Not that I endorse Best Buy (because I don't) but tonight in their store I noticed they had Visiontek's HD4850 on sale for $149. Plus you get a $10 gift card with it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspag [...] 8300050006

I thought this was an extremely good deal for retail.

However the rest of their cards were at least double of what you could find them for on newegg.

Yea I work @ a bestbuy and the deal is freaking amazing!!!
They also have the same deal with the 4870's for 249 plus a 10 dollar gift card; pisses me off because i bought my card 2 months ago with the employee discount for 270!!!!

My co-worker bought a 4850 from Best Buy just a few weeks ago for $179 with a $10 gift card which I thought was an excellent price for retail.

Now it is $30 cheaper. I never thought I would see that.

Yeah the deal on the 4870 for $249 is awesome too.

Newegg can not compete with either of those prices.

Well there is one great thing about buying a card from BestBuy (note: results vary from store to store depending on management).

If you get a BFG or VisionTek card they both come with lifetime warranties. BestBuy honors the manufactures warranties.

So on a semi-annual basis (assuming new GFX tech has come out that I want) I bring my card in saying that it overheats or freezes on certain settings, and they give a credit of what you payed for your old card towards a new card....this pretty much means free or very very cheap upgrades for video cards if you don't mind sticking to BFG or VisionTek.

And I HAVE been doing this since before I worked @ bestbuy.

Is that really that ethical though?

Lying about the actual condition of a card every 6 months just to get a free or cheap upgrade?

If everyone did that it would drive up the price of the cards and people who actually had legitimate issues with their cards might not be able to return theirs due to the massive amount of people trying to 'beat the system'.

I don't endorse that practice at all.

If you are going do it at least go through EVGA's 90 day step up program.

Ethics aside and even if you don't use it in practice as I do; if your card really does fry or go out then it is a big plus about buying it from a retail Box.

And I shouldn't say I do it every 6 months; its probably closer to an annual or semi-annual practice.

Although again as an employee there I have seen some very unethical things happen in that store and have (unfortunately) seen people been taken advantage of in terrible ways. This does not justify what I do nor is an apology or excuse as I would never steal from a person, company or corporation. (but some might view it as that I suppose?)

*sigh* I wish the stepup program was 1 year

haha and I gave you a thumbs up for that one for taking me back to ethics and a fresh perspective!

I agree. I think some of Best Buy's policies really do take advantage of the consumer. Especially those who are not computer savy. Their prices on Ram are absolute rape. And it is not even that good of ram too. Nearly $200 for 2 gigs of DDR667? And you can get the same thing online for $30 bucks or less? with free shipping.

Also tonight they were selling a GeForce 6600 for the same price as the 4850. About $150. Consumers who are not educated on video cards will think the more money you spend the better card you will get and that is not the case at all at Best Buy.

Here's the thing, I don't mind the practice for a select few, but when ever F'in n00b starts doing it, then those of us who rely on it to ensure no-hassle return on cards that actually break and such get screwed.

Considering I'm in a hassle-fest with BB over getting a pair of Shure E3Cs replaced (then wanna offer me the SE110s not 210s ) in house instead of sending them back to Shure I'm not a fan of people openly messing with the system.

I'm not gonna pull the ethics card, but I am gonna pull the experience card, STOP telling the n00bz , it ruins it for the rest of us legitimate or not!

Anywhoo, nice find on the HD4850.

What is their justification for offering you a SE110s and not a 210s?

Why can't you exchange the like item for the like item?

I would never agree to that offer.

Sounds like are trying to screw you and they need your permission to legally do it.

Closer to the same price I paid (not quality I bought).
I bought the E3Cs for $149 on sale, the SE210s are over $200 ($208, now on sale for $200.99), the SE110s are $99 on sale for $79.99). They say they won't do the 210s because regardless of what the sale price was since they don't have the same model, they can chose what they replace them with as equivalent and that they Consider the 110s closer to the E3Cs than the 210s, despite me pointing out similar MSRPs and similar driver designs (armature versus diaphram). The manager even offered the Phillips headphones saying they seem closer to the same for him (still diaphram) because of MSRP of $149.99 price. After about 30 mins of this I said, fine I'll take the SE110s with money back for the difference in prices (plus tax), and he said they can't offer any money back if I get the SE110s, but I could pay more money for the SE210s. He said it's not a plan so I can get better models based on what I think they're worth, and since none of their Audio department reps could confirm the equivalent, they won't offer anything that is more expensive. In this case it's the inverse of the situation with graphics cards, where return a graphics card a year and a half later and the one you get for the same price will usually be much better.

Unfortunately E3Cs are no longer sold, they were replaced about a year and a half ago, so no stock in the whole country according to their computers.

Well they're using their fine print right to refuse any and all exchanges, and then just offer me a gift card for the purchase price, to which I'm saying, give me that plus the cost of the lame protection plan I paid for and guess what it's about $10 different from the price of the SE210s on sale, but they won't do that either.
If it was a straight-up refund that would be different, I could shop elsewhere (even Apple.ca is $1 cheaper than BB for the SE210s and many places have them for $129), or put money towards some Ultimate Ears, but since it's stuck at BB Canada (and no they won't let me buy from FutureShop [their sister company] or use the card in their US stores).
So I'm stuck with their selection and prices, or else wait for Shure to fix them under the remaining 4 months of their warranty (makes me say what's the point of the protection plan if I can't get like for like!)

I'm going to try again Saturday and see if they can grasp the concept of the MSRP or the price+purchase plan being close to the SE210s, otherwise I'm sending them to Shure under warranty, and then writing to BB for the Purchase plan value back, since it's more useless than the mfr warranty. Anyways, I can't help but think that the tightening of legitimate returns/repairs to BB and WalMart etc is from the number of people who game the system.

I don't mind the gaming of the system so much, but don't tell the n00bs who weren't already doing it before. If every dumbass starts doing it (and getting caught as they do) then companies will get rid of their legitimate offers because of the widespread abuse. Anywhoo, probably just agro about my issue more than anything, but I don't doubt the "we don't negotiate" managers are a development of that perceived abuse.

Sorry for the somewhat hijack though, didn't mean to go into that much detail.

I seen it on friday but can someone post the link to where I can buy the 4870 for $249 with the $10 coupon gift card please


is this a special or will it always be the price

I was at best buy this morning and the salesman told me that the 4870 was actally at $199 at one point.

I said "you mean the 4850"

He said no. The 4850 was $149 and the 4870 was an amazing $199.

He told me to keep checking the papers every week. They may drop the price back down to that again.

I thought $249 was a great price.

I don't see how they turn a profit on a 4870 at $199.

I wish I had known that. I would have bought one.

That would've be true if you said it about Nvidia cards. ATI cards use smaller dies and are cheaper to make. They're making pretty good profit.