I'm in the market for a new digital video camera. After doing some research I decided to buy the .
Yesterday Amazon had this camera in stock for $507. BestBuy's web site said it was in stock at my local BestBuy store. When I added the camera to my online cart to check the price I saw that they wanted $527. I decided to pay BestBuy the extra $20 for the convenience of getting it locally.
When I got to BestBuy last night they did indeed have it in stock. But the price was $569. I told the sales clerk that their site listed it at $527. He said that was strange because they usually sell it in the store for the same price as they sell it online. He went to check. When he came back he had a printout of a BestBuy online shopping cart. The price he was quoted online was $569, the same price the store had it listed. When I got home later I checked again and the price was still $527 when I added it to my cart.
This morning I'm ordering the camera from Amazon. Not only am I saving money on the camera, I'm also saving a bunch of money on MiniDV tapes.
From now on when BestBuy says they are hiding the price from me because the manufacturer requires them to I think I'll be a little more skeptical. And before I go to the local store I'll print the price that I was quoted online. If they don't match the online price, I'll buy from someone else.
It wasn't a completely wasted trip though. I did get to see the camera and compare the size of it to other cameras I was looking at. It is a little bigger, but not too much. And the quality is much better than my old camera and the other cameras I was considering.