Why Do iPod Headphones Cost $49.99 At Best Buy and $29.99 At The Apple Store?
Reader Nick doesn't want you to pay too much for Apple iPod headphones, so he's asked us to let you know that Best Buy is charging $49.99 for basic white iPod earbuds and they're only $29.99 at the Apple Store. Let it be known that Best Buy is not the best place to buy accessories.
I was at my local Best Buy the other day and started to take a look around the Apple section. Well, it turns out that Best Buy is trying to take advantage of their uninformed customers by marking up Apple's iPod headphones by $20! I've included two attachments, the first is the picture I took at the Best Buy store and the second is of the same exact headphones on Apple's website. I hope that you can shed some light on this and hopefully save some shoppers from paying too much.
Thanks, Nick. We recommend that you always check the internet before you buy accessories for your electronics -- this includes things like cables, headsets, universal remotes, whatever!
Where do you like to buy your accessories? Tell us in the comments.
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That's why they're called Best Buy... best for the company's bottom line!!
Considering the craptastic nature of pack-in headphones and the plethora of alternatives in the same price range, I'd say anyone who decides to spend additional cash on pack-ins deserves to get ripped off.
Best Buy hasn't been best for many, many years.
Everyone knows the Apple earbuds are crap. Don't buy them at BestBuy or anywhere else for that matter.
It's probably better than those at the Apple Store because someone opened it, put bathroom tiles in it, then sealed it to make it look like new. Try getting that by searching on Google!
I, for one, have always been aware that different stores will have different prices. Even vastly different prices.
This is the answer to the title of the post. And it is not news.
The funny thing about these earphones is they probably cost 57 cents to make at the Chinese factory, plus $1 for the blister packaging. The markup is staggering.
best buy has had these for a while.
seriously, they USED to be 39.99. (trust me, i know) if not 29.99. but best buy figured out that apple fans don't care about price as long as it has that little apple on it, and they have raised the price.
people who care in the least about headphones won't buy those apple ear buds. people who care about apple will pay the extra to get their ear buds.
(at that price, you actually could get the ear buds AND A FREE IPOD SHUFFLE... oh wait, thats just a shuffle that comes with the ear buds.)
I always feel guilty about buying something in a store impulsively without having done any online research first, mainly because I pretty much know I'm spending more than I should. I've returned a bunch of things unopened after doing the guilt-laden online research after the fact.
Confused. The two pictures I see (at 11:58 AM) show the same price for both...Is the second picture (supposedly from Apple's website) actually from Best Buy's?
Nick, both are overpriced.
Oh, and just the other day, I bought the same model of ADSL modem on eBay for $25 when my ISP wanted $100 for it.
Why not drop the consumerist hammer on these 400% disparities rather than very meagre 66% ones.
Well, "Best" Buy has to charge SOMETHING for the additional abuse they heap upon you for shopping there. Dominatrix services don't come cheap nowadays, and you can't expect "Best" Buy to just GIVE it away!
@astrochimp: of course it's news. This is a consumer website. This is a consumer issue. I thank the site for giving me this information. I will now be able to make a more informed choice if I elect to purchase this item. You need to be reading a different blog. Perhaps one that allows you to select the stories you would like to see published. Something like make.believe.editor.com
@Legal_Eagle_In_Training: Smartphones are your friend when shopping - bookmark www.amazon.com and www.pricegrabber.com, then use them.
Wow only 49.99 for an earache. great! Seriously, how can earbuds be a one size fits all? Those things are always so painful, and when they get accidentally yanked? Ouch! Maybe I just have small ear holes.
I couldn't say, but I wish someone would have mentioned when I bought my iPhone that they charge $15 extra to USE the exchange mail that Apple put in the iPhone 3G, and that NONE of my docks or chargers would work with it. WTF?
The more important question here is why would anyone buy OEM earbuds when the third party earbuds made by competitors such as Sony, JVC, V-Moda & others are good quality, much more comfortable to wear & work in different sized ears (I.E. you don't feel like the buds are falling out of your ear's or expanding your ear canal) for roughly the same price as you'd pay at the apple store for the OEM ones?
The iPod is a great little gadget, the packaged earbuds on the other hand I'd give away free and still feel sorry for anyone who ended up sticking those things in their ears.
Last time I found myself at Best Buy I saw a USB Bluetooth dongle for the price of $49.99. ("Last time" in bold to indicate that it will be my last time there, ever)
Best Buy is only decent (price only, i won't even go into their service) for big ticket items which they actually tend to have competitive prices on. They really rape you when it comes to accessories, sure you got a good price on that TV, but you'll need $200 worth of cables to hook it up. Best buy has it's place as long as you are informed.
Assuming "Reader Nick" has been a reader of Consumerist for more than a few days, he deserves severe Consumerist Demerits for even setting foot in a Best Buy, unless it was to buy an obvious loss-leader product. ;-)
The last time my wife shopped there, we ended up with a surprise subscription to Sports Illustrated in her name a couple months later. Just another in a long line of their fine service.
I've seen friends who qualify for the employee discount walk out with Cat 5e cabling marked at $25 for about $4. Apparently the discount was a set percentage above wholesale.
Just don't shop @ Best Buy. Even when you THINK you're getting a deal if you need any form of customer service your "deal" is going to turn out to be one. I don't understand how this company is surviving, especially in these economic times. Obviously, people are still shopping there. If they do, and manage to have a problem that is major enough to post about here, I don't feel sorry for them in the least.
Also remember that wearing the standard iPod earbuds is a sign to thieves that you have an iPod to steal.
Adding insult to injury, Apple isn't even a discount store; you can expect to pretty much pay full price for anything and everything there, Apple-branded or not. Usually, you expect stores to sell products at MSRP or less, but Best Buy thought it a good idea to arbitrarily almost double the MSRP, hoping that some ignorant fool will go for it.
What with the all the pricing "mistakes" like the internal vs. external Best Buy website, its employees stealing merchandise and replacing it with tiles, and the general crappy attitude of their customer service ("If you found tiles in your hard drive box, you need to contact the manufacturer - it's not our problem"), I really, really hate Best Buy.
I know it's a long shot, but are there any Best Buy afficionados out there that can defend the company? I'd really like to hear why anyone shows there anymore, seriously.
They must be making a ton of money on them. If people like to keep the earphones matched with the device, anyway. Because they are horrible earphones. The ones that came with my nano were busted within a week.
The big question is why would anyone buy accessories in a physical store? The markup is typically on the order of 500%, if not more, for most accessory items.
It get's worse. Full pricing on an Alltel Blackberry 8330 is $519. Best Buy has it up on their website at $679.
Wow. The Apple headphones suck anyway. I bought a pair of 20 dollar over the ear headphones that have better sound, are more comfortable, and actually stay in my ear. 50 dollars? I have to say el oh el to that.
"only $29.99" ??????
Eh, I'd say the Apple headphones are great for pack-ins, but they pale in comparison to any pair over $15 in my opinion.
My theory: It's to pay for the gas to get the headphones from the mall across the street to the Best Buy.
Best Buy often charges more than msrp of stuff, especially the extras. I wrote a little blog post about my experience a few months ago buying an ipod case.
@billin: I wouldn't call myself a Best Buy aficionado, but I am willing to defend myself as a consumerist reader who will shop at Best Buy. As a store, Best Buy is not bad if you know what you're getting and are focused. I've never had a problem there, besides the normal annoyances of having to sidestep the rewards zone card and various magazine subs.
Case in point: Two weeks ago I went into my Best Buy to purchase a Garmin GPS they had on sale. I went in, grabbed the Garmin and a DVD I wanted from their bargin bin, went to the POS and bought the items from the cashier. No problems, didn't even have to show my receipt on the way out. I'll keep shopping there as long as I know what I'm buying.
There is one reason for a person to buy these: They want to advertise that they're using an iPod, showing that they are "hip," "with-it," "edgy." Of course, that's just asking to get mugged and it makes you an anachronism from 2003. Everyone has an iPod these days.
I have to stand up for the apple earbuds.
The ones that came with my 4G ipod lasted me three years.
The wires were high quality and never frayed, and the sound was always crisp and loud.
I usually buy a new pair of $10 ear buds every two months at this point.
If you use them every day, go running with them, and occasionally jerk them out of your ears, they will wear out quickly.
@BigPapaCherry: That is all well and good, but I think the main problem people have with the store is that you shouldn't have to act like you are visiting the soup natzi just to shop at an electronics store.
Because it AIN'T Best Buy, it's "Worst, Shittiest Buy."
Get smart.
Just say BYE BYE.
This isn't bad for an iPod markup. Before there were MP3 players I used to drive a car with a cassette deck and no CD player, so I bought one of those adapters that let you connect a portable CD player to your cassette player. It was...maybe 5 bucks at Radio Shack.
The wire was starting to get frayed (I bought it about seven years ago) and went in to buy a replacement. It's now about 20-25, because they changed the color from black to iPod white and started branding them as "iPod compatible." CVS still sells the cheap ones though, and honestly, I can't imagine there's any difference.
@drawp:
Yep those are great websites for no-name generic crap that I wouldnt get caught dead using. Also while Best Buy probably needs to charge more than Apple due to Apple charging Best Buy more than they charge themselves $20 more is a bit much
Pssh.. I only purchase from BestBuy when things are on sale.
Thanks cheapassgamer.com!
@Pro-Pain:
People still shop there, and Sears, and Circuit City, and Home Depot, etc.. because for every customer service issue here on the consumerist there are millions of perfectly fine transactions which never get reported on. Its just like the old saying goes. Only the bad experiences ever get attention.
For example I just looked for Best Buy stories on consumerist and found 5 for July. Im sure throughout July there have probably been a few hundred million transactions across all their stores. They have like 1000 store. So there are still lots of happy customers. Also some people have no other choice to buy computer components and such if they dont have internet service
Does anyone here wonder why the headphones from Apple cost $30 in the first place? They're just headphones.
I stand by my new conclusion that Apple is the charlatan in its industry.
@linbey: Wouldn't be caught dead using a cable from monoprice? Many out there think the are some of the best cables out there! I figured a reader of The Consumerist would know how to not get ripped off. I always wondered who actually buys Monster cables and now I know.
Simple, Best Buy is a black hole of suckiness.
Best Buy isn't bad. Sometimes you can catch a good sale. I recently got a Pelican charge cable for my Xbox 360 controller for $5.00.
Normally, I prefer to purchase my accessories on eBay or Amazon if I do not need them right away.
Yeah, I done the same at times. But these days, you need to think about these kind of things, as the rising cost of gas affects how often you make trips like that. It might not be convenient to return the item within the 30 days return period.
DealExtreme.com
Can't beat it. :)
Monoprice.com as well.