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Be glad you picked up your Optimus V before this week.

the $199 Price at Bestbuy has NOTHING to do wtih supply and demand.

BESTBUY is famous for doing this. Is not the first time on a hot seller/new release. they are so greedy.

Target, wal-mart, and radioshack all still have the in stock @ 149.99 here.


michealbond said:
Best Buy has the Optimus V shooting up to $199. I think Virgin Mobile saw how many new activations they were getting/3g issues and upped the price to slow sales?

Not sure if anyone has seen any other stores with the price change, but I bought my optimus from best buy 2 weeks ago, and i'm glad i did. $70 increase is a huge jump!
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There is about a 35.00% Margin on these Phones. Cost is usually around $98~99....Selling for $149.99

That's a MARKUP of around 52%. how do you think Target was selling them for $129-20g/c?

A friend of mine works at Radio Shack and he showed me their cost in their computer.

I'd imagine that retailers such as best buy, wal-mart, and target, that offer them on sale, great a much bigger deal (at cost) because they probably buy THOUSANDS at a time selling them in all their stores.

So selling one at $149. a store make a hefty $50 profit on one.

BestBuy trying to sell one for $199 is just PURE CORPORATE GREED!!!!

michealbond said:
Best Buy has the Optimus V shooting up to $199. I think Virgin Mobile saw how many new activations they were getting/3g issues and upped the price to slow sales?

Not sure if anyone has seen any other stores with the price change, but I bought my optimus from best buy 2 weeks ago, and i'm glad i did. $70 increase is a huge jump!
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bswann said:
I got mine from Target for $109.00 if you take in account the $20 gift card I got with it.
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Same here. High five! :D I used my gift card to buy a $25 top-up card, which was on sale for - I think - 7% off.

I'd be pissed at the price hikes if I was still trying to get an Optimus, but at least the plan rates aren't going up. It's still just $25 a month and you aren't locked into a contract. One of my relatives has an iPhone and pays more than three times as much for service on Verizon.
 
Same here, $129 at Best Buy two weeks ago. Love it after I tweaked it out the way I like it w/o much cpu/memory issues.

Debated phone insurance, but the deductible is $65 plus $5/month...which after a few months makes NO sense at all for a device so cheap.

But honestly, best device I've ever owned, hands down
 
greg4android said:
the $199 Price at Bestbuy has NOTHING to do wtih supply and demand.

BESTBUY is famous for doing this. Is not the first time on a hot seller/new release. they are so greedy.

Target, wal-mart, and radioshack all still have the in stock @ 149.99 here.
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Agreed.
If you doubt this, go look at the price of USB and network cables at Best Buy, then go to any other store. That $25 USB cable that was handily sitting next to that printer you bought, is only about $8 across the street.

You can get good deals at Best Buy, but you better research it before you buy or you can be taken for a ride.
 
i'm not doubting anything. I worked at COMPUSA for 8 years before they went bankrupt. I know all about margins and profititable areas of retail.

Extended warranties, replacement plans, insurance plans, cables, and accessories are MAJOR CASH COWS for retailers! ! ! !

A USB cable that literally costs $1.30 is sold for $29.99 at retailers like BestBuy.
A $60 extended warranty cost the store about $11.

A memory install that the GEEK SQUAD charges $30 for cost the store about $6. (Compusa and Circuit City were about the same).

Why do you think best buy sales people hound you about "Performance Service Plans", and Geek Squad Services. Its major profit for the store.
With margins on computer hardware running only around 8%, they gonna push these to make up revenue.

With the Optimus V average cost running about ~ 97 or so, $149 is a nice little profit for the store. $199 is just out of this world.

BestBuy knows the item sells well, and it trying to profit more off it.
Someone would have to want one mighty bad to pay $199 for one.

Leslie Ann said:
Agreed.
If you doubt this, go look at the price of USB and network cables at Best Buy, then go to any other store. That $25 USB cable that was handily sitting next to that printer you bought, is only about $8 across the street.

You can get good deals at Best Buy, but you better research it before you buy or you can be taken for a ride.
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At $199, they will likely have the only ones in stock, which isn't so bad when you consider that they price match.



Sorry Greg4android, I meant the "you" as in people in general. Not you specifically.
 
Generally, they're pretty good about price matching (they usually verify here though).. Wonder if anyone will have it on sale starting sunday.


Leslie Ann said:
At $199, they will likely have the only ones in stock, which isn't so bad when you consider that they price match.



Sorry Greg4android, I meant the "you" as in people in general. Not you specifically.
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I think BB is just trying to recoup the money lost when they were having to price-match Target's $129.99 + $20 GC deal lol
 
at 199 this is still a good smartphone. I paid 149 and got my wife one for 129 and for everything this phone does and no contract, you can't beat it.
 
TVCCS said:
It's possible the Best Buy price is a typo online...I was in a store a couple of days ago and they still had the phone on sale for $129.99 on the shelf.
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I was in the store today picking up minutes (and playing with the giant Nexus S lol) and I can confirm that it is still $129.99
 
ONLINE and IN-STORE pricing to tend to vary alot here lately.

I think what might be happening is that people are ordering them on-line for in-store pickup. If this happens, it limits the people shopping in-store from getting product (as the in-stock item can basically be pulled right from under them by an online customer).

I guess this would suck standing right in front of one at the store, then a bestbuy employee comes and grabs the only two on the shelf for an online order for store pickup.

Maybe this is the logic behind raising the on-line price. Only theory I can think of.

gerbetta33 said:
I was in the store today picking up minutes (and playing with the giant Nexus S lol) and I can confirm that it is still $129.99
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Radioshack is now showing $199 on their website.

Looks like a price increase all around, still worth it.



Odd.
Best Buy shows the Intercept at $169, while both Radio Shack and Target show it at $199.
 
Leslie Ann said:
Radioshack is now showing $199 on their website.

Looks like a price increase all around, still worth it.
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Wow, I definitely feel fortunate I was able to pick up my replacement device Thursday before the increase.
I even dragged my fiance kicking & screaming into the 21st century with one of his own and he is now a complete Android addict (tho he leaves the tinkering to me).

I wonder if the price increase was not so much due to corporate greed so much as to slow down sales a bit while they hash out the network issues. Pure speculation.
 
I was wondering what was going on. Figures just when I decide on a new phone they jack up the price. Tried Best Buy Friday ($199), Target yesterday ($199 and no stock) and RadioShack today ($199 no stock on shelf). Of course everywhere else is sold out online.

Prices are reaching over the $200's online. I refuse to overpay for this device so I guess I'll just hang on to my old LG Rumor Touch. I've been using my VM MiFi and iPod Touch a lot anyway.
 
I bought mines about two weeks ago Thursday when I saw that it became available on VM website and on Best Buy. Phone went out of stock the next day Friday and I checked the price and it is 199.99 now. woo!
 
Read that on Best Buy's website like a day or two after I bought mine, thought it must have been a mistake because I immediately went to the RadioShack and Virgin Mobile sites and each still had it for $150.
 
I was in the local Sprint store today, and they still had the VM Optimus V for $149. Tempted to get one for the wife, but still a little leery about the data problems.
 
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