Finding Holiday Discounts on iPods?

jeffy124 asks: "I was hoping to get an Apple iPod for Christmas. Alas, it's too expensive and out of the budget. So I'm forced into purchasing it for myself. Hoping to cash in on a holiday season bargain, I've been keeping my eye on the sales circulars that come in the newspaper. I've seen plenty of discounts for MP3 players of all kinds (Rio's, Dell's new HD-based player, etc), and the iPod has also shown up. Christmas does not yet seem very merry to me. They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price, never at a discount of any sort. You read that right, it's 'for sale' at the *regular* price. Stores guilty of this include Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and CompUSA. Why do stores do this? How often? And does anyone know why Apple has been singled out while their competition has gotten their products discounted? Anyone know who *is* granting discounts on iPods this holiday season?"

"The other day came in the mail a 10% off coupon for various items at Best Buy, including 'MP3 Players' as indicated on the front of slip. Hoping this was how I was gonna get that discount, I set aside time this weekend to drive to Delaware in order to skip out on my local state sales tax too. I turned the coupon over, and in the legal disclaimer was the phrase 'Excludes Apple iPod Players.' Needless to say, a Merry Christmas is still aways off."

Comments

The time to shop...

[Anonymous Coward]

...is after christmas. That is when all the best bargains are found.

apple fixes the price

[websensei]

because they can. (boring).

next issue?

Re:apple fixes the price

[Anonymous Coward]

The parent got modded up as flamebait, but the statement is in fact true. There IS Apple price fixing for it's authorized resellers.

I work at an Apple Authorized Reseller in Los Angeles, and Apple has made it pretty clear that if we drop the price by more than $50, we aren't going to be an authorized reseller much longer.

Personally, I think it's terrible, because there is quite a profit made on Apple hardware by us, particularly G5 desktop systems, and iPods.

Basically, we could knock a good 74-100$ off the iPod without losing money. And I think if we did such a thing, we'd get a pretty healthy customer base very quickly.

Re:apple fixes the price

[wolrahnaes]

The difference is that the RIAA has all but a monopoly over the music sales at major retailers. You have no real option except to buy from them. OTOH, Apple has no such thing. They charge what they want fot their products and people will still pass up cheaper items because the Apple products are either better (iPod), cooler (G5), or the right tool for the job (Final Cut).

This is not to be confused with me defending Apple's prices. I would love to get a decent price on a G5 and an iPod. Guess it's back to eBay for me ;P

Re:apple fixes the price

[raodin]

More than likely.. I think this has been true for a LONG time all across Apple's product lines. There's never been more than a $50 variance or so on Apple hardware, if you buy it new. Thats why resellers would generally try to sell your on extras. (like free memory, software, etc) Pretty much the only way to get discounts on new Apple hardware is educational/developer discounts.

Re:apple fixes the price

[Matthaeus]

Parent didn't just mean Apple. Retail stores will often advertise their price without discounting it any (the corporate bullshit version is that their prices are already so low that they can't really go any lower). I work retail at one of the companies mentioned in the article and I get asked at least once a week why they do that sort of stuff. Most people just don't notice, and figure that if it's in the circular, it must be cheaper.

In a nutshell, it's corporations exploiting the fact that most sheeple don't think. I say, more power to them.

Re:apple fixes the price

[penguinstorm]

Or Oakley, which regularly refuses to let its retailers discount its products; it occassionally happens, but is almost never advertised and the discount rarely exceeds 20%.

Patagonia lets retailers discount, but they generally have to:
a) notify the rep first
b) not discount stuff that they're told not to discount!

It's really a pretty common practice with high-leverage brands.

FWIW I was told - and I don't work the retail channel, so have no way of confirming this (but not reason not to believe it) that the profit on the CRT iMac (and probably the current eMac) was CDN$20

So while you complain about price gouging on the high end, remember the non-existent profit margins on the low. Keep in mind too that those customers buying the CDN$20 computers ('cause that's what they're worth to me) are the biggest pains - they're going to take forever to make a decision, ask you to explain why your iMac is better than a Dell at $50 less, come back regularly and ask questions which you think should be obvious.

So basically, you make no money off your low-end customers.

So I got no problem with Apple fixing prices and retailers making decent markups - as long as it's backed with reasonable warranties and decent products.

And there's where the iPod fails: 90 days is a joke, and a battery that's not changeable by the user is a travesty of epic proportions. Why anybody's buying this thing, I don't know.

But I want one...my precious.

Re:apple fixes the price

[YouHaveSnail]

From what I understand, Apple does essentially dictate the price. But not just because they can... after all, you'd think that if they could make the same dough per unit while consumers paid less, they'd do it, right? But it's more complicated than that, and there are a few reasons that keeping the price of a particular piece of hardware within a few bucks anywhere you go is attractive to Apple, and believe it or not, beneficial in some ways to customers.

First, many Apple products are high margin items for retailers. As long as that's true, plenty of retailers will carry Apple products, and Apple has a decent shot at increasing both market share and mind share. If Apple lets the price float, retailers' profits on Apple hardware suddenly drop close to zero, and few retailers will continue to carry Apple stuff.

Second, those high margins give Apple a lot of leverage with retailers. Apple needs to ensure that the way its products are presented reflect well on the brand. The "store within a store" concept that you see at CompUSA and others is one example of that. That all costs money. The high margins are Apple's carrot, and the threat of losing Apple authorized reseller status is Apple's stick in the effort to enforce its requirements.

Third, consistant pricing lets consumers buy without worrying that they're missing out on some great deal. If you want an iPod, you go out and buy one at whatever place you like the best or is most convenient for you. It doesn't matter (much) whether you buy at the Apple store or from Amazon or from CompUSA or Best Buy or Circuit City.

Fourth, most people perceive price as an indication of quality. A $300 music player must work better and do more than one that costs $130. (And in the case of the iPod, Apple can back this up: iPod is a better music player than the $130 model in every way other than price.)

Fifth, the market that Apple is clearly targetting with iPod is that segment that doesn't mind paying a premium for a device that works well. These are the same people that might next buy an iMac or a PowerBook or a G5. As much as iPod has been a big hit for Apple, I have to believe that its most important effect has been to introduce Apple to new customers.

What it comes down to is that dropping the margins on iPod gets Apple nothing but cheaper customers, less control over retailers, lower customer perception of quality, and less distribution. Why would they do that?

Re:apple fixes the price

[DarkVader]

I can assure you Apple products are NOT high margin items.

I work for an Apple dealer, and the margins are sometimes as low as 7%. The days of 20% margins on Macs are long gone.

(I was talking to a friend in the motorcycle industry the other day - he was complaining about low margins on a line of clothing. The margin he was complaining about was 15%.)

The only way an Apple dealer makes money at all is by selling accessories, and in services. We generally use non-Apple RAM when adding memory, since it's higher margin (no, it's not inferior, we use lifetime warranty RAM - better than Apple's 1 year warranty, and the people we buy from really do back that warranty up.)

It's still not a great money-maker. We just won't sell cheap windoze boxes because we really do believe in selling the best product on the market, not just what makes us the most money.

And hey, the iPod is the best mp3 player on the market. I've got one, and I wouldn't trade my 10GB iPod for a 20GB of an inferior brand.

Re:apple fixes the price

[ssstraub]

And there's where the iPod fails: 90 days is a joke

The iPod now comes with a 1-yr warranty.

(I would rather it was a 3-yr, since it's a 300-500 device...)

Re:apple fixes the price

[morganjharvey]

Pretend for just a moment that we were talking about cars.
Now, let's take a BMW sedan that sells for what, about $35,000? Compare it to, say, a Kia sedan that sells for about $20,000. They're both cars, and yet one costs $15,000 more than the other one... And I'm pretty sure that both of them have quite large restrictions on when their dealers can discount certain items.
But why? Both have engines that make you go forward and reverse, steering, etc.. But one's a luxury model. Leather seats, nifty spiffy in-dash computer, all that kind of good stuff. Do you need it? Probably not. Is it something that could make your drive a little more pleasant? Yeah, maybe.
Now, let's look at the iPod. Do you need the nifty Apple-style design, the metalic casing, the laser engraving, etc.? No. Are they fun/nice to have? Yeah, if you're a person who enjoys things like good design. But, the same way with the car, it's not for everybody. These are also usually features that cost extra. But I can guarantee you that apple isn't the only one dictating prices on their mp3 players.

Just wait...

[Cyno01]

Until they day after you buy one, Apple will annouce price breaks of $50-$100 and new larger capacity models.

Re:Just wait...

[rworne]

Then buy it via Apple or the Apple store. They offer a 14-day price protection policy for just this very reason.

BB, CC and their ilk will beat prices or match them. I have never had a problem getting them to match a price up to 30 days from the purchase date.

Blame Apple

[EricWright]

AFAIK, Apple is the one keeping prices up. If you look at third party Mac sellers, they will often give you a memory upgrade, HD increase, free accessories, etc., but almost never a price break. My guess would be that Apple exerts similar influence regarding price controls of other product lines, too.

If you want a cheaper ipod, your best bet is most likely going to be eBay.

Re:Blame Apple

[pizzaman100]

AFAIK, Apple is the one keeping prices up.

Yeah, this is pretty common. Microsoft does this all the time with their retail software and the X-BOX.

What annoys me Mail-In-Rebates. It seems like all of the advertized prices for Best Buy, Comp-USA, Staples, yada yada, require rebates. Some require two or more. Rebates suck because you have pay up front, go to the trouble of mailing them in, and then you have to wait 4-6 weeks and hope. Plus you get nailed for the full price on the sales tax.

Re:Blame Apple

[harlows_monkeys]

In theory, it is illegal for a manufacturer to dictate the price that a store sells an item. For example, Best Buy could choose to sell iPods at a loss just to get more people to the store and there's nothing that Apple can legally do about it

That's incorrect. There is plenty Apple can legally do about it. For example, Apple can stop selling to/through that store. There is nothing in anti-trust law that requires Apple to sell via every store that wishes to carry iPods.

Anti-trust law would be a problem if Apple threatened to cut off people for discounting, but if Apple doesn't make the threat, but rather simply acts after the fact and cuts off people who discount, that is perfectly legal.

Ebay?

[aero6dof]

;) of course, you may find yourself needing to replace a battery.

Re:Ebay?

[jest3r]

Ebay iPods usually go for around $250+ .. They seem to hold their value relatively well .. still you can save about $100 bucks.

Re:Ebay?

[deacent]

And don't forget DealMac. They have a Dec 5 listing for MacResQ for a refurb 10GB for $199.

Manufacturer's doing a deal

[Space cowboy]

I can't believe there isn't some collusion between the retailers and the manufacturers over Xmas, which has an effect on the 'sale' price. Perhaps Apple said 'No'.

I don't think it's morally right to say that a product is 'on sale' unless there's been a reduction in price though - at least in the UK, there must have been an immediately preceding period at which the product was priced higher for it to be marketed as at a 'sale' price...

Simon.

Re:Manufacturer's doing a deal

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

But a sale merely means that objects are being sold. "New sale price" means that I am selling a product for a new price. "Sale price" merely means that the cost of the product in my sale (which I have every day, as the operator of a store - hypothetically speaking) is this price. In fact, "new sale price" doesn't even imply that the price is lower than it was previously.

I think people forget that any time any person or business sells anything, they are having a sale. "Sale" has come to take on the meaning of reduced prices but I don't think people's inability to recall the original meaning of words needs to be legislated.

Re:Manufacturer's doing a deal

[Malc]

Oh come on, don't be so obtuse. We all know that a shop says it's having a sale to indicate that it's selling things at a discount from their normally selling price. In N. America, shops try to play on this with psychology by having continuous sales... they're trying to convince buyers that there's currently a discount and if they don't hurry they will lose out. Of course, as the sales seem to go on all the time, they're not really having a sale. The other sly practice is to rotate the sale through different items from week to week in the hope of catching a consumer by their unawares.

Educational discounts!

[Dixie_Flatline]

Find someone that's willing to buy it for you through their higher education discount. In Canada, a $439 10GB iPod goes for about $379 if you use an educational discount, if I recall correctly.

Price Limits

[sirmikester]

I bet it sort of works like the Gamecube price. The company selling the product sets an artifical price limit. In order to be able to sell the product you have to sign a contract agreeing to the price point. So best buy must have signed some sort of agreement with apple and it cannot lower the price. Simple.

Re:Price Limits

[DrSbaitso]

Sure, but because Apple doesn't have a monopoly on MP3 players, it's legal. If apple contacted all the other MP3 player manufacturers, and they agreed (in a smoke-filled room, no less) to fix the price of all MP3 players everywhere, THAT would be illegal.

This is the difference between vertical restrictions on price (i.e. Apple the manufacturer, and downstream retailers) and horizontal restrictions (all oil-producing companies and the price of oil).

This concludes the daily antitrust lesson :)

Re:Price Limits

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Goddamit.

Let's get the facts straight right now. the console gaming industry, on average, does NOT work on the Razor/blades economic system. the GC is sold at a profit, not a loss.

Re:Price Limits

[GlassHeart]

I think price fixing is dishonest in all circumstances (unfortunately not illegal in these cases) but to varying degrees. In this case Apple is further in the wrong in my book.

You are very ill-informed. One company setting a price for a product is not "price fixing". Other companies can and do compete against Apple's iPod with lower prices, so go buy those instead if you don't like the prices. Now, if Apple got together with Dell and Rio or whoever else, and conspired to keep prices at a certain level, then that's "price fixing" and it is anti-competitive and illegal. Secondly, if Apple is a monopoly in the market, they can also achieve the results of price fixing without conspiring with another company. A couple of months ago, Apple had about 30-40% of the market in terms of unit, and about 50% in terms of dollars spent. It is not a monopoly.

Similarly, BMW and Benz are not "fixing prices" just because their products are expensive. The are simply luxury goods, like $500 portable music players.

Re:Price Limits

[DrSbaitso]

Actually, the contracts can specify selling only at MSRP. Stores can purchase iPods at lower prices, but Apple pulls their supply if it catches them discounting. They do this to assure stores a good profit margin so they spend their own resources advertising the product.

Say Best Buy sells an iPod for 399(MSRP), and Joe's DisKount ElectroniX sells it for 349 next door. Best Buy spends money advertising the availability of iPods, hires salesmen, etc. Joe is a 1-man shop with no ads, except for a big sign on their front window that says "IPODS: 349". They're located right next to Best Buy.

From Apple's perspective, Joe is freeriding off the efforts of Best Buy. Best Buy is pissed off because it loses sales to Joe from keeping it's retail price up, so it stops promoting the product and drops it's price. Apple is pissed off because no one knows about its product except for tech nerds who scour the internet review sites. Therefore, antitrust law tends to allow retail price maintenance in the absence of monopoly.

I think you're exactly right - the reason Nintendo got in trouble was because it colluded. I thought it was about the price of cartridges also, not about systems, but i could be wrong.

"For Sale" does not mean "On Sale"

[BonrHanzon]

Just because it's listed in a circular doesn't mean that there's any sale price. We are just conditioned to believe that.
I haven't seen ipods for anything less than MSRP at any B&M either, probably due to the demand being so high.

Apple doesn't discount

[BortQ]

Those familiar with Apple products will tell you that discounts are few and far between. I believe it has to do with Apple's unique relationship with distributors. Stores don't have as much leeway to discount Apple stuff as they do with other brands.

The only time you will find Apple products for sale is when Apple passes along end-of-life discounts. (i.e. right before the new model comes out)

Forget it, go for the Rio Karma

[bconway]

I recently upgraded from my iPod to the Rio Karma, and it is THE iPod killer. More reviews can be found here: article.

Re:Forget it, go for the Rio Karma

[BasilBrush]

To be the iPod killer, people would actually have top have heard of it...

Capitalism 101

[DoraLives]

Why do stores do this?

To make money.

How often?

As long as the market will bear.

Supply and Demand

[moehoward]

Supply and demand, baby. Deal with it. You don't WANT an iPod competitor. You want an iPod. Don't try to pass the competitors off as equivalent and then bitch about a price differece. Go buy the competitor if you don't like it.

Step 1) Create product
Step 2) Sell it at market price based on supply and demand
Step 3) Profit

It's so easy, even Microsoft can do it!

Re:Supply and Demand

[adrianbaugh]

I fail to see the problem. As the parent said, if you don't like the price Apple wants you to pay, get a different mp3 player. The fact that Apple are forcing you to pay their price through different resellers doesn't seem to me to matter: the iPod is not the only product that can do the job (playing mp3s), and if the price is too high people will buy something else and Apple (and, to some extent, its resellers) will be the losers.
Now, if Apple had an agreement with all the other companies to keep the prices of all mp3 player high, that would be something to be concerned about. But at the end of the day it's Apple's product and they can should be able to charge whatever they like for it. If the product doesn't warrant the price, people won't buy it. If people don't buy it at the higher price, the market will force Apple to lower their prices. It all comes back to Adam Smith and his Invisible Hand.

What about a refurb?

[Kranium]

Have you considered a refurb unit? Checkout the Apple Store and look for the big red "SAVE" tag on the left. I used a refurbished iBook for quite a while and it never gave me any trouble..

resellers are forced

[sublime]

I used to work for Apple, and I know first hand that Apple forces resellers to their pricing structure.. You won't find any apple products for less than they sell for at the apple store.

Why not a Rio Karma?

[jkeyes]

You can find them for about here for $289 and there's a fun $20 rebate available also. So you can get it for $269 AR and there is also free shipping. So it's below the iPod it's 20 GB AND it supports Ogg and FLAC. It also has unofficial support for Linux so you lose the apple 'coolness' but your pocketbook and open source will thank you!

Apple price-fixes, but allows bundles

[SuperBanana]

Why do stores do this? How often? And does anyone know why Apple has been singled out while their competition has gotten their products discounted?

Because Apple does not allow you to sell Apple products below the pricing offered by Apple themselves.

Apple does, however, let you bundle things- so your best bet is to look for the best bundle(free case etc). Smalldog and MacConnection are among several catalog companies who regularly do these deals, because it's the only way to be competitive(and not a terribly good one, either.)

Do get a case; mine was scratched all over within a half week, and I was excruciatingly careful with it. Also, DO get an extended warranty, and DON'T GET IT FROM APPLE, it's shorter and MORE expensive than Best Buy's(for example.)

FYI- don't bother looking for an iTrip. I placed my order two months ago with Griffin and they have yet to ship me mine. It's getting cancelled tomorrow, I'm fed up of waiting, and I hear the FM adapters all suck anyway.

Re:Apple price-fixes, but allows bundles

[M.C. Hampster]

The antitrust laws, however, give a manufacturer latitude to adopt a policy regarding a desired level of resale prices and to deal only with retailers who independently decide to follow that policy. A manufacturer also is permitted to stop dealing with a retailer who breaches the manufacturer's resale price maintenance policy. That is, the manufacturer can adopt the policy on a "take it or leave it" basis.

Nice job of leaving out the next paragraph. This is probably what the original poster was refering to.

Apple still can't make enough iPODs

[Osrin]

Your scenario is driven by demand, my local CompUSA is generally out of stock of them, not by choice but because demand is so high.

They're maintaining the price and pushing a huge advertising campaign, it's a good strategy, higher price & lower volume = bigger profit & lower manufacturing cost.

Price drops when demand drops.

[kwerle]

...They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price...

The other day came in the mail a 10% off coupon for various items at Best Buy, including 'MP3 Players' .. 'Excludes Apple iPod Players.' Needless to say, a Merry Christmas is still aways off.

Looks like "still a ways off" is $29.90 .

Finally:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/ WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/70702/wo/Lh7my7TA0KCr3f9EhEZxWPiry53 /0.0.7.1.0.5.13.0.3.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?51,37

(special deals page):
Refurb iPod 10GB (Mac & Windows) Dock not included: $229.

You didn't look very hard, did you?

They don't need to discount...?

[frenetic3]

Wild conjecture, but maybe it's just because they have such a strong brand name (kid wants an *iPod* for xmas, not an mp3 player) that they feel that their product is unique and that sales wouldn't drastically increase if they cut their prices (or conversely sales wouldn't drop that much if they kept prices high, because their customers don't see the cheapo competing mp3 players as valid substitutes for an iPod.)

Kinda like toy fads -- what kid would want to accept a cheap knockoff "Fondle Me Herbert" doll when all their little pals have "Tickle Me Elmos"? :P

-fren

Re:Just too suspicious of Apple

[saddino]

Why should I have to enslave myself to Apple

You shouldn't. Nobody's forcing you, right? If you want to spend the money for the iPod, then do it. If you don't, then, er, don't.

- - redundant - -

[jafac]

It's called Minimum Advertised Price.

Apple sets it. You can't re-sell Apple products below this set level. Nobody can.
Yes, Apple has been sued for this. (not successfully IIRC).
In fact, Apple HAS successfully sued resellers for selling under MAP. They put some of them out of business - they were called "Grey-market" MACs, they were bought overseas, and sold into the US market. (some people ended up frying the power supplies because they were set to 240 instead of 120).

Other industries have also been sued for MAP, and gotten their asses handed to them. But since Apple is *NOT* a monopoly, they can get away with it. Don't like it? Buy a competitor's product.

Re:Isn't it Apple?

[CatOne]

Apple can enforce a "Minimum Advertised Price." That is, you cannot advertise the product for less than a certain amount.

Apple cannot control what you actually SELL it for, though.

However, if you're a retailer and you know you have X allocation of iPods, and you can sell them all at full retail, why discount?

Free iPod...

[supertbone]

if you buy a VW bug

Um..sales come after the shopping season..

[msimm]

If your looking at getting the best price possible you'd do well to wait until the end of the busiest buying season of the year.

"For Sale"

[RandyF]

You've got to remember the oldest trick in the salesman's book: "For Sale" or "On Sale" only refers to the fact that they are selling it, not that it is discounted.

You've also got to remember that Apple is plenty proud of their products and doesn't tend to discount much.

Consistent with Amazon pricing

[RafeDawg]

On Amazon, they have them for 15-25 bucks cheaper than the standard price, but to see the price you need to add one to your shopping cart. The obvious explanation is that they're legally prevented from advertising the discounted price.

Either that or they're hoping to cash in on dumb hipster-wannabes who forget to remove it from their cart.

"on sale" != "lower price"

[Ephemeriis]

Alright, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut... But I work retail (at EB) and this has always been an annoyance - especially over the holidays.

On sale means that items are being sold...for example, "On sale now!" means that the product is currently available in stores for your purchase. Not necessarily that it is available at a special, lower price.

Yes, I realize that "on sale" can also mean that you've got a new, temporarily lower price...but it doesn't have to.

We get signs up all the time for new games and products that say "on sale now", and then people get upset when we're charging the same price as our competitors.

yrs,
Ephemeriis

Price Control is a common retail practice.

[banks]

At the risk of being modded redundant, a more indepth explanation of this phenomenon:

What you are seeing is an example of "price control." Price control is a relatively common practice, especially for companies that create higher-end products and have limited (or no) direct-to-customer distribution. Essentially, Apple has the ultimate discretion as to which retailers it will sell iPods too. In order to qualify to carry an iPod, that retailer, be it Best Buy, Circuit City, or any other, must enter into a binding agreement with Apple as to the pricing of the unit. Under that agreement, discounting of the units is generally either completely disallowed, or allowed only with manufacturer approval. Thus, the Best Buys and Circuit City stores HAVE to sell the iPod at whatever price Apple tells them to.

Where it starts to get shady is when a retailer that hasn't signed a price control agreement with the manufacturer gets their hands on the price controlled units, and starts selling them at a price below the manufacturer's price point. This generally happens when a retailer that has an agreement with the manufacturer unloads some overstock or demo units, when a retailer goes bankrupt, or when a shipment "falls off of a truck." Many manufacturers that use price controls get very, very unhappy when this happens. Most price controlling manufacturers will cut off sales of product to retailers that sell overstock to discounters. This can lead to shady, under-the-table dealing, units with serial numbers ground off so the manufacturer can't trace who sold it to whom, and general malaise. Most manufacturers won't honor the warranties on items purchase through third-party discounters.

If you think Apple's price controls are nasty, take a look at the high-end watch world. Companies like Rolex won't even allow retailers to advertise the prices of their watches AT ALL. Take a look at a jeweler's ad in the newspaper for Rolexes- they'll always say something to the effect of "call or visit for pricing." Watch companies are also well known for forbidding internet sales. And they put out propaganda to the effect that all watches sold by discounters are counterfeit.

It's the manufacturer's world. We're just here to consume.

Actually there WAS a discount, but it ended

[coinreturn]

If you shopped the day after Thanksgiving in an Apple store, you got 10% off on an iPod. Sorry you missed it.

10% discount means $269 at Target

[ljavelin]

I bought a 10gb model at Target.

I signed up for the Target credit card and got an instant 10% off. That saved me $30 right there.

Then they gave me a smart card reader, and another 10% off my next credit card purchase, plus another 10% off any on-line purchase.

Wow. I'm done. It was easy, and to be honest I haven't used their card since. Maybe I'll start using it if my current "favorite" card continues to screw me with their crazy rules.

Join Audible, get $100 off

[MORTAR_COMBAT!]

Join AudibleListener for 12 months and get an iPod for $100 less. Naturally you'll spend $14.95 per month on the AudibleListener account for 12 months, but you'll also get one audio magazine, newspaper or radio program plus one audiobook each month. What, you expect something for nothing?

Oh yeah. Tell 'em sdmb sent you.

How big a discount do you want?

[mschuyler]

Reminds me of my neighbor, Richard Abrams, who is in the paper distribution business (which is huge). He owns West Coast Paper company. His big, yellow trucks ply I-5 all ove rthe place. I was buying for my org, so I asked Dick for a discount.

"Sure!" he said. "How big a discount do you want?"

"You mean I get to choose?" I asked. Wow! Nice neighbor. It must pay to know people in high places.

"Sure!" he said again. "You tell me what discount you want, then I'll tell you the retail price!"

Guess there's a reason he's still in business.

DELL's stackable coupons

[UpLateDrinkingCoffee]

Keep an eye out for Dell's stackable coupons... they often have $35 off $350 and $45 off $450 pretty regularly. Many times, they will have these in addition to a blanket %10 off all peripherals. As of a few months ago, they were not excluding the iPod although they will occasionally exclude some items. Keep an eye on this site, as they usually report any Dell deals on a regular basis.

Re:Has no one said the more likely?

[splanky]

For most DVDs, video games, and CDs you are far, far off. Disney DVDs that retail for 14.99 the first week, are wholesaled at 18 bucks. No, I'm not kidding. Video Games wholesale at about 40 bucks for the ones that sell for 49.99 (only a 20% margin). CDs that sell week one for 9.99 cost between 9.09 and 12.04 depending on manufacturer

Always the case with Apple

[vwjeff]

Apple has always controlled prices on their products even if you do not buy the product directly from Apple. You would think that Apple would sell more iPods if they allowed their stores to control pricing however that could undercut Apple's direct buyer market. They control hardware, software, and prices which can be positive and negative depending on how you view Apple.

Two words: EDUCATION DISCOUNT

[Pyrosophy]

I bought mine and the same thing happened, but then I noticed my school's bookstore had it for 25% off. Apparently there is an education discount on these suckers.

So get yourself to your local college bookstore and either find an oblivious checkout clerk or contact a friend who has a friend who is still in college.

You save at least $40.

Re:Two words: EDUCATION DISCOUNT

[numark]

Education discounts are available on the Apple Store. There's a link with a green apple that says "Educational Discounts" near the bottom of the page. I saved quite a lot when I bought my iBook through there.

Shop at Best Buy

[jonahark]

Check for iPods that are "Open Box." They are usually returned by someone who upgrades or downgrades size. They can't be sold as new, so must be marked down. Just bought a 20GB this past weekend - $339. Added in the 4-year Best Buy warranty for $40 to cover the battery and basically anything else that goes bad within 4 years. Also persuaded a fellow customer to take the iPod over the Nomad, even though it still cost him more and had a smaller hard disk. I don't think that Apple needs to drop prices to increase demand.

Great deal!

[dimer0]

I know this probably won't happen for many of you, but I swear this to be the truth..

I sent my wife up to Best Buy when they were having their 10% off thing this weekend. I already saw on the coupon it said mp3 players 10% off (except Ipods). I told her to take it anyways, but then she lost it, ah well - so she did take the double-your-best-buy-reward-zone coupon.

She picked up the 40G ipod, a armband case or whatever, and the extended service plan.

At the register, she gave them her coupon, and the girl working the register said "Do you have your 10% off coupon as well?", and my wife said she didn't, so the girl went to a couple other registers to find one!!! She let it go through, too.

And, my wife doesn't know what happened after that, but she started talking, walked away, and found another 10% off coupon.

So, everything we bought only cost about $520 after tax. Ahhh.. And I was going to be content getting my 800,000 reward zone points. :-)

Re:Before you buy an IPOD

[idsofmarch]

Please actually know something before you post. Wait, I'm sorry nevermind, everybody does it. Thanks for playing. And stop linking to dirtylittlesecret you bunch of ****ing morons.

Re: Finding Holiday Discounts on iPods?

[gnu-generation-one]

Best discount I found:

Nomad Zen NX [not a commission link]

50% more storage than the 20GB iPod, at 2/3 of the price. There's a 60GB version, at less than the cost of a 30Gb iPod.

It's got replaceable batteries, and unlike the iPod, you don't have to remortgage your house to buy a replacement battery. 14 hour claimed battery life. (that's between charges, not 14 hours until you need a new one ;-)

It's got a big-screen, it's small, light, has a charger. No GNU support. No OGG. No remote control.

Re:Has no one said the more likely?

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought the new Blink182 CD at best buy for 10 bucks, but rememberd I wanted the Christmas Story DVD, too. It was also on sale for $20, but I don't know how much they were losing on that.

Blink 182 and Christmas Story. Dude - You are the loser here.

Developer Prices

[Aqua_Geek]

Here are the developer prices for the iPod:

10GB: $239
20GB: $319
40GB: $399

Re:Why an Ipod? There's a better alternative...

[phillymjs]

You can strap it to your arm with the included holder

I'm sure someone makes an armband-style case for iPod owners who want one.

No movable parts so no skipping unlike the ipod

The iPod has 32MB of cache. The average song encoded at a 128K bit rate is 4MB. So about 6 to 10 songs should fit into the iPod cache. I suppose skipping could become an issue for the iPod if you strap it to a running paint shaker and listen to it for a while.

The Ipod is overkill in terms of storage (The Iriver can hold 5-50 cds depending on the sampled bitrate but normally I'd say around 6-10)

Says you. I have a 30GB iPod, and I like being able to carry around my entire CD collection in my shirt pocket. No matter where I am, I can listen to any song I want, any time I want.

The Ipod is too big & heavy

The size of a deck of cards and the weight of 2 CDs is too big and heavy? Do you have severely atrophied muscles because you've been in a coma for the last 10 years, or something?

The Ipod battery fails after about 18 months and costs over $100 to replace

Lies, all lies. Some people have had battery problems, not everyone. The majority of people with original 5GB iPods who posted when this was brought up a week or two ago are having ZERO problems. And if $100 is too rich for your blood, you can replace the iPod battery yourself for $50.

The Ipod is just a notebook/laptop hard drive in a clean looking case but just as fragile as any other hard drive

I haven't read of anyone who has had issues because of drive fragility. People who are really concerned about it can buy a case. I prefer to just take good care of my stuff.

I've read nothing but excellent reviews for the Iriver mp3 player and own one and it's the best I've ever had.

I've read nothing but excellent reviews for the iPod, and own one, and it's the best I've ever had. Neener neener neener!

I don't agree with the argument that you get more storage for the same price from an Ipod. What's the use if it's overkill? If it was an external hard drive or something along those lines I'd agree but it's not.

Ummmm, the iPod is an external hard drive. You can store anything on it, you can even install an OS on it and boot from it. For someone who claims to have had an iPod, you sure don't seem to know much about them.

~Philly

Partner Links Through Amazon yielding discounts

[mgbastard]

A longtime mac bloggish site is linking to amazon, and offering actual discounts on a variety of apple hardware. Including the iPod.

Click on over to MacInTouch for a little bit off. It's linked off towards the bottom of the home page. It's not a huge discount, but the only one I've seen:

iPod 10GB: $284.05
iPod 20GB: $379.05
iPod 40GB: $474.05

I Just Asked Froogle

[Zastrossi]

I just asked Froogle, Google's product search engine, and it offered these results for a 40 GB unit. The best price on a new iPod it found was $464.00, which is about 10% off.

http://www.darrenbarefoot.com
Words. Words. Words.

Apple Discounted iPods 10%

[Anonymous Coward]

The day after Thanksgiving Apple retail stores and the Apple online stores had iPods at 10% off for all buyers.

Apple discounted them on the busiest shopping day of the year. What more do you want?

No tax advantage

[mec]

It doesn't improve their tax position.

If the company makes the item for $100, sells it for $350, and then pays out a $75 rebate, they have $175 of net income. They have to pay taxes on that.

If the company makes the item for $100 and sells it for $275 then they pay taxes on $175 of income.

To put it in your terms -- the company has to pay taxes on the "more revenue" they got through having a higher list price. You forgot about that part when you were thinking about the tax benefit of mailing the customer a check. The two things offset.

You are right about the personal information. Who's the best prospect for buying a new model of iPod? Someone who bought an iPod two years ago, of course!

Plus there is some percentage of people who buy the product but don't get the rebate. But nn the other hand, there are customers like you and me who say "ahhh, fuck it" on a $350 product with a $75 rebate, but we would just buy the damn thing for $275, so the rebate does lose them some sales compared to a simple flat price.

Re:No tax advantage

[tho 1234]

but it can definately help with the balance sheet, and making investors see a strong balance sheet is more important than tax savings

Many of the large computer chains have sale items that come out to be free after mail in rebates. It doesn't take much to realize that its not a viable business model to give away your merchandise- Still, large chain stores do that typically near the end of a quarter, so they can boost the quarterly revenues, boosting stock prices, and later mark off the expense as marketing.

Its similar to what enron did, "sell" your energy to a subsidiary, mark it on the balance sheet as profit, then "buy" it back again and list is as a capital investment, when in reality nothing changed hands.

Yes, many of these business tactics make no sense from a rational point of view, but large corporations are usually more concerned with the perception of strong resuts than reality.

best buy warranty

[citmanual]

It used to be a little known clause in Best Buy's store policies that any item purchased as Open Box was given a free 4 year warranty. A lot of times the sales guys would try not to give it out, but when reminded of the policy, they would.

Bought a tv, vcr, stereo, speakers, car gear of the same and a couple other random things that way from them a few years back. Never got a chance to use the warranties.

Good Job

[geekoid]

Most people will scoff at you for getting the extended warranty. I have found it is a good deal on some very specific items.

The iPod is a great example, do to the cost of replacing the battery.

Full computer systems are also worth it. The only IBM clone I ever bought, I had an extended warrenty 5 years, 50 bucks. after 4 years, the monitor went, they shipped me a new one, the even paid postage. A month later my mobo died, the sent mye a new one, and a substantially beefer proc. and RAM. Basically upgraded my complete system for 50 bucks.

All this assumes a reasonable price one the extended warrenty, naturally.

Re: Finding Holiday Discounts on iPods?

[tdemark]

It's got replaceable batteries, and unlike the iPod, you don't have to remortgage your house to buy a replacement battery.

If you have to get a loan for $49, you probably shouldn't buy an iPod.

Or any MP3 player for that matter.

- Tony

iPods for below retail price

[King_TJ]

I just bought myself a 40GB iPod as my big Xmas gift to myself. Yeah, I was bummed that I missed the day after Thanksgiving sale Apple was running -- but then again, that was also a horrendous day to try doing any shopping. All the crowds and hassles with parking, waiting in lines, etc. probably made it worth waiting and paying the extra 10%.

Another little tip I've heard, though, is to find a buddy working at a CompUSA store. Supposedly, their employee discounts on Apple products (of all types) come pretty close to the same thing as Apple's educational discounts. One of them should be able to buy you an iPod for at least $40 off or so.

Also, don't forget, Apple offers a number of discounts similar to the "educational discount". They have a lesser-known military discount, and a discount for govt. employees too. So you should be able to find *someone* who qualifies for one of those.....

In the grand scheme of things though, I figure an iPod is a pretty pricy little toy, any way you look at it - and if I was going to take the plunge and buy it, I'm not going to incur a bunch of extra hassle just to save less than $50 on the thing. I just paid what they were asking, got my instant gratification, and figure I'll make up for it by avoiding the urge many folks seem to have to waste money on useless iPod accessories (leather cases and the like).

WRONG

[Anonymous Coward]

Read your own damn link:

The antitrust laws, however, give a manufacturer latitude to adopt a policy regarding a desired level of resale prices and to deal only with retailers who independently decide to follow that policy. A manufacturer also is permitted to stop dealing with a retailer who breaches the manufacturer's resale price maintenance policy. That is, the manufacturer can adopt the policy on a "take it or leave it" basis.

Apple can't force them to sign a contract, but they can say "do this and we'll never sell you anything again."

Nice iPod used/recon'd inventory...

[djupedal]

SmallDog.com - Good people...great prices and service.

Re:Origin of the word Sale

[spasm]

no joy. from the OED:

1. a. The action or an act of selling or making over to another for a price; the exchange of a commodity for money or other valuable consideration. Also, with qualification: (Ready, slow, etc.) disposal of goods for money; opportunity of selling.

etmology: late OE. sala, prob. a. ON. sala wk. fem. (ON. had also sal neut.) = OHG. sala, MHG. sale, sal str. fem., f. root sal- of *saljan to SELL.

So it's from old english or old norse root words meaning 'to sell'. Your story is more fun though : )

Re:Has no one said the more likely?

[miyoo]

Even more likely is that iPod sales are good at their current price points. Offering a product for $249 when people are lining up to pay $299 for it is generally bad marketing (unless it gets them to buy something else too).

One company can't "fix prices"...

[danaris]

It appears, Dingleberry, that you have a disturbingly common misconception: that because only Apple makes Apple products, that makes them a monopoly. I will first give a relatively standard answer: does Sony have a monopoly because only they sell PlayStations? No. If Sony were the only company that sold gaming consoles, or held a supermajority of the market, and they actively fought to keep it that way, then they would be in a monopoly position. If Apple were the only company that sold MP3 players, or held a supermajority of the market, and actively fought to keep it that way, then they would have a monopoly and your position would be reasonable.

The other difference is that between monopoly pricing and price fixing. The former can only be done by a monopoly that holds a supermajority of the market in a particular commodity (a single company). The latter can only be done by what is commonly known as a cartel, a group of companies in the same industry that get together to decide what the price of the good or service they all sell should be. If they collectively hold enough of the market, they can keep prices as high as they want, because the competition cannot make enough of a dent in their market share to really compete.

You can be sure that even if the market share of the iPod dropped from its current level of (I believe) about 80% down to 40%, Apple would not lower the price by a significant amount. This is because Apple doesn't keep the price high to gouge us or because they're a monopoly, they do it because that's the kind of company they are: they make expensive, high-quality, high-profit-margin items that people buy because they're the best, not because they're the most affordable. In other words, they're not a monopoly, and nor are they trying to compete on the same footing as companies like Dell and HP, which always compete on price. They compete on quality, instead.

They're worth it.

Dan Aris

Re:One company can't "fix prices"...

[Karma Sink]

If Sony were the only company that sold gaming consoles, or held a supermajority of the market, and they actively fought to keep it that way, then they would be in a monopoly position.

Actually, then they'd be an illegal monopoly. They don't have to be fighting to keep it that way in order to be a monopoly - There are multiple legal ways to maintain a monopoly in American Capitalism, and others can probably give you better examples than I.

Sorry to be pedantic, it's just a common misperception and I felt like clearing it up.

Target

[foo12]

Buy at Target and open up a Target card - instant 10% off your entire purchase plus they send you a couple more "10% of an entire day's shopping" coupons in the mail w/ your actual card. On a big ticket item like an iPod it really helps; plus you can load up on other XMas electronic goodies and save a bundle.

Do not buy Creative junk!

[linuxguy]

I have about 5 of their products, including a
hard drive based MP3 player. What a waste of
money. I am not buy another Creative product.

I have owned an Apple ipod also. Nice mp3 mplayer.
I am loving my new Rio Karma though.

You missed the point...

[Dascen]

Then buy it via Apple or the Apple store. They offer a 14-day price protection policy for just this very reason.

I think you missed the point. If you got the 14 day price protection, the price would drop on the 15th. Thats how it works.