# Have YOU seen any 'deals'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164 "2008-12-21T05:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rayray5884](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@rayray5884](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayray5884)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/21 "2008-12-22T06:49:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > My daughter’s ex-bf works at a Circuit City, and he said they jacked up the prices before the sale. I was looking for TVs, and they were no cheaper than other places. Mervyn’s is also going under, and they appear to have done the same thing. > On the other hand, I’ve gotten some excellent deals at Macy’s with a $25 off card for a $100 purchase (I came in at $104) and we got a good 46" TV at Sears for $1099, with no interest payments spread out until 2012. The deals are selective, but they are there. Yeah, I’m aware they jacked up the prices and then “slashed” them. I didn’t even bother stepping foot into the stores to see what they had until they were within 10 days of closing. At that point I got some fairly good deals. Granted the selection wasn’t that good but I got some fun stuff for cheap. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/22 "2008-12-22T09:19:20Z")
maybe not exactly what you had in mind, but: > **[Sacramento Area Flippers In Trouble](http://www.flippersintrouble.com/)** > > Welcome to the Sacramento Area Flippers in Trouble Gallery. I'll update this blog once a week or so with the latest Flippers In Trouble listings. has some tasty markdowns (mine: forclosed on 218K sold for 125K, with seller paying just about everything except loan origination fees, I dies, hiweverm cg=hip in 3.5% toward those ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/23 "2008-12-22T14:23:25Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > maybe not exactly what you had in mind, but: > > [http://flippersintrouble.blogspot.com/](http://flippersintrouble.blogspot.com/) > > has some tasty markdowns (mine: forclosed on 218K sold for 125K, with seller paying just about everything except loan origination fees, I dies, hiweverm cg=hip in 3.5% toward those Was is such a good deal something happened to you keyboard? I can’t parse anything after origination fees in that last sentence. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/24 "2008-12-22T21:11:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > My daughter’s ex-bf works at a Circuit City, and he said they jacked up the prices before the sale. I was looking for TVs, and they were no cheaper than other places. I think what they did was take the 50% off or whatever from the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price rather than the normal price they would sell the item for. Furniture stores do the same sort of thing, there may be a $500 couch that goes on sale 50% off, but it’s 50% off the MSRP of $800 ($400), so you are really only saving 20% off the normal price. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/25 "2008-12-22T21:36:13Z")
I got a sweet set of MasterGrip golf clubs in a thrift store for $5 last week, bag included. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TheScogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TheScogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheScogg)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/26 "2008-12-23T03:10:31Z")
Yeah, my dad got ripped off on one of Circuit City’s “deals” the other day. He called me saying that he had bought an NVidia 8600gt 256mb graphics card for $110, marked down from $230. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he could have bought the same item online for as low as $52.99, or $37.99 after mailin rebate. He also could have bought a vastly superior NVidia 8800gt 512mb card for about $5 extra. I don’t know the specifics behind Circuit City closing down, but with business practices like this, it doesn’t surprise me that they are. Good grief! ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/27 "2008-12-23T03:20:27Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Was is such a good deal something happened to you keyboard? I can’t parse anything after origination fees in that last sentence. Damned if I know! That was supposed to read “except origination fees, and they are chipping in 3.5% toward those” If this comes out as weird as the first try, it’s time for a new keyboard (or ISP) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/28 "2008-12-23T03:21:29Z")
Whitehall Jewelers are going out of business and everything in my local store is ridiculously cheap- $4,000 diamond rings are going for $500. I got the wifey’s engagement ring at Zales, though, because I won’t be able to afford to replace a diamond if one falls out, and Whitehall is no longer offering warranties, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/29 "2008-12-23T03:27:48Z")
> [@greatshakes](#): > > Hearing of the bad economy makes me think that prices will be really low. WRONG! > I did see some 40-50% off sales. The product was old crap, that couldn’t sell for even the discounted price. WalMart is going up on everything, except for cranberry sauce. Everything, everywhere, is about the same old price, or higher, disregarding gas. I went out shopping with my girlfriend, and she bought a Phillips dvd player, for about the same price that I saw them for 2 years ago. She also bought an HP computer. 800 bucks. About what was expected, and what a standard, midrange computer would go for in ‘better times’. Ad infinitum. > If the stores are discounting anything, other than pure crap that they normally discount, I haven’t seen it. How about you? > Merry Christmas, > greatshakes Not sure where you are shopping, but I haven’t been into a store since Thanksgiving that didn’t have ridiculously good deals. I went into a well-known clothing store the other day that had most of its women’s winter coats at 40% off. The week before Christmas. The store was a bit on the pricey side, too. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164/30 "2008-12-23T05:07:47Z")
> [@TheScogg](#): > > I don’t know the specifics behind Circuit City closing down, but with business practices like this, it doesn’t surprise me that they are. Good grief! They decided that they could save lots of money by firing everyone who had been there a while and actually knew things about what they were selling. Turns out that lots of people who shop at CC needed to have their hands held, and didn’t buy from clueless newbies. Oops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-any-deals/478164.md?page=1)