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Bargaining at the Apple Store

I work for Barnes & Noble which is part of Apple's EPP program. I have a link to our EPP store.

The prices aren't much better than the student discount and in many cases, are worse.

a 24'' imac is $1691 at the EPP store, 1699 at the edu store, and 1799 at the regular store.

i just bought a new macbook pro, but did it with my education discount so i could get the ipod touch and sell it .
 
I don't think you will get anything out of them. Their like a cult down in those stores and I don't think anything will change. I got a free pamphlet from the Apple store though. Good deal eh?
 
Don't know they may agree to knock $50 off on AppleCare for each machine if you buy it now, or toss in something free like iWorks.

Generally if you have another non-Apple Store retailer that is in the area, the discount on Apple Care generally is very easy to get.

Got a bunch of stuff on sale and a discount box for Apple Care.

But alas, CompUSA is dead and they were easy to bargain with at the corporate sales desk.
 
trb102589 said:
Later this month my friends and I are taking a trip down to the Apple Store in Columbus. Two of us are buying Macbook Pros and one of us is buying a Macbook (black). The total will probably come out to over 6 grand between the three of us. We're all college students and will be getting the printers and iPod touch's as well. With so much money being spent in one go does anyone think we could wrangle a few extra perks out of the apple store? Has anyone every been offered a mighty mouse or a keyboard? I'm not trying to be greedy but I'm just wondering if this type of thing has ever happened.

Thanks!

Tim
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No, sorry, won't work. They have set prices.
 
so all your buddies are buying macbook and getting the student disount, which if you get printer for, will be a total of 400 mail in rebate, plus the $100 off the computer. If neither of you guys will get apple care protection, i'm pretty sure none of the employees will want to take care of your sale.

If you are getting apple care, they most likely will NOT give you anything more at discount or for free because you are already getting discount from the educational discount.

Like i said if you and 2 other guys are getting computer and not getting apple care, nobody is going to want that sale, and if you ask for a discount lol i think it will get them more ticked off.

:rolleyes: that's my opinion. Apple care for macbook are 245 i think... And you get a discount from that as well as an educator ($66). i think.
 
trb102589 said:
Later this month my friends and I are taking a trip down to the Apple Store in Columbus. Two of us are buying Macbook Pros and one of us is buying a Macbook (black). The total will probably come out to over 6 grand between the three of us. We're all college students and will be getting the printers and iPod touch's as well. With so much money being spent in one go does anyone think we could wrangle a few extra perks out of the apple store? Has anyone every been offered a mighty mouse or a keyboard? I'm not trying to be greedy but I'm just wondering if this type of thing has ever happened.

Thanks!

Tim
Click to expand...

When I bought my iBook in 2005...I got a ton of stuff for only $1900...then got $300 in rebates. I got 1GB Total RAM upgrade, AppleCare, .Mac for a year, ProCare card for a year, free iPod Photo, and Free Case. I got a lot of stuff for pretty cheap. The iBook itself cost $1500. The guy gave me a student discount even though I am not in college. Total deal.
 
noodle654 said:
When I bought my iBook in 2005...I got a ton of stuff for only $1900...then got $300 in rebates. I got 1GB Total RAM upgrade, AppleCare, .Mac for a year, ProCare card for a year, free iPod Photo, and Free Case. I got a lot of stuff for pretty cheap. The iBook itself cost $1500. The guy gave me a student discount even though I am not in college. Total deal.
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That sounds really illegal on the sales guy's part.
 
noodle654 said:
When I bought my iBook in 2005...I got a ton of stuff for only $1900...then got $300 in rebates. I got 1GB Total RAM upgrade, AppleCare, .Mac for a year, ProCare card for a year, free iPod Photo, and Free Case. I got a lot of stuff for pretty cheap. The iBook itself cost $1500. The guy gave me a student discount even though I am not in college. Total deal.
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I'd be very surprised if that guy was still working there shortly after that happened.
 
Do Apple employees work on commission? I thought they were hourly with no commissions.
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No, they don't.


To the OP:

Bargaining at the Apple Store won't get you anywhere - it's a non-commission retail store. You're not buying a car. It doesn't make any difference to the salesperson whether you're buying or not because there will always be 10 other people behind you that will pay retail for the same machine. They'll honor promotions and probably price match local competitors. That's about it.

Try going into Best Buy or Circuit City and get them to throw in free non-promotion stuff - it won't happen.
 
I just found my receipt and now that I look at it...it is the same extact thing as the Back to School thing. I remember receiving like $300 in rebates but then next to the item it says "Individual Educator." Bit odd...here is a pic.
 

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alphaod said:
I hate hagglers at official stores; if you're going to bargain, you have no business buying that product.
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"hate" is such a strong word , anyway why shouldn't someone bargain in a 'official store' ? .
Market stall to corporate giant .. all the same to me & should be to everyone , are you intimidated by the official feeling in such a store ? remember , thats how they want you to feel ,so you pay full ticket and go through checkout like a good little customer !.

How do you think the guys running these corporations got to the top ....by paying the price on the sticker ? , I don't think so . Buy cheap - sell large
 
The negative tone of this thread is sad. Why do most of you make it sound like some sort of sin to try to bargain, especially if it is at an Apple Store? Oh the humanity!

The OP is not trying anything shady or illegal. Just because you don't have the guts to do something that is totally legitimate and done every day by millions, does not mean the OP should not try to get as much of deal as he can without being dishonest. This goes not just for Apple computers, but anything.

Will the OP get anywhere by trying to bargain at an Apple Store with that kind of purchase? I don't know, but it seems that some people have had success. And it does not hurt to try. I have had success bargaining at many places you would not expect to bargain.

Just because some of you pay retail with no questions asked, doesn't mean we all do. In fact, maybe some of us can get deals because you are so willing to pay retail.

Good luck to the OP. I hope you can get a free remote, iWork, mouse, or iPod Case or something! That being said, you should know that to successfully bargain, you need to give them a reason to lower the price. Buying from Amazon instead of the Apple Store is where I would start. Dell can also potentially be used to bargain with. And remember, the most successful bargainer will need to follow though and walk and buy from Amazon if they call your bluff. Or just pay the retail price!
 
slu said:
The negative tone of this thread is sad. Why do most of you make it sound like some sort of sin to try to bargain, especially if it is at an Apple Store? Oh the humanity!

The OP is not trying anything shady or illegal. Just because you don't have the guts to do something that is totally legitimate and done every day by millions, does not mean the OP should not try to get as much of deal as he can without being dishonest. This goes not just for Apple computers, but anything.

Will the OP get anywhere by trying to bargain at an Apple Store with that kind of purchase? I don't know, but it seems that some people have had success. And it does not hurt to try. I have had success bargaining at many places you would not expect to bargain.

Just because some of you pay retail with no questions asked, doesn't mean we all do. In fact, maybe some of us can get deals because you are so willing to pay retail.

Good luck to the OP. I hope you can get a free remote, iWork, mouse, or iPod Case or something! That being said, you should know that to successfully bargain, you need to give them a reason to lower the price. Buying from Amazon instead of the Apple Store is where I would start. Dell can also potentially be used to bargain with. And remember, the most successful bargainer will need to follow though and walk and buy from Amazon if they call your bluff. Or just pay the retail price!
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I agree.

Try this though: Instead of each buying one, select one person to go in and buy all three. One huge payment would give you a better chance than three seperate and smaller (although they arent cheap to begin with) purchases.

I think though you only get one ipod/printer though, but just a suggestion.
 
Fenir said:
I agree.

Try this though: Instead of each buying one, select one person to go in and buy all three. One huge payment would give you a better chance than three seperate and smaller (although they arent cheap to begin with) purchases.

I think though you only get one ipod/printer though, but just a suggestion.
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bad idea for just one person to get all 3.
since there is a limit on your educational discount.
so unless the "3" apples are all different.. like an MBP, a MacPRO, and an iMac that may actually work.
 
It would be nice if they threw in a .Mac subscription for you or something. But yeah, they probably won't.
 
markrivers said:
bad idea for just one person to get all 3.
since there is a limit on your educational discount.
so unless the "3" apples are all different.. like an MBP, a MacPRO, and an iMac that may actually work.
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It's a theoretical limit; they say 1 per year, but you can really buy as many as you want; seriously why would Apple stop a customer from buying 5 computers or something a year? Sure if you bought like 50 or something they might think you're starting a business, but a few by one person is easy; they will eagerly go around the rule and put your 3 computers on 3 receipts so they make you feel good that they are on your side. ;)

honeycrisp said:
It would be nice if they threw in a .Mac subscription for you or something. But yeah, they probably won't.
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And as a paying .Mac customer I wouldn't be happy if they threw this in for free; seriously I pay for my space and bandwidth and if I knew Apple was giving this service for free I'd either expect them to double what I get already or give me my money back.
 
Yeah I am surprised at some of the responses I'm getting here. Some of you are making it sound like a crime to even think about doing it. I honestly have no problem paying full retail price for anything but who doesn't like free stuff? Some of the responses here have been a lot more understanding and to those people I thank you. I'm actually surprised at how popular this thread has been.
 
I like when everyone here says "With Apple, you get what you pay for."

BS! I have a MacBook and plan on buying a MacBook Pro when it is updated, but with Apple you do not get what you pay for. The hardware is overpriced, prone to wear just as much as a Dell or Sony computer is, and generally comes with the same processors, video cards, etc. With Apple you pay for the operating system! And it is the operating system that I will continue to pay for, because OS X is absolutely fantastic! But to make it seem like their hardware is anything special and that asking for a discount / bargaining is a negative thing is ludicrous...if I could buy a cheap Dell and put OS X on it (legally) I would never buy a MacBook again.

Anyway, that's just my $0.02 :)
 
Lol saw the title and thought it sounded kinda of funny.

I thought about going to the people at the apple store and was like, "how bout you sell us the mbp without the keyboards and knock off $100 on each lol."

It would be cool if they give out some kind of deals like buy 2 and get whatever off or for free... but a huge retail store like that probably wont give you any type of deals...

6 thousand dollars is a lot of money to me and to some people.. but I've seen people buy easily $10k worth of stuff without any type of discounts.
 
Jozone said:
In my experience EPP was exactly the same price, but given the current edu promotions you're far better off mailing away for touch/printer and bartering those down the line ;)
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nope, you get more discount than at the education store. That's why it's great.
 
I Bargain With Them All The Time And Win!!!

trb102589 said:
Later this month my friends and I are taking a trip down to the Apple Store in Columbus. Two of us are buying Macbook Pros and one of us is buying a Macbook (black). The total will probably come out to over 6 grand between the three of us. We're all college students and will be getting the printers and iPod touch's as well. With so much money being spent in one go does anyone think we could wrangle a few extra perks out of the apple store? Has anyone every been offered a mighty mouse or a keyboard? I'm not trying to be greedy but I'm just wondering if this type of thing has ever happened.

Thanks!

Tim
Click to expand...

I just got the apple care knocked off an extra 100 after the university discount due to the poor experience with an imac purpose, I also got a free .mac, and shuffle.

Seems to me you can negotiate. Just need to be creative. Ive found in life, you only get what you ask for. GL....Give it a go!
 
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