Best Buy said won't sell iphone 5s off contract

[617aircav]

A thousand times this. I am a former BBYM employee and he is correct. If someone comes in and buys 10 iPhone's, whether full price or contract, the store gets exactly $0. That's why there is such an emphasis on accessory attachment and GSP attachment.

so who gets the extra $50 BB is charging for iphones?

 

[dennisjr631]

I want to know the same thing ????

 

[vonWachtstain]

People still do shop at BestBuy???!!!!! Amazing

 

[PittsDriver]

I know BB doesn't make commission on sales, especially for wireless. However, I fail to believe that BB buys the products they stock their store with, at retail or slightly below to make a dollar profit. They are buying mass quantities at cost ladies and gentlemen... I used to work for AT&T on the wireless retail side, money is never made on the phones alone, it is always on accessories. The only thing sold on the planet with a hire markup than wireless accessories, is movie popcorn.

 

[edtorious]

I'm not eligible for upgrade thru Verizon but if I still want to upgrade and pay full price, will BB let me purchase as long as I activate it thru my Verizon? Can I switch to Straight Talk still even after activated thru Verizon? Please advise? Thanks

 

[boondocks]

I'm not eligible for upgrade thru Verizon but if I still want to upgrade and pay full price, will BB let me purchase as long as I activate it thru my Verizon? Can I switch to Straight Talk still even after activated thru Verizon? Please advise? Thanks

My BB would have sold me an iPhone 5s at full price (+$50) if I signed up/activated with verizon. After which I could have just cancelled right away (and used the phone on any other network). I was even willing to do it until they started asking all the questions (SSN#, etc.) which I thought should not be necessary. So I just skipped it. But if you already have an account with VZW I don'r see why you could not do that (of course I'm not familiar with VZW upgrade/etc. rules).

 

[mrdave543]

I bought 16gb gold att iPhone att from best buy tonight without contract and got them to lower the price to match the 649 amount without making a big deal or anything....was sorta surprised it was that easy, but sounds like I just got lucky.

 

[Kemonsterr]

Sorry, but I think the 2 BBYM employees would know better than a random guy on the internet who THINKS he knows. When an iPhone is sold, there is literally no money that is given to the store. At the very bottom of the totem poll, which is our sales reps, they track what they sell as a way to gauge their performance in a way. When they sell an Android/WP/Blackberry, that amount is added to their Notional Margin. Now if it's an upgrade it is less than if it is a new line or activation. However, the employees don't earn a penny more in their paycheck if they sold 5 new lines or 1 upgrade. The store gets paid more and that helps the department hit its bonus, which then gets the employees a monthly bonus. Again, there is no money when an iPhone is sold. If one of the Sales reps sold an iPhone with no accessories or GSP then it was a wasted sale and they did not earn a penny of notional margin for the store. Why do you think a case that costs $4 is being sold for $34.99? it's because we dont make a penny off the iPhone, but what are you going to do? Not sell it and lose all those accessory sales to the competitors that do?
Sorry, /rant, I just don't like being called a liar or talked down too because I use to work at BBY. That was disrespectful and we clearly know what we are talking about and you are just assuming.

This this SO MUCH THIS!!! oh gee you think I wouldn't know a thing huh? Cause I don't sell these damn things all day. Apple products make zero dollars in reseller stores. The reason stores like bestbuy carry them is SOLEY to bring In business and when half of the phones that go out are iPhones it's a pretty big business to grab onto. This gentleman said it all, every other phone aside from iPhones bring in big dollars, it's the same at frys or att or any place that makes commission, nobody likes selling them because no money is made off them.

 

[0r30]

I'm not eligible for upgrade thru Verizon but if I still want to upgrade and pay full price, will BB let me purchase as long as I activate it thru my Verizon? Can I switch to Straight Talk still even after activated thru Verizon? Please advise? Thanks

I was able to. I walked in and told the bestbuy mobile manager I was buying it outright and that I had a print out from apples website to be price matched. They dropped the price then I used my rewards certificates and a gift card. The manager did seem a bit short with me the whole time and asked how much data I used on my unlimited plan. Also asked me if I was going to activate it on my line tonight and I told him yes. We then went to a separate computer by geek quad and he swapped the devices on Verizon's system while keeping my unlimited data intact.

I'm not a fan of bestbuy but resulted in using them since they were the only ones with an iPhone 5s around me as well as being able to use the rewards certificates and a gift card I had to knock off some of the retail price.