Here's what you have to understand about Best Buy general managers.
They're full of crap. They think they can magically sell everything for MSRP if the employee "tries hard enough".
We had a Panasonic 1080p 42" Plasma that is a clearance roll out. It's an "at risk" item, meaning we have to get rid of it for as much as we can, or corporate will slash the price and we'll take a hit on it. It was $1800 MSRP, my sup threw it out on the floor at $1200 with a clearance tag and a note that says "Does not qualify for HD Advantage" which was a good idea.
People were checking it out a lot, because it was a good deal. No bites though.
My GM was like, "No, put it to $1600 if they buy 3 accessories and a Blu-ray player, it's still $200 off." He thought, because of how many people were interested, he could hike the price up and people would still be interested. A complete idiot. Finally, he marked it all the way back up to $1800, MSRP and if you buy in-home services, he would take the money out of the TV price. Which is a good deal, if you planned on getting an installer to wall mount it in your house, and set up your home theater. But for people that just want a TV, service plan and maybe a Blu-ray player, it's a horrible deal.
He kept playing grab*** with it, and not letting us sell it, and guess what happened? The TV is still here, two of them in fact, brand new in box and they're slashed down to $1079. A 42" 1080p Panasonic plasma, at $1079 that qualifies for HD Advantage. So now we're taking a $200 hit on it, when we could've broke even on it and gotten rid of it, because our GM was playing footsie with the prices trying to get as much as he can.
What you'll find is that, other than the 30% store-wide clearance (which is going on at my store too), most of the in-store deals are HUGE YMMV. What'll happen is:
They slash the prices on HD-DVD's to 50% off. A lot of people buy them, and the managers think, "Oh people want those movies really bad. Change it to 40% off." The prices go up. They think that people are so interested in the movies, they'll pay as much as they can to get them.
I've had customers walk out of the store on me because my GM will come in and try to "take over" my sale.
In closing, just know that with BB, check if the GM is there. If he's not there, become a negotiator and anything can happen. PM online prices and get 30% off. HDDVD's are a major at risk item, so anyone OTHER than a GM will do anything to make you take them home.
