computer!

 

[storzo]

But did he try and sell you the extended warranty that won't be honored if anything happens to your procut? I can't stand best buy they are sleezy IMHO.

We boycott Best Buy for this very reason. Bought the warranty and they wouldn't fix the darn thing unless we paid.

 

[Inigo]

I've never had a problem with the extended warranties bought from Best Buy. They sent me a check for my first Ipod when it went bad, and have always replaced my laptop batteries every year under those warranties.

The price of the laptop batteries made the extended warranties worth the price. I'd rather shop there than at a sleazy store like wal-mart.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow! Thanks for letting that little secret out!

I bought a lap top there a while back and hardly ever use it. Basically, it's for working at home. I'd rather work in the office any day! The battery died way too fast on it. But I dealt with HP directly. They replaced the battery for nothing. Got an extended warranty through them, too. Not the store.

 

[honugirl]

I think stores are really hard up right now. I found a pair of shoes yesterday at Journeys that I really liked and were on sale. I tried them on, then found another pair I liked. I tried the second pair on and they fit on my left foot but not the right (yes, strange, I know, they were cut too narrow in the toe). She asked me how the second pair fit and I told her they didn't. She still tried to get me to buy them. She told me I just needed to break them in. My feet were squished in there, no amount of breaking them in was going to work. So I told her I'd take the original pair I tried on. She tells me, oh wait, how about some white slip ons for the summer? I told her no, but she still brought them out anyway. She guilted me in to trying them on, but I told her I wasn't buying them, just the original pair. So we go to the register and she starts trying to sell me socks!!!!! Telling me they have a lifetime warranty, so if I get a hole I can get a new pair. I told her no and she drops the price. I told her no again and she looked like I slapped her in the face. She's lucky I bought anything at all. I hate being pressured like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[imabrat]

No, actually. I'm pretty sure Best Buy does this with a lot of products, but don't call me on it. I know they did this with a video camera we bought in Decmber of 2007, although I don't remember the exact prices.

 

[Pin Wizard]

You were nicer than I would have been. I would have left the shoes on the counter and walked out without buying any.

I think stores are really hard up right now. I found a pair of shoes yesterday at Journeys that I really liked and were on sale. I tried them on, then found another pair I liked. I tried the second pair on and they fit on my left foot but not the right (yes, strange, I know, they were cut too narrow in the toe). She asked me how the second pair fit and I told her they didn't. She still tried to get me to buy them. She told me I just needed to break them in. My feet were squished in there, no amount of breaking them in was going to work. So I told her I'd take the original pair I tried on. She tells me, oh wait, how about some white slip ons for the summer? I told her no, but she still brought them out anyway. She guilted me in to trying them on, but I told her I wasn't buying them, just the original pair. So we go to the register and she starts trying to sell me socks!!!!! Telling me they have a lifetime warranty, so if I get a hole I can get a new pair. I told her no and she drops the price. I told her no again and she looked like I slapped her in the face. She's lucky I bought anything at all. I hate being pressured like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sinderelli]

My husband always says "Never pay retail". He is SO embarrassing to shop with- I walk away!! Anyway, we were looking to buy a 52" LCD TV and we found a Sony at Sam's. I am always leery of buying electronics at Sam's but we had a $300.00 gift card and wanted to use it.

Anyway, DH goes to Best Buy and finds a nicer TV, same size and brand but with more bells and whistles (and $300.00 more). He starts talking to the guy about the TV at Sam's and how he will probably buy it there because of the gift card. The sales guy then gets the manager, who says he will knock $300 off the cost of the TV if he bought it at Best Buy!!! I couldn't believe it- so we used the Sam's gc to buy the mount for the TV!!!

DH also bargained on the cost of my DD's furniture. We bought it at Doerr, a family owned furniture store in N.O. DH went in with cash and told the salesperson this is the price I will pay, and no more. They accepted and we saved over $600.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

The only thing we've ever paid face value for at Best Buy is paper, ink, movies...things like that. We always get money knocked off for major purchases like TV's, appliances, Wii fit, stereos, digital cameras, camcorders, computers, laptops, printers, blue-ray players, portable dvd, etc. We've been shopping there for about 10yrs and it's always been that way.

 

[happygirl]

Does Best Buy price match? Maybe he knew of another store having it for 35

 

[Disfan1]

I think Best Buy does price match now. You usually have to talk to Customer Service or a manager, though.

 

[donnajon]

Many years ago, there was this salekid (a teen) working at Best Buy. He was so funny and was giving us discounts on VCRs and stuff. It was near the holidays and during the time they had that "I Care" promotion going on. He said, "See all the staff with the 'I care' tags on? Notice I don't have one? I don't care!" and he would laugh. Everytime we went to Best Buy, we would look for him. He was so funny that everyone got electronics for Christmas that year.