<![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too - Gizmodo Comments]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too - Gizmodo Comments]]> http://gizmodo.com Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:36:47 EDT Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:36:47 EDT http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4920109 @Machete_Bear: Not true. Companies offer store credit or rebates because a large percentage of them NEVER GET USED by the customer. $50 is totally different than $50 gift card. Haven't you read about the amount of money Best Buy alone makes from unused store credit on gift cards?

I totally agree that this is nothing more than marketing. Most people who use the gift card will spend more than $50 in the store. I can't wait to actually USE my store credit. At this point, the player I bought only cost $120 for the 1080p player after pricematching, but it saved me $100 on the TV I bought. I got 7 free movies, sold my DVD player for $25, and now I get $50 for a Nintendo game? Sweet.

Guitar Hero 3 here I come :P

iFlingPoo

]]> 4:369594:c4920109 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:36:47 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4783549 If the going rate is $54 for a player and 6 movies, I'm hoping to see the units and used movies at REAL discount pricing soon!

I'm happy I have some HD-DVDs and players - I think going into the future, like music is now, Dics are not the format, rather the vehicle for the digital media. I have about 20 HD-DVDs now, and I plan on being able to rip them to my server and use them, in all their HD glory for years to come, whether on the HD-DVD format disc or not. I may wind up burning them to a Blu Ray when blank media comes down in price. Moving forward, digital delivery will be a crucial service, but I prefer physical hard copies, and Im glad I can pay less than a DVD for Blu Ray quality.

Lizard_King

]]> 4:369594:c4783549 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:32:29 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4781441 @genius74: sell 'em to me, at a marked-down, discounted discount

scarbrtj

]]> 4:369594:c4781441 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:58:19 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4779658 I'll use my GC to get some discounted HDDVD movies..

wait a minute..

genius74

]]> 4:369594:c4779658 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:27:10 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4779561 @tamoko:
For anyone interested, I looked into trading in my player with 6 movies. And assuming it's in "excellent" condition, the trade-in value is $54. Here's a screenshot:

[www.techconsumer.com]

Bob

]]> 4:369594:c4779561 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:23:06 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4778388 @bandit:
The "market" isn't doing crap. This is a promotional gimmick intended to bring people back into the store to buy more stuff, and to recapture a small bit of lost consumer good-will for those people who were recently advised by the BB salespeople in the store to buy HD-DVD because it was a cheaper player or whatever.

And?? Based on the information I have, Best Buy is a for-profit corporation. Promotional gimmicks intended to bring people into stores and buy stuff is what they're supposed to do. Some other examples of promotional gimmicks may include:
television advertising
using "cash registers" to calculate and charge people for purchases
sweepstakes
newspaper advertising
opening a retail store
buy this and get that for free promotions
etc.
Best Buy and Circuit City are in no way expected to do things like this...how many people received anything for their BetaMax, MiniDisc, 8-Track, DCC (who remembers that?), CD-i, Divx, blah, blah, blah?
Stop complaining, it's a nice, unnecessary gesture that may in fact generate sales for a retail company.

shimmer

]]> 4:369594:c4778388 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:38:05 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4776231 shrug, I bought a spare A30 to sit in the garage. I have too many HD-DVD discs, cheaper to buy a backup player than replacing all the discs with BD version, if/when those discs ever come out.

bitgod

]]> 4:369594:c4776231 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:23:20 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4774949 Ha - SO far behind Circuit City. Fail.

avconsumer

]]> 4:369594:c4774949 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:39:12 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4773673 1. Give away money to idiots.

2. ????????

3. Profit!

BTS.WRKNG

]]> 4:369594:c4773673 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:51:01 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4770275 I still use mine for regular up converting. Best one I've had...now if they open it up to xVid...

eFish

]]> 4:369594:c4770275 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:40:08 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4770160 So the Xbox 360 counts too, right? I gotta find that receipt.

BurstAneurysm

]]> 4:369594:c4770160 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:35:14 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4769702 $50 gift card probably still doesn't cover the higher original price that their customers had to pay instead of buying from online shops such as Amazon.com

Kobe_No_Means_No

]]> 4:369594:c4769702 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:16:19 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4769640 Bandit: "This is a promotional gimmick intended to bring people back into the store to buy more stuff"

No shit. Does anyone not know that businesses are in it for the money?

It's a gimmick that compensates misguided early adopters, which is my point. Why does the motivation matter?

crap-action-jackson

]]> 4:369594:c4769640 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:13:40 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4769323 @weatherman: I seriously doubt that someone who spent $200+ on a high-end entertainment device from BB would not use $50 in store credit. This is still a considerable loss for the company, however it does put them in a positive light (God knows they need it) and like you said, encourage consumers to put it towards more expensive devices, such as the victorious blue-ray.

Machete_Bear

]]> 4:369594:c4769323 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:01:15 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4769297 @crap-action-jackson: The "market" isn't doing crap. This is a promotional gimmick intended to bring people back into the store to buy more stuff, and to recapture a small bit of lost consumer good-will for those people who were recently advised by the BB salespeople in the store to buy HD-DVD because it was a cheaper player or whatever.

bandit

]]> 4:369594:c4769297 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:00:23 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4769222 Heh, I bought a HD-A2 in November for $98, got my five free discs, sold 3 of them and my old DVD player for well over that amount, and now am getting $50 back, still have the HD-DVD as an upconverter and still have 2 of the HD-DVDs left. Call it a win!

Lizard_King

]]> 4:369594:c4769222 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:57:10 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768778 Wow. This is a virtually perfect demonstration of how the market acts to prevent "path dependence" or "lock-in" of inferior products. Not only is the superior product being adopted, but the market is actually compensating - after the fact - early adopters that chose wrongly. This completely undermines "lock in", as it is the sunk costs of misguided early adopters that allegedly causes lock in of inferior formats in the first place.

crap-action-jackson

]]> 4:369594:c4768778 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:40:34 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768713 This is too funny. I bought my HDDVD from BestBuy late last year. Sold it the day that I heard about it losing the format war. Made all of my money back and now I'm going to get $50 on top of that. I love it.

Rupan

]]> 4:369594:c4768713 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:38:02 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768597 @scarbrtj:

My guess is that $10 million is a small price to pay for Best Buy to placate all the early adopters, like myself. The people who bought HD-DVD from Best Buy probably spend a lot of money there on other things, and I think this is a good way to say "Sorry we kinda sorta screwed ya. Please still buy stuff from us.", even though it is really my fault for being an early adopter in the first place.

coolpengwn

]]> 4:369594:c4768597 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:32:39 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768544 @scarbrtj: they're just giving away $50 gift certificates, most of which won't be used and which if they are used would just be applied to overpriced replacement BR players. It's a "win-win" for BB and the consumer on paper, but in reality it's just a marketing campaign by BB.

weatherman

]]> 4:369594:c4768544 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:29:54 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768069 The cynical side of me asks: "What's in it for Best Buy to part with $10 million?" A tax write off maybe? Show a little loss to get some favorable balance sheet action? What could it be? I am a conspiracist.

scarbrtj

]]> 4:369594:c4768069 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:04:30 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4768040 I actually just spoke to a rep at BBFB and she was totally clueless about the press release (shocker) and didn't seem to think that BBFB would be honoring the gift cards to customers that purchased from them as they "are a separate company from regular Best Buy." She really didn't know any details so I am hoping that things will change in the coming days. Guess time will tell.

xplosivo

]]> 4:369594:c4768040 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:03:06 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767999 @xplosivo: maybe, the BBFB reward zone is a different plan though

Seiven

]]> 4:369594:c4767999 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:59:50 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767818 Nice that you can trade in stuff no matter where you bought it. Got my 360 HD-DVD player from circuit city, bought bought my three movies from best buy...lol. Gonna trade it all in at bestbuytradein.com and use it towards blu-ray movies.

mikecoscia

]]> 4:369594:c4767818 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:50:14 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767801 Wonder if this would apply for people that purchased their players during the sale on Best Buy for Business?

xplosivo

]]> 4:369594:c4767801 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:49:32 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767735 The HD DVD players wont be in the trade in site until Friday the 21st... looks like we'll just have to plan on getting next to nothing for it though.

PeteUALaw

]]> 4:369594:c4767735 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:45:37 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767569 hell yeah, I sold mine for a profit and now I get to spend the $50 giftcard on a PS3 game

Seiven

]]> 4:369594:c4767569 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:36:40 EDT <![CDATA[Best Buy Pledges $50 For Each HD DVD Buyer; Trade-Ins, Too]]> http://gizmodo.com/369594/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade+ins-too#c4767398 I bet those HD DVD players will be being traded in for pennies on the dollar.

tamoko

]]> 4:369594:c4767398 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:23:53 EDT