AT&T Price versus Best Buy

oldmanjenkins

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Why is there such a difference in price between Best Buy ($799) and AT&T ($649)? This of course relates to the unsubsidized price. Per Samsung they have no say what the retailers charge. That of course does not make sense. What would the purpose of the MSRP be then?

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BeRich

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Why is there such a difference in price between Best Buy ($799) and AT&T ($649)? This of course relates to the unsubsidized price. Per Samsung they have no say what the retailers charge. That of course does not make sense. What would the purpose of the MSRP be then?

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I have no idea what BB's reasoning is. I was in there the other day to buy a controller for my laptop and wandered over to the cell phones out of curiosity and saw they were selling the S3 for $600 when I bought it from AT&T four months ago for $549.99. Maybe they hope to make mad profits off stupid customers who don't shop around?
 

goelz83

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MSRP is short for Manufacturer SUGGESTED Retail Price. There is nothing about an MSRP that requires a reseller to charge a certain price.

Maybe Best Buy wants to keep the device in stock for people who are buying the phone with a contract. That could be why they charge more for the phone outright.
 

oldmanjenkins

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I see that BB is no longer selling the Buy Back program as well. That was the whole point of buying it out right. Looks like I will be taking it back to BB and getting it from AT&T. $150 savings is pretty significant.

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Shanicenicolle

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I see that BB is no longer selling the Buy Back program as well. That was the whole point of buying it out right. Looks like I will be taking it back to BB and getting it from AT&T. $150 savings is pretty significant.

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Best buy has trade in plus which is essentially the same thing. But we make no money off the phone when we sell outright for the msrp, as opposed to when we sell a phone with an activation, so the extra charge is to soften the blow. They may price match tho.


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oldmanjenkins

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They did price match. The trade in is horrible. With buy back I still get 50% of the value of my phone. With the trade in program the most I can get is $210. That is the loss of $190 in value.

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Shanicenicolle

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They did price match. The trade in is horrible. With buy back I still get 50% of the value of my phone. With the trade in program the most I can get is $210. That is the loss of $190 in value.

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No trade in plus is something different they give you an extra amount (right now it's 50) on top of the projected value. It's 30 by itself and free with geek squad

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oldmanjenkins

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Best buy has trade in plus which is essentially the same thing. But we make no money off the phone when we sell outright for the msrp, as opposed to when we sell a phone with an activation, so the extra charge is to soften the blow. They may price match tho.


Sent from my Red GS3

Now I see why you guys (BB) doesn't do it anymore.

http://bgr.com/2012/12/07/best-buy-techforward-ruling/

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lynnpudas

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I don't know why they'd reason things that way. They sell the phone for a contract price that is identical to At&t and way more then verizon. Wish verizon service didn't suck where I live. All they have here is 3G.

MSRP is short for Manufacturer SUGGESTED Retail Price. There is nothing about an MSRP that requires a reseller to charge a certain price.

Maybe Best Buy wants to keep the device in stock for people who are buying the phone with a contract. That could be why they charge more for the phone outright.
 

oldmanjenkins

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And even the MSRP is not what the manufacturer would sell the phobe for anyway. It is the same as a car dealership. What the dealer paid and what the consumer pay are vastly different. The dealership might show you an "invoice" for what they "paid" or what the MSRP is but that is just a suggestion. BGR has had some good info about cost of manufacturing the iphone by component (all costs included) and what the phone is selling for. Even if they only make $50-$100 per unit multiply that by what is sold and you have hundreds of millions in sales.

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mballs4life

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They did price match at BB for. Also I got the best buy insurance which is $10 a month and the guy told me that it includes the buy back program. So maybe you can only get it with the insurance?
 

oldmanjenkins

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They price matched. They used to package the Buy Back and the insurance together. When I bought the phone they advised the Buy Back was no longer being offered on new purchases. The Buy Back website shows they are not accepting new purchases. This stems from the lawsuit and BB's losing the argument.

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