Comments on: Circuit City liquidation shopping tips

By: bill or

bill or — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:37:01 +0000

I still haven’t found any deals at CC. There seem to be a fair number of cars in the parking lot, but most people leave empty handed. Currently they have cameras up to 30% off the msrp, but it is higher than what you would pay at Amazon to get it at your door. CC isn’t discounting the display cameras either.

I asked an employee when he thought they might discount the items again and he said no idea. They don’t tell them.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:42:39 +0000

yeah I accidentally told me friend to buy a canon sd790is at CC cause it was 20% off, which came to about 199, i thought it was a decent price. but then i went home and checked out newegg, where i buy like…everything. and the same camera was on sale for 169.99 free shipping, with a free 8gb sd card. i felt bad haha. still havent told him though.

By: John

John — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:01:17 +0000

response to Chris:

In regard to a few “straight facts”, we should consider these:

Visited a Albany, GA CC store on Thursday (1-29-09), looking at Sony receivers. This is what I found…

STR-DG720 – CC store price=$306 – SonyStyle price=$299.99 (i.e. MSRP)

STR-DG820 – CC store price=$426 – SonyStyle price=$399.99 (i.e. MSRP)

The STR-DG520 wasn’t priced, so I asked a salesperson to help out. He went to a computer terminal, typed in a few characters and then came to me with a price of $168.xx (which included the 20% store advertised and ‘bannered’ discount). Now, going to the SonyStyle website, it shows a MSRP of $199.99. 20% off of that = 159.99. I am sure all here are capable of working the math here.

(Note: the SonyStyle (i.e. manuf) website prices were confirmed this day (2-1-09)).

Now, this may not be a ’scam’ as some have said – but it is *clearly* misrepresentation… and exploitation. Thank God for the internet.

I didn’t even have the MSRP with me when in the store (that research started after I got home that night) – but something was telling me to walk out of the store…

… which is exactly what I did.

– john.

By: Erik

Erik — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:30:16 +0000

we had a “cc outlet” store in muskegon, and it when it closed it was under the management of that liquidator company and I really walked out the door in disbelief. I looked up several of the items they had for sale on 1. newegg (pcs) and 2. best buy (TVs) and on average CC was about 30% HIGHER with the 30% OFF SALE than the other two retailers. Now tell me if that makes in sence in the universe? Whoever is running the show is expecting ppl to be blinded by big sale signs and just bend over and take it with no kiss and I hope most consumers are not mindless lemmings that will follow the herd and might think 1st and buy 2nd

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:24:07 +0000

I saw an example of shifting prices today. Been watching a Olympus Evolt 510 for about a week. Today the start price was up another $50.00 from last Sunday and still on 10% off. Now here’s the rub. Price with discount about 450. For about $20 more, on many online sites, I can get the same camera in a package with some extras and a guarantee. I thought maybe I could negotiate with a liquidator. I asked to speak with one. The staff shared they didn’t have a clue how to find him. I tried to talk to a manager, but he was walking around with his cell phone to his ear and dismissed me with the comment – the prices are what they are, take them or leave them. I left them. They deserve to go under.

By: Idea Guy

Idea Guy — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:28:21 +0000

No, but you can exchange them for Circuit City stock.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:53:16 +0000

Chris,

This is the EXACT reason CC is going out of business, CC will be stuck with all the inventory there trying to “liquidate”.

Old Dinosaur business not able to bend and move with the current and future economy, see ya , survival of the fittest and CC was obscenely overweight.

By: KT

KT — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:39:39 +0000

Chris,

At a Circuit City in Denver, at least price was marked up before going on “sale” on Saturday. On Friday, after I saw the announcement of the closing of your company, I checked the price on a Sony LCD 32 inch TV (720 L series). The site said $549 — no mention of sale, web-only pricing etc. I called the store as well Friday night and got the same information – $549. On Saturday morning, the price on the TV was now $599. Just like Andy, I walked out of the store.

By: Advice for Bargain hunting at Circuit City - Wait - GadgetGumbo

Advice for Bargain hunting at Circuit City - Wait - GadgetGumbo — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:56:37 +0000

[...] until you see the whites of their eyes. Thats my advice before you go looking at the not so hot Circuit City liquidation deals. No comments for this entry [...]

By: jpm

jpm — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:29:44 +0000

Aliens bought most of the Earth technology to give as cute gag gifts.

http://weeklyworldnews.com/alien-alert/aliens-clear-out-circuit-city/

By: Any luck at Circuit City liquidation sales yet?

Any luck at Circuit City liquidation sales yet? — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:40:09 +0000

[...] that Circuit City retail locations are ran by liquidation scum, there are bound to be a few deals. Sure, most of the big ticket items have been marked back up to [...]

By: jim lawson

jim lawson — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:41:30 +0000

Yes, the sell offs are a scam….theyve been rippin
people off for years and the bottom finally fell
out…buisness now is “what kind of trick can we
use to get the money” not “lets figure out a way
to make a better product or outdo the competition”; a form of fraud.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:56:45 +0000

I think its fairly normal for the first day of a liquidation “sale” to not have very good sale prices. Obviously the company wants to get as much as possible for their merchandise. The article makes a good point, that a person should know beforehand the item you are looking for. Go ahead and choose a model of flatpanel, for instance, that you want. Ask an employee how many of that item the store has, and just be patient for them to lower the price to an acceptable level. Also remember to check more than one store if there are several Circuit City stores in your area.

By: TechShopper

TechShopper — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:13:39 +0000

I was in Saturday afternoon…and the place was flooded with people but not many people were walking out with anything. This is not CC doing this though. It is a well established liquidation business plan. They do expect the uneducated shopper will empty some of the shelves. What they did not account for is that in our recent economic environment…shoppers are thinking first…spending second. This will hit the liquidators harder than they have experienced in the past.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:05:21 +0000

Prices are at MSRP?? Are you kidding me? That is indeed a markup because nobody sells things at those prices. If they really wanted to give people a deal and move merchandise quickly, they would have frozen all the prices at the currently marked prices in the system, and then started the mark downs. So in the grand scheme of things it is pretty much a scam anyways. I’m a CC employee and I was working yesterday and people were pretty much just walking out of the store without paying for it. We didn’t care because we’re getting screwed over anyways. If anyone is really looking for a deal, wait until after things are at least 60-70% off.

By: TechShopper

TechShopper — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:59:57 +0000

BTW…Liquidators are one of the most profitable companies in the US and make huge profits. Take a look on the web. Just FYI…I guess the are nice for a reason-so be smart.

By: TechShopper

TechShopper — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:56:45 +0000

They are not scams but simply not deals. 10% of MSRP or Manufactures Suggested Retail Price builds in a profit of about 20-30% for retail items. (Lower from cars which is about between 4-13%). Retailers in this recent environment are running at about 10% below MSRP except for the most popular items or ones which have restrictions-a good example is apple products which are locked at the MSRP with a few exceptions. However, as times goes on liquidators are under pressure to move the final volume they will begin a step progression of deeper discounts. That is why the suggestion is to shop later in a liquidation sale and not earlier. BTW, if you are worried about a product working..just plug it in at the store…they can and will do that :) nothing should be DOA . Just be patient and the liquidation sales CAN work.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 07:27:21 +0000

Let me clear some things up about this horribly written article. Author, please get your facts straight..

I don’t know who conducted the previous 155 store closings but yes, those were done differently. Here is the way it is as of now:

The liquidators currently employd to sell through the stores are not “Scammers”. The liquidator in our store is servicing three other stores state wide. His name is Larry and he is a very nice guy.

He works for Circuit City… management still runs the store and makes decisions. He is not our boss, if you ask for the “Head Scammer” (as the article advises you) If you aren’t asked politely to leave the store for your rudeness you will talk to a manager about your “question”, not Larry.

We will not match Best Buy during liquidation… period.

We are not marking things up just to mark them down and call it a sale. Prices were frozen Saturday morning at MSRP. It’s the easist way to do it because then all products start at a level playing field and go through the 10%,20%,30% etc markdown phases. Remember, the idea is speed… so getting bogged down in special sale pricing on individual items is not effecient.

These sales are not scams. Author, do the due diligence before you make defamatory remarks.

By: john

john — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:56:04 +0000

By: Me

Me — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:43:27 +0000

You are a bloody moron and must have failed math in elementary school. People like you deserve to get screwed by companies, and they do it ALL the time. Take a look at the picture ONE MORE TIME and tell me what 5% of almost $1000 is…?

Now, does the story make sense?