DCC Archive Getting raped at the retailer

I'll save a rant and say one thing:

Example: Guns & Roses "Appetite For Destruction" CD (Geffen) $19.99 in a mall store.



"Yes son, back when I was your age CDs costed $12.99"

 

Jeez, Sckott you don't think that sounds like a fair price ? LOL ! The heavy mark up is to pay for the brilliant sales associate's wages who filed them in the oldies section. The real funny thing is that the person who never heard of Half.com is actually going to buy it at that price ! We'll have real problems when we head over to the food court and the Orange Julius stand has been closed down ! Have a good day !

 

I think there's a donation in there somewhere to help the RIAA fight the scourge of mp3.

 

It makes gold CDs and 180g vinyl look like a bargain. Holy canoli.

 

Makes me feel guilty to ask for a CD for birthdays. I know Dad won't comparison shop. On the other hand I might end up with underwear again if I don't give a list.

 

I feel like an expert on this by this point....


Let's throw half.com and other used places out of the picture. In most cases, you can *still* get CDs for, at most, 14.99 in some stores.

Wha, you say?

It's true. Right near me, for example, are a Borders and Record Town. Borders has a good selection, but tends to go up to $18.99 on some things (however, things that're supposed to be $11.99 *are* 11.99). Record Town is more ridiculous, going up on 19.99 on some things *and* jacking up the price of cheaper releases to such an extent that they dare to claim 15.99's a *sale* price. This same store also tries to sell you tons of stuff you don't need when you check out.

Now, a little bit farther down the road is a Coconuts. They're owned by the same people who own record town (and a completely random note...if you have one of these in your area, check the Bowie section: I found a Ryko Space Oddity and an Au20 Man Who Sold as cutouts a little while back!). Yet not only are their regular prices cheap (on most single discs, $14.99 is the highest they get) but they have sales frequently, causing prices to plummet astronomically (i.e. an All Radiohead Albums 9.99 sale).


Then we've got the ones in the middle...say, Tower Records, which tends to have a decent selection, but lousy prices...except when they have sales, at which I picked up something like 6 discs for $30. (mostly Rhino and WEA, which they were clearing out)

Conclusion? It isn't even an issue of comparison shopping...there are *trends*. I would wager, for example, that since hte two Best Buys I've been in have had semi-lousy selections, but GOOD prices, that all Best Buys probably have the same prices.

Stay away from the 19.99 bastards and you'll be fine.

-D

PS: I remember this horrific little blurb in Billboard a few years ago, to the tune that one company was raising the SRP of some of its releases to 19.99 because, and I quote, "if a consumer finds the discs for 14.99, they might not feel like they are purchasing a worthwhile item"

[profanity removed - hz]

 

Well we could probably start an entire new thread of pros & cons on online buying vs. local music store buying and I'll have to give my vote for online buying. This may come off as a plug but I do most of my music buying from Duffelbag.com. Why ? You don't pay sales tax (at least I didn't as a NY or WA state resident), you get free shipping (if you can answer the trivia question properly), they're prices are very competitive if not better than other online music stores, they take trades for store credit and when you call them with questions you get to speak to a real live human being. For me this is the best way to go. And no I don't work for them, just a little info to my fellow music consumers who want to save some money. $13.99 is better than $19.99 + Tax and it comes right to my front door. I just love it! Happy shopping & listening ! -ED

 

It was Universal who was saying this and they did it. My local FYE charges $2-4 higher than they claim the list price is a sale price. They also charge $9.99 for a lot of budget CD's that list for $5.99-7.99. One time, I saw FYE (they were called Record Town at the time here) a Kingston Trio that lists for $6.99 for $18.99 but now for the same CD, they charge $9.99 (their sale price for these $6.99 CD's they charge $9.99 is $6.99).

 

Coconuts: they seem kind of high priced here on Long Island, but that may be beacuase Best Buy came in this area last year. My local Coconuts is in the same strip mall as Best Buy. Coconuts is under the same umbrella as Sam Goodys, which is about as high priced as they come. Strangely enough - I have the most luck finding DCC discs in "full priced" mall-type outlets.

Bradley: how can a retailer get away with charging MORE than list (aside from the collectible market)?? You would think that most customers would boogie out of there pretty quick.

Online buying: yeah - I've done it and saved a few bucks. My 3 biggest problems: 1)Instant Gratification. I want it now. 2) Shopping. Online buying is great, online shopping doesn't work for me. Home entertainment shopping is the ONLY kind of shopping I enjoy. I want to pick it up, feel it, see it. 3) Damaged goods. I want to return it now. I want a new copy today. This may be related to item 1. I restrict my online buying to "larger purchases" (box sets, etc) as the savings are too good to pass up. However - when buying online, you NEVER see something like a mint Capitol Magical Mystery Tour Mono in the "used" section selling for 5 bucks... these things DO happen!

[ October 26, 2001: Message edited by: Uncle Al ]

 

I find myself buying things at Tower...imports, mainly and new domestic sale items, Border Books...whatever unusal thing they have in stock, Circuit City...with new releases there averaging $13.99, who can really beat that, Best Buy...only if I really need it, and it's an usually inexpensive price..all in that order.

There is no substitute for the "instant gratification" factor that the internet just cannot provide, but usually it's Circuit City for me. I stay away from the Mall Chains like Coconuts, like the Plague...what do they really offer except the generic releases, nothing unusual.

It's bad enough there are no real fans working in music stores these days so you generally have to fend for yourself, but sometimes that works to one's advantage. They can't add or subtract either, so most of the time you come out way ahead. The past two weeks I've saved $80.00, for DVD's that were not even added into the final total. It all evens out, I guess.

 

Well, I can't argue with you guys on the instant gratification issue. It's always a thrill to get a new release on the day it's released-one downside of online buying. But saving money is the thing for me. In 2000, I spent $4,000 dollars online for music (this includes Xmas & birthdays). With sales tax at about 8% that was a savings of over $340 dollars for me. Also, it's over a 20 mile drive for me to Albany, NY, so I also saved a lot in gas and wear & tear on my car. So for this music lover online shopping is the way to go. However, every few months a ride down to NYC to go browsing for vintage guitars and/or amps, along with used record/CD stores usually produces great results. I just can't stand paying inflated prices for new music. What's the old saying: "A dollar saved is a dollar earned."

-ED

 

Yup. A couple of weeks ago, I was in the Mall of America (because I am capitalist American pig) at Sam Goodys. The new Dylan was $21.99. DCCs were $29.99. Makes the gold CDs look like veritable bargains.

In Lexington, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: Best Buy came in a few years back and undercut everyone on CDs by a long shot. Subsequently, independent stores suffered and two of them closed. Then BB realized it wasn't making the margin on appliances and other "big" items to make up for the slim margin on CDs. Now it's not uncommon for the indie store to be cheaper than BB.

 

A lot of people do refuse to buy at the FYE here most of the time because of the overcharging. Most people in this area are not aware of list prices except for people such as myself and people who manage music stores. They just want to buy the music.

[ October 26, 2001: Message edited by: Bradley Olson ]

 

Over retail? That sucks. Even here in Volcania we rarely get corned that bad.

 

Remember the good old days- with major price wars at Circuit City, Best Buy, Lechmere and Nobody beats the wiz? I remember buying most of my cd's at Lechmere's famous "every single cd in stock 10.98 or less!" They would have 5-10 sales like that each year['94-'96].I would stock up each time! Of all the stores that have disappeared, I miss Lechmere the most.

 

The best deals as far as music is concerned in this area is the Disc-Go-Round here, pawn shops and such places as KMart and Target or special order.

 

Dittos.
I do too. In fact, right after work I would be all over Lechmere like white on rice. I bought a bunch of DCCs there, and sometimes they had NO idea how to price some of thier stuff and a lot of cds went for a lot lower than they should. Used Cds locally here are better, but when you just gotta have a Little Feat Cd, instead of paying $14.99, they always had em for like... $10.98 like you said. Of course, this is before the real daze of CDRs....etc. They had practically anuything, so if you knew you needed 3 things, you KNEW Lechmere was going to have it, even CD wize their stock was great.

 

I remember the good old days at The Wiz where CDs were 12.98 (1998?). I thought CD prices were finally coming down. I figured prices would stabilize at around 12.00. Then a Tower Records opened in my home town with a great selection - but all the CDs were 18.98 - what's up with that? Now even The Wiz is up to 16.98 or more. I refuse to spend more than 12.98 for a CD - either on sale or online. Cheap CDs has a great selection at reasonable prices. Why pay more?

 

All this and CDRs are going for nickels. Something's really screwed up here. Aluminum Cds DO NOT cost that much to manufacture. Someone's got a healthy coke habbit and it's doing fine.

 

I've looked at that site, but never ordered. It's clear they're making back their money on S&H. It seems to be around $3 per CD, and they don't, AFAICT, discount for multi-CD orders. So, $14.50 for a CD (with shipping), or $14 + tax in a local store. I'll go local.

I still have never ordered from musicforasong. I think it's cause their website drives me batty.

 

Best Buy has really become hit and miss, probably determining that most consumers don't know any better. Most CDs at BB are $14.99 now, making Circuit City a much better place to buy, although CC tends to get only one copy of most reissue titles on release day.

One particularly galling thing I am seeing at Best Buy are some CDs and DVDs priced above list.

[ October 28, 2001: Message edited by: Jay ]

 

Can't understand why the Michael Jackson remasters have so high prices... about $ 14. The remasters were done 2 years ago... and Sony would like to earn a lot of bucks again!

 

Does anybody (Steve?) know what happened to the court decision several months ago that basically found that the prices for CD's had been held artificially high? I thought that some of the biggest companies were going to have to reduce the retail as settlement. Does anybody else remember this case?
dave

 

BMG Music Club

Downside: Limited selection, non-instant gratification.

Upside: During a buy one get three free sale, I get 4 CDs for an average cost of $8 each...