Comments on: Check Before You Buy Electronics From Costco

By: moneymonk

moneymonk — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:10:34 +0000

Electronics, Jewlry, and furniture always have an extremely high markup. Alwayd shop around when it comes to these things

By: Novice

Novice — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:54:27 +0000

A giant reason people used to have to buy electronics was the unlimited return policy. Imagine being able to return your 6 year old laptop for a full refund today. Just turn around and buy a new laptop with the refunded money. Naturally, that led to abuse and the eventual elimination of the policy for electronics.

By: Roger Binns

Roger Binns — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:58:34 +0000

Be aware that Costco often doesn’t sell the item as is – they are almost always bundled with extra things. For example you can’t buy a plain Nintendo DS – you can only get them with a game (but at least they are good games). My last digital camera from them came with a carrying case (sold for $15 by Amazon).

As to whether they mark things up to boost profit margins, consider one of their rules:

At Costco, one of Mr. Sinegal’s cardinal rules is that no branded item can be marked up by more than 14 percent, and no private-label item by more than 15 percent.

So subtract 14%, and then wonder how others are able to sell below Costco’s cost. (Pedantically speaking the math is that you divide by 1.14 to get the original cost.)

By: Christian Gross

Christian Gross — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:13:10 +0000

DUH!!!! Come on Frugal where is your mind? If Costco is making profits month after month then somebody is being the sucker, no? Somebody is overpaying, no?

This is why I am very skeptical and watchful of companies that make record profits….

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:32:58 +0000

I agree that you should expect a deal at Costco. However, I would caution you to avoid simply looking at the cheapest price on the internet and assuming that’s what you would be able to buy the product for.

My reason for this is the last time I purchased a digital camera I was able to find some amazingly cheap prices on the internet. I did some research into these merchants and it turns out that some of the deeply discounted prices are scams. They lure you in with the price, but supposedly when you call they won’t sell you the product for that price. If you want that price you have to buy a bunch of accessories at a huge markup thereby canceling out the discount.

After reading stories of this kind of deception, I decided that my best bet would be to stick with companies I know online (i.e. newegg). Hopefully I will still pay less than a physical store, but avoid any hassle with scammers.