Cell Phone Pricing - What am I missing?

[ready123go]

We have settled on the phones we want for this next two-year contract term (we have one contract for all three of our phones). We have have always bought at the Verizon store but I found mine (Samsung Galaxy S III 16GB) $70 cheaper through Costco and $100 cheaper on Amazon. His is only available through our carrier or Amazon. The third is a multi-purpose plain old cell phone, so doesn't really matter on that one.

This seems too good to be true, so, the question is: What am I missing? Am I required to buy each of the phones through the same vendor?

Please educate me.

TIA
ready

 

[DawnM]

I would think that as long as the fine print doesn't say, "new line of service only" you would be ok.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We have Sprint and when it's time for my upgrade, I'm going back to Best Buy, I get a better deal there and get a gift card for my old phone that will probably completely pay for my new phone.

I always try to go for the best deal, but make sure to read the fine print.

 

[scrapquitler]

We have settled on the phones we want for this next two-year contract term (we have one contract for all three of our phones). We have have always bought at the Verizon store but I found mine (Samsung Galaxy S III 16GB) $70 cheaper through Costco and $100 cheaper on Amazon. His is only available through our carrier or Amazon. The third is a multi-purpose plain old cell phone, so doesn't really matter on that one.

This seems too good to be true, so, the question is: What am I missing? Am I required to buy the phone through the same vendor?

Please educate me.

TIA
ready

You aren't missing anything. As long as it's not a 'new line' or you aren't a 'new customer' it doesn't matter where you buy the phone, as long as it is specified as a Verizon phone (you can't buy an AT&T branded iPhone and activate it on your Verizon account because the hardware is actually different)

This time last year, my DH bought himself a new phone which was a brand new model and it was almost $100 less on Amazon than on Verizon. He bought it from Amazon, we activiated it on the Amazon wireless website ande specified Verizon and there has been absolutely no difference than if we had purchased it on the Verizon website or at the Verizon store.

 

[Ephany]

We've bought our last 3 or 4 phones from Costco and haven't had any issues.

 

[mjmartin01]

We just bought our phones through walmartwireless.com. They were offering a $100 egift card for each phone purchased. The phones were free and on verizon's website they were $99.....

 

[Lewisc]

Different stores offer different pricing. Cell vendors let stores offer upgrade pricing. You're not missing anything. It pays to shop.

COSTCO will usually include accessories such as a case and car charger. COSTCO also offers a reasonably priced protection plan if you buy the phone from them.

 

[wiigirl]

We have Sprint and when it's time for my upgrade, I'm going back to Best Buy, I get a better deal there and get a gift card for my old phone that will probably completely pay for my new phone.

I always try to go for the best deal, but make sure to read the fine print.

Me too...I shop around, phones are expensive

 

[ready123go]

Great info, thanks!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Do you/spouse (whoevers name is geting billed) belong to any major company, trasportation, corporations etc...at verizon you get a good discount/19%, each month on data and 25% on any accessory...ASK to see if you can get any discount on your monthly
Good Luck...