Best Buy's New Buyback Program for Early Adopters

[pbrauer]

As a move to try to get gadgets off the shelves while giving all of us early adopters a great feeling of security, Best Buy is announcing a new program today. Some of the details are being finalized but here are the basics:

The program is offered only for laptops, netbooks, tablet computers, post-paid mobile phones and televisions.

It works sort of like a warranty plan. To enroll, consumers pay an upfront fee, which ranges from $40 for some smart phones to $350 for a high-end television.

Customers who decide to return the items are guaranteed a refund (in the form of a Best Buy gift card) on a portion of their purchase price, depending on when they bring it back.

There are five levels of gift card refunds, ranging from up to half the purchase price for items returned within six months to a 10 percent refund for a television brought back two to four years after purchase.

(source - Minneapolis StarTribune)

 

[feverhost]

This almost sounds like an insurance "scheme", which i'm surprised more retailers haven't implemented. It's just another way to make more money on a product. Best Buy knows only a fraction of people will actually return the item, and they pocket the money up front. Sounds a lot like insurance to me

 

[pbrauer]

I don't disagree at all