Consumerist
We've got the CompUSA internal discount list for their going out of business liquidation sale. The discounts are mainly 10% and 20%, with some 5% and 30% in there. Audio hardware, mounting brackets and the like, is 30% off. Just because they're imploding doesn't mean they don't have some pride, as least for now. They're entitled "opening discounts," so perhaps will keep dropping week by week until all the stock is gone. Looks like for now they're using the same close-out strategy as when they closed down most of their stores before: offer crappy deals and advertise the heck out of it.
(Photo: quentinr)
Comments
Boy, there's nothing on that list that is a good deal.
Wow. Looks like there's going to be a whole lot of residual merchandise. Bargains? What bargains?
@BloggyMcBlogBlog: not YET. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
I hope it doesn't turn out as bad as when they first started closing down stores. They wanted around $40 (after discount) for Call of Duty at one of the brick-and-mortar stores, yet at CompUSA online they were only asking $29 or so.
Even discounted, it still isn't worth it.
wow that is a horrible bargain list. Everything on that list they are still making hella profits.
Powersupplies 20% off, kidding. They make 30 - 40% on those suckers and memory too.
And when those things are on sale every weekend they are much cheaper than that.
Wooo 30% of Monster cables...
Let's see 30% off of overpriced crap is... hrmmm
priced crap
Whee.
Comp USA just doesn't get it, do they? Bad business sense, right to the bitter end.
look at 180-255: reading glasses. does that actually say there is a -20% discount?
Well, I guess I correctly predicted those craptacular discounts as coming from a mile away.
CompUSA had the worst customer service of any computer or electronics big box, and that's saying a lot.
Their return policies sucked, their inventory was lame, and even in death they can't give up a halfway decent discount.
Good riddance, CompUSA. Congratulations on your epic fail.
@thefastest: guess your really getting screwed if you go to an electronics store looking for reading glasses. If your stupid enough to do that, then your stupid enough to pay 20% more.
Funny that the items with the highest markups (accessories) are the 20% to 30% discounted items.
10% off everything video games isn't bad.
20% off Processors ain't so bad - a Quad Core at that price sells for less than the same one at NewEgg....
Wow. That's almost as sucky as the Tower Records going-out-of-business discounts.
10% off floppy drives! Oh boy!
No wonder they're going out of business. They're still holding stock from last century.
It's a list of SHAME!!!
CompUSA is not in control anymore, they've already sold everything to Gordon Brothers. They own everything now, and are setting these prices.
@CPC24: Wait until Gordon Brothers starts bringing in their pallet loads of Chinese blenders, smokeless ashtrays, and bottled water (all that stuff you never knew CrapUSA sold!)...all marked up 1000% but sold to you at a generous 30% discount off the "regular price" ("EVERYTHING MUST GO! NOTHING HELD BACK!")
@leetgeek: You might want to be careful who you call stupid when you can't even use the correct form of "you're". You even managed to screw that up twice in one sentence.
But yes, I don't know why people would buy reading glasses at CompUSA
Laughable. I feel bad for people who don't have any choice but to shop there, whoever that might be.
@BrandonOBrien: Because they're 20% off, that's why! Everybody loves a bargain!!!!
And if you buy something at CompUSA, and it doesn't work (a 50/50 proposition at best), then to whom does one return it?
All that risk for the reward of saving perhaps 5-10%?
Sorry, not takin' it. R.I.P. CUSA!
Wooo hooo, 10% off dust covers! I'm there!
8% off expired baby food!
My favorite part of their last liquidation sale? Nothing. I saw "everything 50-75% off" and thought, "there must be at least SOMETHING in there." Nothing but broken TVs, dusty cracked computer cases, obsolete cameras/photo printers, and dirty cables. So I go over to the printer section, OOHH! 50% off cartridges, that'll be worth it. They were all expired or within 1 month of being expired. I walked out of there with a ream of HP paper for 2.99. Cause I needed paper.
Too bad. In the early 90's I used to love going to CompUSA because they were one of very few technology superstores at the time (in Massachusetts, anyway). I bought a 486 there (with 14" CRT and revolutionary 4x CD-ROM!) at the then-rock bottom price of $2000. Then the BB's and CC's came along and stole all the thunder. Sigh.
COMP USA sucks and always has. The last time I went in there was to find a 50 foot ethernet cable. They wanted $39.95 for it!!!!!!! A simple gray ethernet cable! Got it for $4 online instead. What a joke that place is/was.
When the CompUSA when out of business here, I visited the store week after week thinking eventually there would be something there to buy. They weren't very smooth about hiding the fact that they marked everything up before they took the discount. There were price stickers on top of price stickers, each one getting progressively more epensive as the weeks went on. When they sold out of an item, they would then put up advertisements with really low prices....because they didn't have any more.
Apple printers!?!?! They stopped making those in 1999! Wow they are just clueless. No wonder they are going out of business.
compusa is still trying to make some money? even though theyre going out of business?
im shocked
What lame deals...
@crucifix99: Yeah they probably charge the inflated MSRP now and discount off of that. Kind of like those pizza deals where you have to pay the full price off the menu for certain deals. Papa Murphy's is good at that; each deal they offer ends up being the same price but with different price combinations to get there to save $2.
Only *remotely* worthwhile thing there is 20% off Wireless Telephones (Cell phones If I understand correctly).
But really, the list is crap.
those are opening discounts....the prices go down the closer they are to actually closing
The sad thing they are the only place we have in Alaska. Looks like online shopping and mail order again.
eh, serves compusa right...their service stinks and their prices are not that competitive. Bye bye compUSA! haahaa
If this works like it did with the earlier closings, cell phones were about the only thing that were a good deal. They were selling them at discount WITHOUT requiring a contract. If you are thinking of upgrading your cell phone, it's a pretty good deal. The phones are still locked to the network, but no contract is no contract.
It's sad to see them close, but not surprising. For the last five years, it seemed every decision they made was based upon extracting every penny TODAY out of their customers. No competitive business survives long without giving some thought to the long term consequences of it's actions. CompUSA seems only concerned with selling extended service plans that they would then try to get out of fulfilling. I bought a Camcorder there on clearance several years ago. It was marked at 20% off. I asked for an additional discount since it was the last one, the manager said he'd mark it 50% off (an additional $150 in savings) if I bought the 59.99 service plan. HOW does that make good business sense for the company? It was obvious he was paid more to sell service plans than he was to make a profit for the store.
Leave it to CompUSA to remain expensive and mismanaged to the end! Way to go!
I seriously hope CompUSA is left in ashes and with a large amount of debt.
I think you'll be surprised at how well they'll do. People can't resist going out of business sales. I don't know what it is.
As others have stated, this is their first round. The discounts will get heavier as time goes on. Not sure if they already have a calendar set or if they wait until sales slow to kick it up a notch.
Alright kids, time for liquidation 101
I was a manager at a department store that went through liquidation a few years back, and here's a little bit on how this will go down:
They'll start with the above price list (surprised to see that list before january), and they'll run with it for about two weeks.... then comes a better list.... and a week later? An even better one. After that, they'll be selling everything (including store fixtures) for next to nothing as they need to move it out so they can close.
Prices will rock while return policies will suck. Don't take it out on the employees, as the stores will likely be under the control of a liquidation company. Even if Comp USA is still running the show, still, don't take any issues out on the employees - they'll be jobless soon.
Good luck, and happy shopping.... I highly recomend going in the last week they're open, and buying some stuff to sell on ebay.
the comp usa by me when it went out of business even with their supposed huge discounts still had higher prices then what I can get those same items for onlin.
Yeah, my initial reaction when I saw the list of item was "crap, I could have had the hardware I just bought for a better price".
Then I sobered up and remembered that CompUSA always had a crappy selection and crappier prices. I ain't missing on anything good.
But I have no doubt that some people will be convinced they're getting a good deal because they don't realize that CompUSA overprices.
if my bawls are on sale, i'll be happy and sad... because my compusa is the only place within a 3 hour drive that sells them by the box :(
These are the INITIAL "opening" discounts. They will get deeper as they approach the closing date. But things will start selling before then. It's the way to get the most money in a liquidation. You don't go to 80% off right away.
those are just the opening "bids" the longer it takes to sell the better the discount will be.
more info here
[think-smarter.blogspot.com]
@savvy999:
They say "all sales final" but its not true. All merchants in America must follow the basic "warranty of merchantability" (i.e. implied warranty). Unless that specific product says "sold as-is" or "sold with all faults," the seller has an obligation to warrant the merchandise against SUBSTANTIAL defects that affect the "warranty of fitness." In some states, companies cannot disclaim this warranty at all for certain products.
For example, let's say you go to a camping store and tell them you need a tent for camping in Yosemite. They sell you Model #A123 and say that this product will work for that situation. But when you get out there, the tent poles are cracked and the shell is so porous that water and wind comes in. You now have a right to take that product back to the store because it did not perform to the implied expectations of that product.
[en.wikipedia.org]
But then again, try to argue that with Gordon Bros. and you'll be talking till you're blue in the mouth and by then, they'll be long gone!
Well, these ridiculously low discounts are yet ANOTHER reason why I thought CompUSA was just plain awful:
[www.pinnycohen.com]
@leetgeek: They're just exploiting the possibility that if you're shopping for reading glasses, you probably can't see the "-" in front of the "20%".
When do these discounts start??
@axiomatic: CompUSA wasn't an independent company. The ex-owner, billionaire Carlos Slim, owns many other businesses too. He lost anywhere from hundreds of millions to a few billion. However, he's got $40 billion+ to fall back on.
Even in epic fail, CompUSA still fails epically, or something.
Utter and epic fail, indeed. CompUSA, you won't be missed.
All going out of business sells are terrible ripoffs. The merchandise is priced for less elsewhere, plus you can't return something to them if it's defective. Its a lose lose situation for the consumer.
This list is accurate. I was just over at CompUSA and saw the exact same discounts. BTW most of the TVs were 10% off.
@prateeko:
"Only *remotely* worthwhile thing there is 20% off Wireless Telephones (Cell phones If I understand correctly)."
LOL, you are really showing your age here. I've not yet broken age 25 and I still know that a wireless telephone is a telephone attached to a land line (a strange concept built on physical wires stretched thousands of miles along wooden poles or trenches in the ground...who knew such a thing existed on Earth?) but with a cordless receiver so you can walk around your house chatting with your friend on $0.08/minute long distance service. :-)
"If it's not 50% off, it's not on sale." - The Nanny
When our local CompUSA store (Modesto, California) liquidated earlier this year, I was lucky enough to pick up a 42-inch HP PL4260N plasma HDTV set for around $800, less than half what it costs now at Amazon.com.
It's all a matter of timing and luck. The first weeks of clearance discounts are nothing to write home about -- I popped in several times during that span and never saw anythin