Best Buy ships HD-DVD's back to warehouse

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I stopped in my local best buy which had the 30% off HD-DVD's, they were all gone. I asked and the kid said they boxed them all up yesterday to send back.

Anyone else have this happen?

Where do they go when shipped back and will we see them dumped cheap somewhere?
 
When I saw the newly expanded Blu-Ray section, I had figured the HD-DVDs were buried in the back somewhere. oops
 
I was at CC today picking up Odin Sphere (rubbing it in) and saw they dumped all the HD DVDs in bins on the floor. All HD DVDs, aside from Shrek and Beowulf, so the associate says, will be 50% next week. FYI, folks...
 
They send them back for a refund from the manufacturer.
Happens all the time with their regular stockpile of unsold dvds/pc software etc.
 
i was actually at best buy when some guy was setting up all the blu ray titles and taking down the HD-DVDs. They are sending them back to the warehouse. He said best buy will not carry HD anymore, exclusively blu ray only now.
 
Wouldn't they make more by just selling them at ridiculously low prices? Or do the manufacturers actually give them a full refund?
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Wouldn't they make more by just selling them at ridiculously low prices? Or do the manufacturers actually give them a full refund?[/QUOTE]

The shelf space is what really concerns them. Every foot of shelf space translates into thousands in lost sales a day if its taken up by clearance junk. That's usually why they dump clearance items into bins or rtm them.
 
I'm still shocked that they did not go down to atleast 50% off before they did this. I knew just after HD-DVD died that Best Buy would not do a fire sale and I even have said it in some of my posts. I was told they would sell them till they ran out and I thought the lowest would be 50%. I never expected 50% and a buy x get y free but did expect 50%. Oh well maybe they will do a fire sale online.
 
I'm surprised that they just didn't sell them all at cost....they could have fudged the accounting numbers, as they usually do, when did we ever know BB to do the smart thing? Outside of this HD-DVD gift card thing which is bound to be embarrassing and a mess, it's hard to find compliments for BB.
 
[quote name='lurknomore']I'm surprised that they just didn't sell them all at cost....they could have fudged the accounting numbers, as they usually do, when did we ever know BB to do the smart thing? Outside of this HD-DVD gift card thing which is bound to be embarrassing and a mess, it's hard to find compliments for BB.[/quote]

From what I heard a lot of the Best Buy stores did put them on sale instead of sending them back. Reports of 30% to 50% from the half dozen stores in my area so I'm assuming it was in the managers hands of what to do? There was probably a letter saying they can send them back or put them on sale to clean out their stock. If your local BB just shipped them off then you're probably happy that CC is doing 50% to get rid of the rest of their stock. Either way I'm sure Amazon will come through and make us all happy in the end.
 
[quote name='lurknomore']I'm surprised that they just didn't sell them all at cost....they could have fudged the accounting numbers, as they usually do, when did we ever know BB to do the smart thing? Outside of this HD-DVD gift card thing which is bound to be embarrassing and a mess, it's hard to find compliments for BB.[/quote]


I work at Best Buy in the Media Department. The 30% off of the titles actually dropped them below cost. DVDs, Games, CD's do not have much of any markup. I was told from the beginning that there would be no fire sale. As for the send back, that comes from corporate and we must adhere to it. So regardless of what we are selling we have to send it back. As to what they are going to do with them I dont even know.
 
The vendor will give a full refund of cost value. Best Buy doesn't lose money, win/win situation for them.

Don't blame them really. I mean why have a fire sale? Absolutely no benefit when HD-DVD players are going down the toilet as well. What'll end up happening is the Vendor will sell them at a low cost to bargain retailers like Amazon, Wal-mart, Buy.com, etc. You'll see them online for 6.99 to 7.99 within a few weeks.
 
[quote name='TimPV3']Same thing happened at FYE a few weeks ago. Not surprising, really.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, though FYE didnt even bother trying to reduce prices. Although I did see Michael Clayton in there today....for 32.99.
 
[quote name='jrutz']I was at CC today picking up Odin Sphere (rubbing it in) and saw they dumped all the HD DVDs in bins on the floor. All HD DVDs, aside from Shrek and Beowulf, so the associate says, will be 50% next week. FYI, folks...[/quote]

Wow, does anyone else have any info about this? Is that a store-level move or something we can expect to see nationally? That, plus the sale on clearance games, could be enough incentive to make the trek to some of the "local" CC stores.
 
[quote name='62t']local BB have $9.99 for all hd dvd and 70% off all box set, but only crappy movies were left[/quote]


Whoa.

It's kinda sad that big retailers like best buy are sending the movies back instead of having them sold on clearance or whatever. Best buy never had a good selection to begin with, but if the information about the sale next week at CC for HD-DVD movies is true..I might pick up a few titles.
 
Ah, saw in speedy's thread that the 50% off HD-DVD titles (excluding Shrek the Third and Beowulf) is, indeed, confirmed. Too bad that the prices are so high to begin with. Might be interested in some of the regularly priced $15 movies, though.
 
My BestBuy had all of the HD-DVDs gone as well. So they now have like 2 aisles spread out of BluRay discs and it's funny because they don't have enough that they have about 4 copies of the same title as a face out, because they don't have enough to stack them deep on top of each other.
 
My local BB has a crap load of HD DVD's left! (LV) I have already bought around 20 HD DVD's the last 2-3 weeks that have all been PM to $9.99-10.49 while they were that price for a couple of weeks. Been hearing a rumor of 70% off sale today..online or in store..I dont know. But either way, I will be getting them at my local BB if it happens since they PM their online prices! Manager told me on friday that they were sending them back maybe this coming week? So I will be stopping by this morning at opening time to see whats up..as for BB online, all their HD DVD's went up to MSRP last night....so hopefully getting ready for the big one!! Lets hope! As for CC, their website has been updated to fire sale...blah blah... total crap, no unbelievable prices...just still $19.99 for most.. SUCKS!
 
Went to the Best Buy in Madison Heights, MI and all their HD DVD's are gone. So I checked out the Circuit City across the street and their "50% of all HD DVD sale" is a friggin' waste of time. All of their HD DVD's are at full price, meaning once you take off the 50%, they are still more expensive than most online prices at Amazon etc.
 
I saw exactly one HD-DVD at my local BB and CC in Schaumburg, IL. I really expected an online clearance this week. What else could they do with the discs?
 
[quote name='1ivewire']I saw exactly one HD-DVD at my local BB and CC in Schaumburg, IL. I really expected an online clearance this week. What else could they do with the discs?[/QUOTE]

They could bury them somewhere in the desert like they did with all the leftover ET Atari 2600 cartridges in the early 80s.
 
my bestbuy packed all the HD-DVD's and sent them away midweek and today I go get Robotech Protoculture collection DVD and see that they are back without the 30% discount. Full Price HD-DVD's back on the shelf. BB u is crazy.
 
STOP bashing Best Buy for not "clearance" tagging them.

Unless you know ANYTHING about how cost/price works, you are in no position to act like you know ANYTHING about how these companies work.

I'll give you a simplified math figure:
Cost = How much a STORE pays for product. Example, Set of Home Theater speakers = $29 cost from Klipsch/Infinity/etc.
Price = How much they sell it for, to make profit margin. Same Klipsch speakers = $129.
The profit then, means they make $100 of profit on those speakers.

On SOME items/products, the cost is NOT very low below the price. Game systems, computers, laptops, ipods, cameras. Those items have a REALLY high cost, so BB tries to push accessories to attach to them to make profit.

GAMES AND MOVIES, are only $5-10 of profit.

So for HD-DVD's, EVERY Best Buy paid roughly $22-25 for EACH HD-DVD.

They have TWO choices when HD-DVD went under:
1) Sell them at clearance and take a HIT, when Toshiba and the HD-DVD distribution companies should be refunding BB for part of the hit so we still make a profit when they're at clearance.
2) Send them back to the film companies for a FULL refund, meaning we DONT take a hit.

How would you feel, if you were trying to sell a Wii for full retail price, because you CAN, and someone blasts you for not selling it for cheaper?

Bottom line, there's NOTHING we gain out of people buying HD-DVD's because of the clearance. You can't sell attachments, accessories to a movie.

Mad that Best Buy sends all their HD-DVD's back? Write an email to Toshiba, tell them to lower the cost on HD-DVD's that are out so you can get some movies for the player you bought from them that they rendered obsolete. But don't get mad at Best Buy when it's not their fault OR their problem.
 
[quote name='NamelessMC']STOP bashing Best Buy for not "clearance" tagging them.

Unless you know ANYTHING about how cost/price works, you are in no position to act like you know ANYTHING about how these companies work.

I'll give you a simplified math figure:
Cost = How much a STORE pays for product. Example, Set of Home Theater speakers = $29 cost from Klipsch/Infinity/etc.
Price = How much they sell it for, to make profit margin. Same Klipsch speakers = $129.
The profit then, means they make $100 of profit on those speakers.

On SOME items/products, the cost is NOT very low below the price. Game systems, computers, laptops, ipods, cameras. Those items have a REALLY high cost, so BB tries to push accessories to attach to them to make profit.

GAMES AND MOVIES, are only $5-10 of profit.

So for HD-DVD's, EVERY Best Buy paid roughly $22-25 for EACH HD-DVD.[/QUOTE]

:lol: Sounds like somebody needs to take their own advice.

There is no chance in hell Best Buy paid $22-25 for each HD-DVD. No goddamn chance. Amazon and other online retailers were selling them at $19.95 (or $27.95 for combos) and you know that they weren't selling them at cost, they were making profit...enough to justify them carrying them.

The fact of the matter is, Best Buy's just greedy as fuck. They marked up HDM like no tomorrow because it's a niche product and now they probably just want these out of their stores as quickly as possible (at as low a loss as possible) to regain their shelf space.

What better way than just mailing them back to the manufacturer while they still can instead of waiting the 1-2 weeks for a sale to clear out the stocks?

[quote name='NamelessMC']Mad that Best Buy sends all their HD-DVD's back? Write an email to Toshiba, tell them to lower the cost on HD-DVD's that are out so you can get some movies for the player you bought from them that they rendered obsolete. But don't get mad at Best Buy when it's not their fault OR their problem.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Fixed it for you.[/QUOTE]

Some are greedier than others.

Circuit City/Best Buy selling HDM above the MSRP while online stores sell at or below MSRP, puts them in their own special class.

-------------

A funny thing is, I have over 100 HD-DVDs and not one of them came from a B&M store.
 
Ah, but you see, it's hard to compare the practices of an online only company and a company that runs brick and mortar stores. Someone like Amazon doesn't have to pay the rent on hundreds or thousands of stores around the country. They don't to pay the salaries for the employees that would be needed to work in the stores.
 
maybe they are keeping HD-DVD's as a diversionary tactic? if you look at the HDTV section they always put shitty tv brands like insignia and sceptre out next to the SONY's and Panasonics. They don't calibrate the HDTV's and the picture's look like shit next to the more expensive one's. My friend works at CC and he told me that they are trained to make the HDTV's look bad in comparison even though they have the same specs to sell more SONY's and premium brands. I got a VIZIO and the picture is just as good as a SONY but I had to re-calibrate the picture when I got home but I paid 1000 dollars less. Maybe they keep the HD-DVD's high priced so when a consumer looks at both and sees that HD-DVD has a limited selection and high prices they choose Blu-ray?
 
I am not mad..I bought 25+ HD DVD's from my local BB all @ $9.99-10.49 when they had them at those low prices for a couple of weeks! I have made several trips to my 3 local BB's to find the HD DVD's I have been looking for, and I never had a problem at any one of them PM their own website prices.. so I for one am not mad at them..I am glad they have hooked me up! They also lowered their last Toshiba A-35 for $79 for me that came with 300 and bourne!! They also PM Kmarts $37 price of the xbox 360 add-on for me!! They still have 4-5 racks of HD DVD's at my BB... hoping for another blowout sale online since they raised all their prices online back to MSRP this weekend.. Can only hope for another sale, or it might just be the end of HD DVD at BB.. either way, I am happy with what they have done for me..which is given me super low prices!!!! I am going in tomorrow to see if they will PM the discovery stores price of $24.99 for the Planet Earth Set...Fingers crossed!
 
[quote name='NamelessMC']STOP bashing Best Buy for not "clearance" tagging them.

Unless you know ANYTHING about how cost/price works, you are in no position to act like you know ANYTHING about how these companies work.

I'll give you a simplified math figure:
Cost = How much a STORE pays for product. Example, Set of Home Theater speakers = $29 cost from Klipsch/Infinity/etc.
Price = How much they sell it for, to make profit margin. Same Klipsch speakers = $129.
The profit then, means they make $100 of profit on those speakers.

On SOME items/products, the cost is NOT very low below the price. Game systems, computers, laptops, ipods, cameras. Those items have a REALLY high cost, so BB tries to push accessories to attach to them to make profit.

GAMES AND MOVIES, are only $5-10 of profit.

So for HD-DVD's, EVERY Best Buy paid roughly $22-25 for EACH HD-DVD.

They have TWO choices when HD-DVD went under:
1) Sell them at clearance and take a HIT, when Toshiba and the HD-DVD distribution companies should be refunding BB for part of the hit so we still make a profit when they're at clearance.
2) Send them back to the film companies for a FULL refund, meaning we DONT take a hit.

How would you feel, if you were trying to sell a Wii for full retail price, because you CAN, and someone blasts you for not selling it for cheaper?

Bottom line, there's NOTHING we gain out of people buying HD-DVD's because of the clearance. You can't sell attachments, accessories to a movie.

Mad that Best Buy sends all their HD-DVD's back? Write an email to Toshiba, tell them to lower the cost on HD-DVD's that are out so you can get some movies for the player you bought from them that they rendered obsolete. But don't get mad at Best Buy when it's not their fault OR their problem.[/QUOTE]


I think you mean contribution margin, not profit. Your logic is a little flawed though. This is not how a company works. Operating income is used to offset costs which after taxes generate profit/equity. Low contribution margins or even selling at a loss is not a bad thing especially if you have other items that have high margins.

Using your math problem:
Speakers $29
Sell for $129
Contribution Margin $100

HD-DVD $22
Sell for $10
Contribution Margin -$12

Total Contribution for sales mix: $88
 
[quote name='NamelessMC']STOP bashing Best Buy for not "clearance" tagging them.

Unless you know ANYTHING about how cost/price works, you are in no position to act like you know ANYTHING about how these companies work.

I'll give you a simplified math figure:
Cost = How much a STORE pays for product. Example, Set of Home Theater speakers = $29 cost from Klipsch/Infinity/etc.
Price = How much they sell it for, to make profit margin. Same Klipsch speakers = $129.
The profit then, means they make $100 of profit on those speakers.

On SOME items/products, the cost is NOT very low below the price. Game systems, computers, laptops, ipods, cameras. Those items have a REALLY high cost, so BB tries to push accessories to attach to them to make profit.

GAMES AND MOVIES, are only $5-10 of profit.

So for HD-DVD's, EVERY Best Buy paid roughly $22-25 for EACH HD-DVD.

They have TWO choices when HD-DVD went under:
1) Sell them at clearance and take a HIT, when Toshiba and the HD-DVD distribution companies should be refunding BB for part of the hit so we still make a profit when they're at clearance.
2) Send them back to the film companies for a FULL refund, meaning we DONT take a hit.

How would you feel, if you were trying to sell a Wii for full retail price, because you CAN, and someone blasts you for not selling it for cheaper?

Bottom line, there's NOTHING we gain out of people buying HD-DVD's because of the clearance. You can't sell attachments, accessories to a movie.

Mad that Best Buy sends all their HD-DVD's back? Write an email to Toshiba, tell them to lower the cost on HD-DVD's that are out so you can get some movies for the player you bought from them that they rendered obsolete. But don't get mad at Best Buy when it's not their fault OR their problem.[/quote]

I love it when retail employees get all huffy and puffy about things like they actually understand how things work (some do, not all). :cold::cold::hot::cold::cold:
 
Now that you're done defending the big corporation, even if they had paid that much per HD dvd (they didn't, not even close), HD lost and they just may have to lose some money on supporting a losing format.

Most Blockbusters never even carried HD so they're not looking at any loses because of HD going down. Where as Hollywood supported both evenly at the beginning and that's why they just cut their losses and a ton of people on here were getting HD's for around 7.50-10. They knew they had to just get rid of it and got what they could.

Best Buy is the type of place that doesn't do that. Best Buy doesn't clearance out old stuff most of the time yet will just send it back somewhere else. Other than the few random ones that people post about on here, nearly all of them don't let anything get cheap. It's just something we've all learned to live with but it doesn't mean they're not greedy or assholes because of it.

I've never understood the need to defend these places. Even if you're the most blind supporter and fanboy why do you defend their policies and/or greed.

In the end nearly every place just wants their money and don't give a shit about costumer service or loyalty to the customer. When you find the rare retailer that actually cares about you then stick with them. My Gamecrazy here will absolutely do anything to make me happy with them other than just giving me stuff. Then there's the local EB which will fucking argue that a game was marked wrong and it actually more than it says. It's badly ran and I don't give them my business.

I buy mostly through Amazon because I got sick of dealing with Best Buy and the like. Most of the time it would be wise for you to do the same.
 
Movies only have a $10 - $15 profit margin? You expect me to believe that BB pays $50 for a TV show season set that they in turn sell for $60? Theres no way. What about back when the Star Trek sets were over $100 per season, they paid $90 for one set and sold it for $100? Thats unbelievable.

Unless you aren't counting sets as movies.
 
Well said Britshady.

I still shop at CC/BB but only for real good deals or something super new that I really want. Like I bought Kanes Wrath last week for $17.99 and will get GTA4 the day it comes out but that is about it. I have resorted to only buying $3.99 DVD's and the average price I've payed for my 30+ HD/BD is well below $10 each.

I found myself so disappointed time and time again after going to Circuit City's and Best Buy's that I changed my attitude when I went there. Now I don't just accept what they say for fact and I'm a pain in the ass to deal with because I go in ready to do work. It is funny hearing people like the CEO of Best Buy say he is worried about "the industry" or whatever crap he tried to spew a couple weeks ago.

All they have to do is look to online retailers like Amazon for their answer. Who is going to drive to some store with marked up prices and give them their money when they can go online and have everything delivered to their home cheaper? In the end I'm so happy that these monopoly like chains are finally losing money. First they put the smaller (usually overpriced) independent stores out of business and now they too are feeling the squeeze from people who actually have a brain.
 
In case anyone is curious the Fenton, MO Best Buy near me still had their HD-DVD's on the shelf today. Still just 30% off. Many good titles there (no I Am Legend or Justice League though) and they seemed to have every box set, including the Star Trek original series one.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']In case anyone is curious the Fenton, MO Best Buy near me still had their HD-DVD's on the shelf today. Still just 30% off. Many good titles there (no I Am Legend or Justice League though) and they seemed to have every box set, including the Star Trek original series one.[/quote]I was there a few days ago, and they were there, yes.

Issue is that they're all back to full retail, from the few discs I used as a test to price check.

Full retail - 30% off doesn't make a buyer out of me.
 
[quote name='trabbahabba']I think you mean contribution margin, not profit. Your logic is a little flawed though. This is not how a company works. Operating income is used to offset costs which after taxes generate profit/equity. Low contribution margins or even selling at a loss is not a bad thing especially if you have other items that have high margins.

Using your math problem:
Speakers $29
Sell for $129
Contribution Margin $100

HD-DVD $22
Sell for $10
Contribution Margin -$12

Total Contribution for sales mix: $88[/quote]

You expect me to believe Slickdealers/Cagers that go to Best Buy to buy at-risk HD-DVD titles are going to buy $129 speakers?

Sorry, but we aren't ignorant. I know you're mad that BB employees like myself are starting to see through online deal forums and are starting to act accordingly.

The point is, everyone in this thread is bashing BB like they had something to gain from fire-selling their HD-DVD titles. Send all your hate mail and aggravation to Toshiba.

I work in a services department, I see our cost charts every day. The only reason low margin works for DVD's, is because we sell like 10 DVD's a day. So a $5 margin on 10 DVD's turns into $50 gross margin. We sell ONE HD-DVD $12 below cost, guess what? We just lost gross margin on 3 standard DVD sales. That means we have to sell 3 standard DVD's + another 15-20 at regular price just to make up for the margin loss.

And YES, me and all the managers are evaluated on how much we DONT lose money. You're getting huffy and puffy and insulting BB employees when we're just doing our job. Our job, is to sell stuff without losing money. If that's what our job is, what possible reason could you have to get upset at us for sending HD-DVD's back?

And frankly, I don't give a crap if you believe me or not on whether or not DVD's and HD-DVD's and Blu-rays have a high cost or not. You think the cost of the DVD and the packaging is the only cost? There's things called Studios and all the actors in the movie that get royalties that cause a movie's "cost" to hike up so much. You don't believe me? Best Buy employees buy ANYTHING in the store for cost price + 5%. Ask any BB employee that's a friend of yours to check what his price is on a DVD or Blu-ray.
 
[quote name='NamelessMC']You expect me to believe Slickdealers/Cagers that go to Best Buy to buy at-risk HD-DVD titles are going to buy $129 speakers?
[/quote]
Your target consumers arent Slickdealers/Cagers, so we are irrelevant to that conversation.

Sorry, but we aren't ignorant. I know you're mad that BB employees like myself are starting to see through online deal forums and are starting to act accordingly.
.

So basically, you're just here to spy?
 
[quote name='jza1218']Your target consumers arent Slickdealers/Cagers, so we are irrelevant to that conversation.



So basically, you're just here to spy?[/quote]

Nice attempt to bait me into getting banned, but no, I'm not here spying. But if I see a BB deal that's obviously abusing a system then of course I'll make sure it doesn't happen at our store.

CAG's good about not letting people scam retailers here, my point is, if our target consumers aren't SD/CAG'ers, then why should we care to compensate them?
 
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