Steamd

Last week, I talked about my frustration with Best Buy’s price discrepancies between their online and in-store prices for DVD’s. To further prove my point, I took a peek at Best Buy’s latest Sunday ad. I took a look at the various products in their ad but didn’t see any discrepancies for larger items like TV’s, appliances, and such. It would seem that the discrepancies center mainly around digital media like CD’s and movies. Haven’t spotted any discrepancies with console and PC games but it’s probably just a matter of time before I spot some.

So, what did I find this week? Let’s look at CD’s first:

This is the really odd ones that don’t make any sense. You’d think that the new releases would be subject to some discrepancies, right? Nope! In fact, the discrepancies center around the Holiday Music Favorites. Want that new Josh Groban Christmas album? You might wanna buy it online and save yourself $2:

And here’s an even odder one. See that album just above the Josh Groban one? A Very Special Christmas Vol.7 for just $7.99? For once I found an item that is actually cheaper to buy in the store than online. How messed up is that?

Now let’s move to the first of the movie discrepancies. There’s a couple here that stick out:

Again, same as last week…err…why is the Inglorious Basterds Blu-ray version being sold for $5 less online? Is this a special “online only” deal? If so, why don’t they say so?

And, yes, while the above pick says “pre-order” I just checked the site again and it’s still listed at the same price. Oddly enough, the two-disc DVD isn’t in the ad but I bet you money that it’s still gonna be a $1 cheaper on the site ($21.99 online versus $22.99 in-store).

Is there something going on with the Blu-ray new releases? Why is The Hangover listed for $4 cheaper?

On this last movie page, none of these really stick out…except one. Can you guess which one is gonna be a $1 less?

Yep…Robot Chicken! The one damn DVD I would buy this week and I still have to price check it online! Damn you Best Buy!

Is it me or does it seem like all these price discrepancies revolve around new release movies that they know they can move fast and make a few extra bucks on without many people noticing? I think there’s a pattern forming. Guess we’ll know when I look at next week’s ads.

I don’t buy a whole lot of movies and music but when I do I usually check Amazon, Best Buy, and a few other sites to see who has the better deal. If Amazon or another competitor is offering a wildly better deal with free shipping I’ll go into Best Buy and hit them up for a price match. If the difference is only a few bucks I’ll sometimes just buy from Best Buy and call it a day. However, lately I’ve been noticing that it isn’t always the competitor I have to price match…it’s also Best Buy themselves!

If there’s one thing about Best Buy that has annoyed me the most lately it’s the fact that their in-store pricing doesn’t always match their website. Why?! It doesn’t make any sense to me at all. The way I see it, Best Buy is essentially taking money from customers due to a technicality. It’s almost the same way that cell phone companies rob you of $2 every month due to your own stupidity^[1].

For instance, just yesterday I stopped at Best Buy to pick up a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The price listed on Best Buy’s site was $21.99. However, when the clerk scanned it the price came up as $22.99. The clerk price matched it on the spot but still it shouldn’t even happen in the first place. Want proof? Here’s the page from Best Buy’s own ad from last Sunday’s paper:

Notice the price of the 2-Disc Special Edition? $22.99, right? Now, here’s what was listed on their website the week of the sale:

Kind of odd, isn’t it. Same DVD from the same company and yet there’s a $1 price difference. What’s worse is that the Blu-ray version is listed for $2 cheaper as well:

Since when is Blu-ray cheaper than DVD? I mean, WTF?! There is no logical reason why the same product should be sold at two different prices from the same company.

This isn’t the only time this has happened either. It happened when I bought Pixar’s Up DVD ($2 difference in price). I’m almost certain that the same applied when I bought Watchmen, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That’s an extra $5 to $10 Best Buy could have gotten out of me had I not paid attention.

This got me wondering: How many customers buy stuff from Best Buy without noticing the price difference between their in-store and website? Granted, we’re talking about a price difference of only a dollar or two, but add that up over thousands of sales and you’ll likely end up with a nice amount to pad the bottom-line. I’m starting to wonder if Best Buy does this on purpose.

Now, I can understand if Best Buy was offering an online only deal but this isn’t one of those kind of deals. It’s your typical everyday new DVD release. Like me, I would imagine that a lot of people check online to see what the price is before driving to the store to buy it. If the price difference was more than a few bucks most people would notice. But make it just a buck or two and you’ll find that a lot of people end up buying stuff and not noticing. This is the behavior that I think Best Buy is anticipating. They’re anticipating that you won’t notice an extra buck being added to the cost. And since a lot of people would much rather drive to the store rather than having it shipped to them this behavior works to their advantage.

This is a practice that I believe Best Buy needs to stop. The fact of the matter is that Best Buy is still a brick-and-mortar operation regardless of whether they sell stuff online. The two part of their business can’t be treated as separate entities with different pricing models. If a product listed on their site isn’t a special online-only deal then the price listed should be reflective of how much it is in their stores and vice-versa. That’s what customers expect and how it should be.

So the next time you shop at Best Buy, be sure and check the price online before you get to the checkout. The price listed in their stores may not always be the same price as shown on their website. If Best Buy continues this practice I may have to up the ante and expose this. I’m sure there are plenty of news organizations that would love to hear about this.  ;)

1. Verizon: How Much Do You Charge Now? [↩]