I found a reasonable gaming PC, which would be pretty good if I stuck a decent video card in it. I more or less said, “Weeeellll, it’s not exactly what I need… and I’d have to get a video card.” And the bored-looking salesman basically said, “OK, let us know.” and went back to his stuff. IIRC, they do get some commission. Can I negotiate with them or not? If so, who should I be talking to: some guy in a blue shirt or a manager or what?
I am pretty sure that they are not on commission at BB. Either way, you can negotiate but it needs a manager to ok it. I recently bought a blue tooth ear piece there. They wanted $80. I showed them that it was $38 at Amazon on my iPhone. The manager okayed the lower price.
Maybe Best Buy policies have changed, but the only price matching I’ve seen brick and mortar electronic stores be willing to do is for ads from other local B&M stores for current sales. I’ve never had a computer-electronic B&M store be willing to match an Internet store/portal price.
You would do well to do your research on Best Buy before ever buying anything from them. I only visit Best Buy to get my hands on a product to study it before I buy it from TigerDirect or NewEgg.
I know they suck. They also have the same item for the same price, and of course no shipping and I have a 10%. And they were such tards I still didn’t buy.
I wouldnt be so dismissive, I have seen around a dozen machines come into my shop requesting upgrades only to find there was no PCI express slot on the board.
As a computer shop owner, the idea that a “gaming machine” would not have a graphics card would be ridiculous to the point of idiocy. If I tried to sell such a machine to one of my customers I would expect to get laughed at and watch them walk out of my store.
Gaming machines are all about graphics capability. I would fully expect this board to dismiss me as having any computer saavy whatsoever if I suggested that a gaming machine of any pedigree could be built without one.
Smiling bandit, I’m not sure what you mean with that. A gaming machine by definition has to come with a graphics card. And not just any graphics card, a decent one. Otherwise it’s not a gaming machine. I think runner pat is trying to help.
All we’re saying is make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth in terms of all the other components. If they bill it as a gaming machine and it has no discreet graphics card, they’re lying, and the system may be lacking in other important places as well.
I think the OP is saying that, with an added graphics card, the PC he’s interested in would make a decent gaming machine. I don’t imagine that anyone is suggesting that it’s being billed as a gaming machine in its stock state.
I did the same thing at Circuit City maybe six years ago with a digital camera and a memory card. I needed a manager’s permission that time too. It may be against official policy but a manager can override it.
Can’t say with any certainty these days, but 10 years ago I worked at Best Buy.
Computer sales were definitely on commission. And haggling was done.
It was pretty common for a salesman to approach me (I always worked the register) to say, “Hey, this will ring up for $1200 but I’m letting them have it for $1050 because they are buying the warranty. Once you ring it all up I’ll put in my sales code for the discount”)
Don’t know if they still do it this way, but at least 10 years ago haggling in Best Buy was accepted and common.
Mmmm, no. Absolutely no one at Best Buy works on commision or gets any type of commision. Not now, not 10 years ago. Best Buy had commsioned sales people pre 1989. Since then they have never, ever been on commision.
Yes, throughout the 90s and earlier this decade they put a high focus on selling extended warranties and accessories. Sales managers did prefer the salespeople that sold these things consistantly and may have rewarded them by giving them more hours or promising them kudos for future promotions but they were never monetarily reimbursed.
Pressure did however get high enough on the sales managers that many of them did attempt to artificially ‘boost’ their numbers by telling sales people to cut deals in order to get the warranty/accessory sale. Opening managers were required to review a “price variance report” for the previous days sales and document any price overrides and explain why they were done. These reports were reviewed quarterly by regional staff and I saw many sales managers as well as store managers get fired for artificially ‘boosting’ their numbers.
So to anwer the OP:
No they don’t work on commision. You can always ask for a better price. If they are doing their job correctly they will tell you “no”. If you find someone who is still trying to “boost” their numbers (against company policy) maybe they’ll do it. However if you aren’t buying a warranty or that $60 usb cable they probably have no reason to cut you a deal.
I have recently had success getting a lower price at Best Buy because I was buying multiple components at the same time. No idea if the salesman was doing it for his own gain or because it’s company policy, but my total at the end was lower than the sum and lower than any published special discount.
Thank you! At this point, I’m not really interested in Best Buy anymore. I had a nice 10% coupon, but I couldn’t get any attention from the sales staff and their people wouldn’t have cared about me anyway (I wasn’t lanning to get a warranty, of course).
I don’t get your comment. Certainly you can use any decent machine for games, but if the term “gaming machine” has any useful purpose at all to distinguish among types of computers then I think it would have to require a good graphics card.