I disagree. I would rather buy a previously opened item from bestbuy. In my experience, factory sealed items are every bit as likely to fail, and sometimes even moreso. Think about it. Bestbuy is going to buy the cheapest crap that they can, from the absolute cheapest vendor. In fact, I remember when Bestbuy had a hard drive specifically manufactured just for them. It was something like a 40gb hard drive that they were selling for way less than anyone else, and less than you could find online. The catch, they had the cache removed (or reduced, I forget which) but did NOT advertise it. It looked like a normal hard drive, only cheaper. Of course, when plugged in it performed very inferior to other similar looking hard drives.
The point - Bestbuy is going to buy the cheapest hardware, and is not going to test your item for you, and in many cases, it appears as if the vendor is not going to either.
An open box item usually has a description of why it was returned and what it is lacking. Hopefully, based on that description, you can establish that the item has physically been plugged in and that it operates somewhat as expected.
I have bought countless items from bestbuy that factory sealed didn't do a damn thing. DVD players that could do everyting but actually play a DVD, fm modulaters that couldn't broadcast a signal 1 ft, screens that looked great displaying their programmed graphics but that you couldn't read any text pushed to it.
But, when the item has been returned, they are *supposed* to test it in the back before returning it to the floor. I know, I know, suppose being the operative word, but in my experience, it gives us better odds.
-sam
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree. I would rather buy a previously opened item from bestbuy. In my experience, factory sealed items are every bit as likely to fail, and sometimes even moreso. Think about it. Bestbuy is going to buy the cheapest crap that they can, from the absolute cheapest vendor. In fact, I remember when Bestbuy had a hard drive specifically manufactured just for them. It was something like a 40gb hard drive that they were selling for way less than anyone else, and less than you could find online. The catch, they had the cache removed (or reduced, I forget which) but did NOT advertise it. It looked like a normal hard drive, only cheaper. Of course, when plugged in it performed very inferior to other similar looking hard drives. The point - Bestbuy is going to buy the cheapest hardware, and is not going to test your item for you, and in many cases, it appears as if the vendor is not going to either. An open box item usually has a description of why it was returned and what it is lacking. Hopefully, based on that description, you can establish that the item has physically been plugged in and that it operates somewhat as expected. I have bought countless items from bestbuy that factory sealed didn't do a damn thing. DVD players that could do everyting but actually play a DVD, fm modulaters that couldn't broadcast a signal 1 ft, screens that looked great displaying their programmed graphics but that you couldn't read any text pushed to it. But, when the item has been returned, they are *supposed* to test it in the back before returning it to the floor. I know, I know, suppose being the operative word, but in my experience, it gives us better odds. -sam