cjbryant

4 tents and about 20 people in line at my local Best Buy in Central Florida. I spoke with them briefly and they been in line since early Tuesday morning. Most of them are buying all the doorbusters they can and selling them later. Their goal is $1500 profit per person. Sucks that everyone is camping for 2+ days to make a little $$ but it is what it is.

One target I went to was like that as well.. I simply requested that they contact the corporate office and explain the situation. The girl came back and said that corporate said the policy is to pricematch/adjust EVERYTHING unless it specifically stated not to in the policy. I would understand if they excluded Black Friday items, but they dont in the policy. They are the only store that I am aware of that does not exclude it in the policy.. The other option if they dont pricematch is to return everything on Monday or Tuesday, after all the sales are over so they are "stuck" with it

People who wait in line for stuff at Target are crazy. The policy is that they will price adjust ANYTHING if it is purchased during that week or the week before. It is their corporate policy. Unlike Best Buy, Walmart and the like, it makes no exclusions to timed sales, black Friday, etc. Re-read Best Buy's policy and you will see it excluded Black Friday. Target's does not exclude such, so buy everything the week before and simply take your receipt to the customer service counter and they will refund the difference. I have done it every year without fail. If I happen to get a store manager that is hesitant, I will simply ask them to call corporate and verify that that is their policy. Unless something changes between now and then, it will not be an issue. This will also work on doorbuster items.. I got 2 of the tvs last year a week before BF and simply went in at 930 for the price adjustment.

I usually get to our local best Buy at 1 or 2 pm on Thanksgiving day. This year I might have to get there earlier around noon. I usually bring a small generator, a 27 inch tv with a stand, Xbox, laptop computer and several games/dvds. I watch all the football games in the afternoon/night and then play games or watch movies the rest of the time. It keeps me and everyone else around me entertained. Also, by providing entertainment for those around me, they usually let me out of line to go to a restaurant for dinner :)

Why not bring the family with you to join the yahoos standing in line. That way you get both :)

I really do not see the big deal of selling tickets and why the store would stop anyone from selling them. They got there early for the opportunity to get the tickets, sometimes well over 12 hours. The people who are complaining about those selling tickets need to get there earlier or stop complaining. If you want the item, get there earlier or buy the ticket from the people in front of you. I wouldnt be surprised to see people get all the tickets, get the items they want and then leave with the remaining tickets. This way those complaining would not get the tickets and whoever shows up at 11 would get one (when they give out remaining items that were not redeemed).

I wouldnt be surprised on the controller price. They are fairly cheap to make. I am not sure about the XBOX controllers, but the Nintendo Wii controller only costs Nintendo about $3 to make and they sell it for $25. I couldnt imagine the XBOX controller costs that much more to make

I dont think that the people were arrested for ticket scalping. It was probably more like conducting business without proper business licenses/tax certificates on private property that is not your own. Even selling on Ebay you are supposed to declare your total sales and report that on your income tax statements. I cannot see how they could be arrested for ticket scalping as the tickets have a value (the amount saved), they just do not have a cash value in the store (you cannot turn the ticket into the store for cash). I do not have a problem with selling the tickets. Its supply and demand. Where there is a large demand and low supply, the price increases. Everything we buy is like that (gas, food, etc). The same with the tickets. Someone has something that someone else wants and sells the ticket. I have heard of people making over $1000 on selling tickets on BF, so it could be worth it. If you are afraid of not getting an item, get there earlier. Another solution that would work better than selling the tickets is actually buying the item and then selling it on the way out. You would be able to make more money that way (same as Ebay, just without the fees and shipping). Again, you should check with local laws regarding business licensing. As for the coffee/food sales. You would need to get permission from the city as well as the store. The health department would also most likely get involved as you are "serving" customers. A great idea, but I am not sure it is worth the hassle of doing it legally.

The best prices for DSLR's are online from the large stores in new york (B&H Photo, Adorama, etc.) As stated above, the retail stores (Walmart, Best Buy, Sears, etc) do not have a lot of room to reduce the price. The price reductions come from wholesalers and manufacture discounts. I cannot post links since I am new, but B&H Photo (search in Yahoo or Google) has a Canon Digital Rebel Xt for $510. You can get it for less ($429) without the lens.Typically you can find lenses for relatively cheap on Ebay. Perhaps the most important part of the camera is the lens, particularly for sports and low light pictures. Canon (or Nikon) typically make good consumer quality lenses, but they can get pretty pricey. You may want to look at Sigma, Tamron or Tokina for lenses. They make them to fit pretty much every brand of DSLR camera and most of the time are much cheaper than the manufacturer's lenses. Now, for consumer cameras (Point and Shoot).... Keep in mind that mega pixels are not all that important, unless you plan to make large poster prints (11x14, 20x30 and larger). You can make excellent 8x10 prints from a 3 mega pixel camera (I am a professional photographer and I have done that with the early DSLR cameras). The manufacturers make it sound like you need more mega pixels than you really need, increasing the price of the camera. Mega Pixels DO NOT make a better image... they only make enlargements better (less grainy). Sorry for the long post. I hope this helps.