I am with FLU, don’t buy large electronic items from the internet, returning it is a pain. Also you need to look at apples to apples comparison and evaluate if you’re getting the same thing. Say you’re looking at a 42″ LCD made by the same manufacturer, from the same year, and look to be the exact same model except different retailers have different model numbers, and you’re comparing solely on price. This is sometimes due to an extra item thrown into the packages ( IE a HDMI cable included in the box with the one at Costco), or it could also be due to differences in quality. Cheaper components or TVs with the same components but that batch passed the quality tests at a lower number.
Why do you think Best Buy vs Walmart versus XYZ Online only guy pay different prices to the manufacturer for what you think is the exact same TV? Some of it is in buying power and volume, but some of it is also different quality levels. You do get what you pay for.
Best Buy will negotiate, but if you’re looking to buy a lower end TV, you don’t have as much bargaining power. If you are looking to buy one of their newest 52″ TVs, then you can get them very close to what an Amazon charges, but they usually cannot beat them. If you need other items as well including accessories such as TV mounts, then you can start pushing them towards a price slightly above cost. The accessories are where there is often 300% margin, TVs have a lot less margin.
That said, I went to Best Buy over Costco because Costco simply didn’t carry the models I wanted. They tend to carry the lower end model in the same series of TVs ( IE Samsumg 5 series versus 7)
Also, don’t buy HDMI cables at a big name retailer, order them from http://www.monoprice.com where you can buy a $7 or $11 HDMI gold tipped cable ( versus $50).
