Wow cool!

So why isn't this FAR?

amejr999 said:Deja vu: Black Friday prices are back!

Deja vu: Circuit City has no good deals.

UpChuck said:Rebates kill most deals. I desperately wish retailers would stop with the rebates. I shopped at BB this year because of their stance on rebates for BB alone. Since most electronics are carried by both stores- I am letting me wallet do my talking. You know- its a Fat Wallet, so they listen.

Actually, rebates bring much lower net prices, since the manufacturers know that not everyone will successfully submit the rebate. Do you ever see anything being sold for "free after no rebate"? I doubt it. So for that reason, I am big fan of rebates.

UpChuck said:Rebates kill most deals. I desperately wish retailers would stop with the rebates. I shopped at BB this year because of their stance on rebates for BB alone. Since most electronics are carried by both stores- I am letting me wallet do my talking. You know- its a Fat Wallet, so they listen.

The reason I prefer rebates over low prices

Wow Titewad- You are my Idol !

I like FAR items and hope they keep them around. I am building my next PC (Quad Core and 4 gig ram)and, while it won't be FAR, it will be SUBSTANTIALLY discounted due to rebates and coupons.

I totally agree with the pre-tax -vs- after-tax cost of goods purchased. I'd rather not spend than spend with taxed dollars. Many people don't realise the true cost of an item once factoring taxes into the deal etc.

Anyway, your hightened sence of cheapness ia appreciated.

Merry Christmas !!

Titewad Said:
Actually, my first three PC's have all been hand me downs from work. Every time I upgrade my PC at work, I take the old one home for "remote access" use, then take the PC from the previous "upgrade" back to work and they probably throw it out. In fact, cable internet service here is cheaper than a second phone line plus a 56K dial up account. My employer was paying for the dial up service, so I showed them that I could save them $10 a month by getting cable internet access and they agreed and they pay for my cable internet service now, too.

Since then, I have built my own computer from completely FAR components. That's right, search the forums (and archives) and you'll find cases, power supplies, motherboards, cables, HD's, CDRW & DVD drives, keyboards, mice, memory, everything you need to build a FAR PC, including Windows XP Pro OS and MS Office 2003 I got from attending MS seminars. I forgot to mention memory in my first post, but I have 3/4 GB of FAR RAM installed, plus a joystick, a Minolta color laser printer and a few other items. Man, am I upset about the $30 I spent on a desk lamp 5 years ago. Had I known then what I know now, I would not have made that mistake.

I'll been registered on FW for 3.5 years and I lurked for a year or more before joining and I've rarely missed out on a FAR item I wanted. Yes, there's sales tax, stamps for rebates and occasionally a shipping fee (I'll pay tax or shipping, but not both), but there are so many "make money" deals (like TaxCut + eTrust Internet Security; made $85 on that two weeks ago) and I use every available coupon, so when you net the purchase price + tax + shipping + stamps - coupons - rebates - price matches I have in fact actually been paid a modest amount of money to take all the FAR items I've "purchased".

The only thing my equation does not take into consideration is my time, which is nearly impossible to calculate since it would be far too tedious to track. However, I would rather spend my time buying FAR items than working the same amount of time and paying for items with no rebates. The reason is simple. There are no income taxes due on rebates. Rebates are interpreted by the IRS as a return of the purchase price, not income. If I had to work to earn the money to purchase a FAR item, it would cost more than just the price of the item. Let's say I earn $20 an hour for simplicity's sake. The federal tax on that $20 would be 15% ($3), SS is 6.5% ($1.3), FICAM is another 6.5% ($1.3), state tax is 3% ($0.60), local tax is 1% ($0.20), so total taxes = $6.80, or 34%. If I purchase a $50 item using earned income instead of waiting for it to be FAR, I really pay with $75 worth of time for it. Why? I have to work not only the 2.5 hours to earn $50, but an additional 1.25 hours to pay the income taxes. I have to earn $75 in gross wages to get $50 in net wages to pay for the $50 item. It's much better to buy with a rebate than without. I'll spend my earned income on things I can't get for free, like groceries, a car and a house. I only wish I had the time to get free groceries like some people do by shopping at multiple stores, using coupons and rebates, but in my area there is little competition and I've only gotten free waffles, cereal and occasionally condiments. I used to read the grocery forum here at FW and I read about many people who lived near some great grocery stores, but it never worked out for me.

You've been a member of FW longer than I have, so I don't know why you find it so difficult to believe all my components were FAR. You have access to the same information I do, so if you don't have a PC full of FAR components you must not be paying attention. I recommend checking the hot deals section more often.

roy7736 said:UpChuck said:Rebates kill most deals. I desperately wish retailers would stop with the rebates. I shopped at BB this year because of their stance on rebates for BB alone. Since most electronics are carried by both stores- I am letting me wallet do my talking. You know- its a Fat Wallet, so they listen.
Actually, rebates bring much lower net prices, since the manufacturers know that not everyone will successfully submit the rebate. Do you ever see anything being sold for "free after no rebate"? I doubt it. So for that reason, I am big fan of rebates.Actually, Rite Aid has them occasionally, they will have a coupon in their ad. But it's rare and it's not the same as electronics/software. Many years ago OfficeMax actually had CD Stomper labelling software for free, just take it.

The fact is that you will never seen prices as low without a rebate as you would with for stuff that is free after rebate. The reason is because they have no way of stopping people from buying (actually, taking) more than one of an item, and the resellers would go crazy. Circuit City did away with many of their rebates this BF and the result was a USB hub for $6 instead of FAR. That said, I chose it over the $5 AR deal at OD but would have bought OD's if it was FAR. On the other hand, Best Buy sold a Norton bundle for $30 this year that they had always offered FAR back when they offered rebates. $30 is not a good deal to me, even when you factor in the tax savings on $70.

Who says there are no deals??

Desktop, Monitor: ZTG 7404TI35, HSP HW173DBB ,
Price was: $1018.99
Instant savings: -$4.01
$1014.98

They have other desktops marked "Internet deal" that is $10-25 off. This so makes up for their ripping us off on the $229 desktop bundle on BF.

I'm in need of a microSD card. Did CC have any on sale on BF?

titewad said:The reason I prefer rebates over low pricesSummary: "BB has eliminated many rebates but their prices still seem high." How is that a reason why you prefer rebates over low prices in general? That's not an accurate description of what's on the other end of that link.