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Post by lockejv on Apr 12, 2007 10:56:16 GMT -5
I'm shopping for a new television. I've been watching the market for about two years, and am ready to pull the trigger on a set.
But here's the problem. On pricegrabber.com, some sites sell the TV $1200 cheaper than retail price. PCVideoOnline, BufferflyPhoto, etc. Also, I wouldn't have to pay the 10% NY sales tax if I bought it online. Some of these places also offer free shipping. They advertise the televisions as new (not refurbs).
I could save over $1500 buying from one, but at the same time, you read about customer service disasters where people get screwed over. $1500 is a LOT of money you could potentially save.
Does anyone have any experience buying from an Internet wholesaler? There are reviews all over the place, posts on forums and such, but I don't really trust any of them. I'm sure all of these places have people going around the web planting reviews and good press about their stores. So I'd prefer to get an opinion from someone I know...
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Xaero
Soldier
Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb!
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Post by Xaero on Apr 12, 2007 11:04:22 GMT -5
wow, almost seems too good to be true, shippin on a decent sized tv would run a coupla hundred i would think. pretty generous i hafta say. Yah i have a great deal of mistrust aswell with anything like those :/
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Post by lockejv on Apr 12, 2007 12:45:54 GMT -5
wow, almost seems too good to be true, shippin on a decent sized tv would run a coupla hundred i would think. pretty generous i hafta say. Yah i have a great deal of mistrust aswell with anything like those :/ Yup, and when something is too good to be true, it isn't. But these places have been around so long and have so many reviews, I'm finding it difficult to discount them as a legitimate option.
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Post by Sosa on Apr 12, 2007 12:49:57 GMT -5
If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Buyer beware when it comes to big-ticket items with wholesale vendors on the intarweb: there are a number of really great offers available online, but when you forgo the brick-and-mortar buying process, you take a bigger chance with being unsatisfied with the ending results.
I think what you need to do is a little more homework. Check some buyer's ratings for the websites you're thinking about buying from. A lot of these sites can legitimately offer much lower prices due to the cheaper cost of business from running an online store, but not every retailer is reputable. If customers seem to have complaints about returned or damaged merchandise, that should be a red flag to steer clear.
For the record, this is especially true when shopping for computer parts or systems online. Any trained monkey can put a computer together, and there are hundreds of dealers on the net that offer excellent prices on systems. Most of them tend to shirk away from telling you exactly/i] what they're putting into your machine, however, either not giving a complete part listing or installing substandard parts/services.
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Post by Sosa on Apr 12, 2007 12:53:03 GMT -5
For the record, one of my best purchases was a set of projector bulbs worth thousands of dollars for a measly $220. Nothing went wrong with that transaction, and the bulbs were of good quality, in new condition, exactly as described.
I wasn't trying to scare you away from seriously considering online stores as a legitimate option, I just wanted to point out that you should treat this as if you were buying a car. Shop around, get recommendations, and read reviews first. Once you make the purchase, it can be a major hassle to get your money back if things don't work out.
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Post by lockejv on Apr 12, 2007 13:41:54 GMT -5
Price Grabber - Like I mentioned, I can read reviews all day long online. But the problem is there is no way to know if any particular review is real or fake given the anonimity of the web. Which is why I asked if anyone I knew had experience with any such vendors. I just can't get over the $1300 difference in pricing. Is retail price on these televisions really a 33% markup over wholesale? That simply does not make any sense; I just don't see a free market allowing it to happen. NewEgg (who I buy my PC parts from when I build) has it for $3,200, but it's never in stock. In person, I've never seen the TV on display anywhere - all the retailers I've been to in Buffalo carry the XBR2 (older) model. Their websites say "Store Only" on the XBR3 and have it listed for $3800.
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Post by tempus on Apr 12, 2007 17:39:40 GMT -5
I bought a nice little 27" tv several years back, the only bad experience was that due to my location the delivery process was horribly extended so I ended up driving to the shipping dock to pick it up.
But other than that Im poor and dont buy online =P
-t
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Xaero
Soldier
Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb!
Posts: 2,737
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Post by Xaero on Apr 18, 2007 10:20:42 GMT -5
yes, i worked at sears for a year+ an i can tell u the markup over wholesale is insane. an yeah 33% sounds just about right. I know that most items get a 33-45% markup depending on item purchased. Jus like i can tell yah any sears associate who really needs to make a sale can an will discount the price on something by upto 5-7% if u really haggle up wit em. I can also tell yah that the sears employee discount on normal days was 10% off anything in the store, an there were special sears employee days where any employee could save 25% off instead of usual 10%. That there could tell yah that yeah even with the discount they still making there money.
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Post by Markus on Apr 18, 2007 12:19:50 GMT -5
You should see the markup on over the counter medication and natural products... You would think that an organization that promotes physical and mental health and well being would be willing to let there products go a little cheaper... The markup on brand name products are anywhere from 35-45% whereas a house brand product (meaning the stores brand) is marked up like like 50-75%... The production cost of the house brand products is ridiculously low...
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Post by Jonathan on Apr 18, 2007 14:02:08 GMT -5
lol. Wal-Mart, as cheap as everything is, has mark-ups from anywhere from 15% to 100% +
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Post by lockejv on Apr 18, 2007 14:27:39 GMT -5
It's natural for any company to sell their product for as much as possible. After all, a for-profit company only exists for one reason: to make money. You don't start a company to better society, you start it to hopefully line your pockets. And if your company is successful, you go public, and then the goal is to line the shareholder's pockets.
People rag on the pharmaceuticals (drug companies) - advertising and selling a bottle of pills for $100 that costs $1 to make. But you have to consider both sides of the picture. These companies spend billions in R&D every year trying to create new products. Of all their submissions, only a few get approved after sucking the FDA's cocks for a decade. Then one or two people die from the drug, and they have 10,000 lawyers trying to get a class action going to sue them for billions.
In the case of these TV's, I find it hard to believe that Sony's suggested retail price is $3800, and they're selling them to wholesalers for $2500 each. That's a $1300 markup. The competition is pretty feirce between Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, etc. and Sony would sell at least twice as many of these sets if there was only a $500 markup.
I found out that Sony only directly sells to 30-40 authorized dealers. If you buy from one of the Internet shops, they didn't get the set from Sony, and Sony's mfg. warranty does NOT apply. I don't know if these places have refurbs or what...but from what I've read you don't want to be at their mercy. Also, Sony won't help you and if you have dead pixels or clouding, you're basically fucked. There's a local place that's authorized and has the set I'm looking for a price at the halfway mark, so I think I'm going to buy from there when this semester is over. I could roll the dice and try to save $6-700, but I'm not a gambling man and the risk is just too high.
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Xaero
Soldier
Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb!
Posts: 2,737
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Post by Xaero on Apr 18, 2007 16:52:40 GMT -5
research ftw!
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Post by Sosa on Apr 18, 2007 18:42:45 GMT -5
Pshhh just steal it. What kind of Rogue are you? >.>
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Post by lockejv on Apr 19, 2007 19:24:15 GMT -5
Pshhh just steal it. What kind of Rogue are you? >.> I stopped doing that after I turned 18. Well, for the most part...after I turned 21 I was completely done; was never caught but the rewards were no longer worth the risk or the effort. This is excluding NYS taxes and software, of course
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Post by Bridger - Retired Paladin on Apr 20, 2007 0:00:55 GMT -5
I'd honestly just go read random reviews. If you see people bashing it a lot, beware. If you DON'T see people bashing it, that's a good sign.
Also, buy it with a credit card, and just pay the card off right away. If the product you received is not as described, you can reverse payment ( I actually had to talk to an account manager and threatened to do that over a motherboard when a company wasn't wanting to honor their warranty. They ended up honoring the warranty. I also did it with a local bike shop who didn't think they had to honor their 2 day old work which literally fell apart ).
So remember the "credit card reverse payment card" handy if the company gives you problems.
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