It’s not unusual to find decent discounts on expensive tech gear. In fact, we’d say you’re a bit of a chump if you buy anything at its full retail price in Australia. When you do see a good discount, though, don’t automatically presume you can’t do even better. Instead, follow these six steps to ensure you get the best deal possible.
JB Hi-Fi regularly offers a flat 10 per cent off Apple computers, with savings of as much as $425 on the top MacBook Pro available.
Officeworks has a lowest price guarantee that’ll see it beating competitors’ prices by five per cent. And, in some cases, JB Hi-Fi will price match its competitors.
You see where we’re going with this?
Throw in an extra five per cent on top of that 10 per cent discount and you’re getting yourself a brand new MacBook Pro for less than $1900, like deal-hunter Vaedant detailed getting in this post at OzBargain. That’s more than $300 off its $2199 RRP.
If you’re shopping for anything reasonably expensive – say, over around $500 – at JB Hi-Fi or most electronics retailers in Australia, it pays to do a few things before you’ve even walked in the door:
- Check prices online for Australian retail competitors (Officeworks, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, The Good Guys) and see whether your item is in stock
- Check prices online for online shopping competitors (any eBay store, for example) and consider whether you’re happy to wait for shipping
- Check whether there’s not an alternative from a similar brand that might be on sale or significantly cheaper than the item you’re looking at
Then, when you’re actually in store in front of the item you’re considering buying, it pays to do a few more things:
- Ask for the store’s best price on that item, whether that’s for cash or on a store card
- Ask if the store has a price-matching or price-beating policy for competitors
- Tell the salesperson that you’ve found a better price elsewhere — only if you have, though, there’s no reason to lie
There are a few caveats here. Officeworks and JB Hi-Fi, for example, will usually only match a price (or beat it by 5 per cent, in the case of Officeworks) if the item is in stock at a retail store of a competitor. It makes sense, since if you can’t actually walk into another store and buy your gadget, what incentive does the first store have to offer it to you at its best possible price?
But the moral of this story is — always ask. It can never hurt. And you might save yourself an extra hundred bucks or even more. [OzBargain / JB Hi-Fi]
Comments
5 responses to “Six Ways To Get A Cheaper Deal At JB Hi-Fi”
Yep, The salesman you are talking to ain’t stupid. He is well aware of what is out there, it’s his job after all.
Yet still, so many people will blatantly lie, or quote a place well known to have no stock. So when my partner gets these lies from a prospective customer he normally replies “Wow that is a great deal, it’s below my cost.” and makes moves to show them the door.
Pfft. Amateurs. A true OzBargainer would, after doing all of the above, buy discounted Wish gift cards from Cashrewards or Entertainment book at 5% off or more, use those to buy JB Hifi gift cards, and use those to get further discount off the final value.
I get 6% off my JB HiFi eGift Cards. I generally buy them while I’m standing in the payment queue and they’re delivered to my phone by th etime I get to the register. It always sweetens the deal.
How do you get the 6% off?
Officeworks and other big operators have a cunning way round price matching.
They match “identical stocked items”, but they often market a unique model. The difference is slight, say, in trim colour, but it has a new model number, so they can say “It’s not identical.”
Not to mention that they do not price match bricks and mortar businesses that only have 1 or 2 shop fronts.
A good example is Mobilecitie in Parramatta. I picked up my Gear S3 from there because no JB Hi-Fi (or any of the other major shops) would price match.
Needless to say, JB is not as competitive as the old days.