Iphone 8 64GB at Bestbuy at full price is going for $799.00 and the same from apple is going for $699.00...am I missing something here?
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Crooked BestBuy
- Thread starter chiefs1968
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Givmeabrek
macrumors 68040
That's typical for Best Buy. They raise the price and hope you won't notice. They will price match if you want to fight with them. I would buy elsewhere.
stabile007
macrumors regular
Italianblend
macrumors 68000
On the Best Buy website, I can't find the full price option. It's just the leases from the three different carriers
Mlrollin91
macrumors G5
Technically they can because its a MSRP set by Apple, not a max price. All Apple products are more expensive at Best Buy. All of Apple's products end in a $.00. Everything at Best Buy ends in a $.99. So they get an extra dollar on every single Apple product they sell. But its the iPhones that they really go insane with.
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You don't really believe Best Buy gets the phones from Apple at retail, right? Trust me, there is money baked into Best Buy selling it at MSRP. The extra $100 is Best Buy being shady and greedy.
stabile007
macrumors regular
Once you select the carrier it brings you to that product page and you can select how many months payments you want to do or just pay full retail.
Its funny if you do the math on the monthly payments to the carrier it works out to the proper price. I think Best Buy is trying to ensure phones are going through the carrier purchase process which I am sure they get a cut of as well and not just bought outright. Or maybe they are being pro-active and trying to discourage scalpers from grabbing the entire stock so actual customers can get it. Microcenter did something similar with graphic cards to keep them out of the miner hands by charging $10k a card if you tried to buy three or more at a time.
geoffm33
macrumors 6502
Typically retailers can sell for whatever price they want over a minimum price, likely what Apple is selling for. Where they run into issues is selling below Apple's MAP (minimum advertised price).
(There are ways around MAP and it's not legally enforceable.)
TheIgster
macrumors regular
You don't really think that a company like Apple leaves hardly any profit margin in there for retailers do you?
Oh and you have a choice...buy elsewhere or through Apple directly then. Best Buy is a retailer in the for profit business. They are not crooked.
Newtons Apple
Suspended
Best Buy has done this for years. You need only remind them of the correct price and they will discount it for the hundred bucks. I always buy my iPhones from Apple so let the buyer beware. People who do not know will pay the extra hundred and still be happy.
timeconsumer
macrumors 68020
Best Buy usually runs some nice deals on phones under the device payment plan options. If you get a phone on that, you can pay it off after 15 days. Sometimes they'll discount phones $100-200. That said, Best Buy will price match Apple. If you're paying full price, just get your phone directly from Apple.
I refuse to buy anything from Best Buy - many years ago I pre-ordered a Sony PDA and they charged my card and bumped the ship date out several months - all other retailers got them on time - classic bait and switch - they are very unscrupulous vendors - I'm still bitter about it after all these years because it was treated so poorly by them- never again Best Buy- I encourage everyone to avoid this retailer.
Nuc
macrumors 6502a
I tried to get them to price match over the phone and they wouldn't. Their price match is worthless on iPhones apparently. I even pointed out when you click on the full price option it says $699 under it. Getting tired of Best Buy and would drop them if it wasn't for the 0% interest deals.
MrXiro
macrumors 68040
It's not them being "greedy and shady" it's them discouraging you from buying phones from them without a carrier deal. They don't want to sell you these phones because they don't make much money from them. Tack on a carrier deal then they make money.
If you call "trying to make a profit" the same thing as "greedy", when brick and mortar stores are going the way of the dodo then you don't understand how retail works.
Disneyland did a similar strategy with their tickets and season passes, the park gets overcrowded and the only thing they can do to discourage people from coming is to charge more for the tickets so that the lines aren't insane.
Don't believe me? Here's an article:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disneyland-wait-times-20170712-htmlstory.html
Mlrollin91
macrumors G5
I've had a Disneyland season pass for a decade, so Im definitely aware of how Disney does it.
I'm not saying making a profit is the same thing a greedy. But they are already making a profit. To add $100 on top of that without telling the consumer is shady. People that are not well-versed in the tech world trying to buy a new phone would have no idea that Apple sells the device for $100 less. That is both shady and greedy.
As mentioned above, if people who are not well-versed in the tech world go to Best Buy to buy a phone, they are being ripped off an extra $100 dollars without knowing. Especially the older generation who is going into a store to buy a phone. They have no idea that Apple is selling the same device for $100 less. That is shady and wrong. And yes, Apple does leave room for Best Buy to make a profit. Apple sells them devices at wholesale, just like any other manufacturer of any product.
It only costs Apple roughly $200 to make a device, so there is definitely room for profit for both Apple and third party sellers selling it at $699.
MrXiro
macrumors 68040
And as I said it's to discourage selling phones with no contracts attached. They don't want you to buy that phone at $100 extra.
Mlrollin91
macrumors G5
But how does Best Buy make money by you signing up for carrier financing? I don’t foresee AT&T sending Best Buy a check for $699 per device.
iFranciscoMata
Suspended
I used to work for Best Buy Mobile as a manager. We paid iphone at cost. So Best Buy paid the exact prices for the new iPhone as a customer would on Apple.com and than we sold them $50+ higher than retail because then we didn't make a profit. As for AT&T, Verizon or Sprint they paid us for the activation only. So a few hundred dollars but that meant the customer could not go to a retail store othan than Best Buy to change plans, etc or Best Buy would lose the activation profit and lose whatever they paid for the device. It's called Wireless write off
[doublepost=1505596644][/doublepost]Now as for Samsung and LG yes, we've got discounts on them that why half the time you will never see more money being added on because we are already making profit. But the big bucks are still in the activation sale.
MrXiro
macrumors 68040
I used to work at Best Buy,14 years ago, they have a deal in place. Being that carrier financing is basically the new “contract” they probably offer Best Buy a $100 (the $ amount is only a guess) per “contract” sold. While the profit margin Apple offers is only $20 (also a guess based on how they used to do it) per iPhone. So selling a contract nets more money than selling a single iPhone.
The iPhones they sell outright the $20 profit goes straight to them while the “contact” they sell is paid out to them by the carrier so it’s more like they sold the phone to the carrier who covers you and your deal is with carrier and they walk away with $100.
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pat500000
Suspended
MrXiro
macrumors 68040
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
It’s capitalism. Buyer beware. Perform your due diligence or be a chump.
Zune55
macrumors 65816
Wow now these iPhones looks so ugly and ancient. Why wasting time building 8? Now most people not even buying it. available in 1-2 weeks if you order today. Apple should have done little different on the front design. Back is looking good though.